Second build - fretless neckthru pinotea bass

[jmorbita]

I'm working on the fingerboard right now. It was planed, then cut to size, then I sawed the grooves for the fretmarkers:

I'm using some bright wood veneer, and I'm thinking I won't do any inlays on the fingerboard, so I decided to make a little detail on the 12th marker by doing a light/black/light veneer:

As you can see the wood is very very hard and it's so intertwined that it's hard not to tear it with a plane.
I'm sure it'll look quite nice when radiused and sanded.

There'e also a detail at the end of the fingerboard:

I'll most likely make a cover for the truss rod adjustment screw out of matching wood.

 

[jmorbita]

Making some slow progress..

finished shaping the body, kind of,

and had this excess wood from the neck through on the back, seemed interesting to try and get something out of it...
Finally shaped it into this:

(that's showing the back of the bass. I'm thinking about putting the jack right there, so it might be out of the way if playing sitting down.)

used this router bit for rounding out the edges:

I think pinotea looks cool rounded over:

I'll most likely make it rounder on some parts.

I also had the fingerboard radiused:

thanks for watching!

 

[jmorbita]

I'm not going as fast as I'd like, but slowly progressing.

started to roughly carve the neck and the neck heel:

I know, it looks very rough right now:

But I'm sure when ready it will blow everyone's ears off, as this pic can assert:

 

[crazygtr]

Glad to see you back at this. Looking good.

 

[jmorbita]

Ok, tidied up a bit:

first worked on the neck with a small plane, a rasp and a spokeshave:

some more:

and also worked a bit more on the neck joint:

Continued with sand paper and a scraper... here's a selfportrait of me having some fun:

A peaceful setting does help in taking your time and not rushing...

and it's looking like this right now. Notice I started routing for the control cavity:

It seems like there's lots of tiny steps from now on...

 

[lbridenstine]

That does look peaceful. Cool shot.

 

[jmorbita]

I'm getting closer to completion, hope to finish it for christmas!

I've been sanding the neck body and headstock to final shape, I hope to complete this task and be able to start with the finish in a couple of weeks.

halfway through routing for the pickup:

Shaped the headstock, though it's still not complete:

and also added side markers

and the back:

Right now I'm using 100 grit, I hope to bring it to final shape, do the headstock inlay, drill for the output jack, and start sanding and sanding...

 

[jmorbita]

worked on the headstock inlay, here's after some sanding:

some of the files used:

had a few more things done as well, but didn't get the pictures... I finally threw a first coat of nitro on to see how it turns out:

just after the first coat:

and a couple of days dried:

now on with the sanding and a few more coats...

 

[lbridenstine]

That's looking really good!

 

[Skarsoul]

that is truly beautiful!

 

[Stingray5]

beautiful. I just went thru your first build and it was wonderful. Looking forward to this one.

 

[Pako]

Very nice! Was the knot placement on the upper horn by design or was it by chance? To be honest, that is one of the most intriguing features of this bass other than the beautiful work and detail you are putting into it.

 

[jmorbita]

thank you guys!

Very nice! Was the knot placement on the upper horn by design or was it by chance? To be honest, that is one of the most intriguing features of this bass other than the beautiful work and detail you are putting into it.

what you see in the upper horn is actually not a knot... this wood has such contrasting grain, and it's fairly straight, when sanding it to a round shape it makes some cool figures... I tried to follow the grain as much as I could when sanding, so there's kind of a circle of a colour, then a ring in a different grain colour...

 

[Five String]

Sub'd

 

[Basshappi]

Yes, beautiful work, well done sir!

 

[jmorbita]

I've had a couple of embarrasing setbacks, but I'm close to finishing this proyect now... hopefully...

I'e sprayed about 6 coats of nitro now, sanding with 400 in between, this is about after the 4th coat and sanding:

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And I've also been working on a a brass nut and a wooden bridge:

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They still need some more shaping. Hopefully I can get this done this week.

I still have to drill for the pots and the strap pins, finish shaping the cavity cover (should have done this beofre) and maybe one or two more hands of nitro.

 

[Buchada Azeda]

Looks amazing. What camera did you use to take those shots, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[jmorbita]

Looks amazing. What camera did you use to take those shots, if you don't mind me asking?

thank you!
I'm using a Canon T3, I've been very interested in photography for about a year now. I'm editing the pictures in Lightroom 4.

 

[crazygtr]

Looking good!! I love that satin look, do you plan on buffing to a gloss or leave it like that after the last coat?

 

[jmorbita]

Looking good!! I love that satin look, do you plan on buffing to a gloss or leave it like that after the last coat?

thank you! yes, I do like the satin look right now, but I believe I will go with glossy...