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shopclass project AKA first bass build

J

jordan_frerichs

Jan 20, 2008
1,773
9
Nebraska
#1
building a bass as a highschool shop project. little nervous. got a room of tools at my disposal. body will be ash wings, center of (left to right) black walnut, maple, iorn wood, maple, black walnut. right now, all i am worrying about, is getting it together, and plained, then work from there.
i want the pieces to be roughly 2" thick. i know i can get the walnut in that thickness, i can get mapple thinner, and laminate it thicker, not sure about the ash thickness avalible. i have limited iron wood to work with, in thin pieces. can i use some other wood, and laminate the iron wood to the top and bottom, or not? if yes, what? i was hoping black walnut because it is dark, like the lignum vitae.
okay, so, once i have the woods in the right thickness, what about laminating them together? do i glue it all together at once? 2 pieces together at a time? do the center, then the ash on both sides? how?
 
#4
waseok said:
U glue the neck woods together, and put as many clamps as u can find, and don't forget to put an old Motorola cell phone on top for additional pressure! :D
If u have limited iron wood, like thin lams, u can use them between lams of maple and walnu t :)
Click to expand...

so what you are saying is that maple or walnut would both be good as the middle of the iron wood center strip filler, and once the pieces are thick enough, do the center first, then the ash sides. is that it?
 
#6
lol. any other ideas on the laminating, or did waseok pretty much cover it?
my plans for this is to make a five string, if i can, with precision, and music man pickups. the neck will be bought pre made. not sure what i want out of the neck, just that i want a maple fretboard, and it fretted. not to that stage yet. have not tried a five that i liked, but then againg i only tried 2 from crappy brands. neck needs to be not insanely wide, while having room to comfortably slap. if i can't do the 5, it will be a 4 string, with badass II bridge, seymour duncan quarter pounders, and nordstrand mm pickup. not sure of that neck either. don't have much cash, no job (am trying) so i can't get everything just yet. want it to be a 5 becuase my other bass is a 4 string p
 
#7
Sorry, i thought that u talking about the neck blank
:)
As for the body, i would go like this
body.jpg

ASH|Walnut|Maple|IronMaidenWood|Maple|Walnut|ASH
 
#8
yea, that was kind of the idea. but what about the laminating. all at once, 2 at a time, or center all at once, then wings?
i was going to make the maple and walnut thiner, to alow more space for the iron wood.

ps LMAO at the iron maiden wood. love them.
 
#12
ok, slight change. going simpler on the pickups. either make it a special p, or a j. also still debating the five strings. hope to start laminating friday, after school. going to use up all the schools clamps:p. will also give the woods a good long weekend to bond
 
#13
ok, well wish me luck. going to start sometime this week. i just have to stain and sand a nightstand 1 or 2 more times first.
ok, so i have started the basic design. tell me what you think of it so far, and any suggestions you have are more than welcome
ibanez atk arm contour
fender jazz leg contour
fender precision top horn
ibanez atk lower horn
if any one with photoshop wants to bring this to life, thanx
 
#17
change in design: maple wings (flamed or quilted prefered, spaltered is good too, even plain is still nice), with a strip of (either ironwood, purpleheart, rosewood, or black walnut) runing down the center of each wing, and a center of (either koa, cocobolo, ironwood, or purple heart) think it will be quit nice and a good compliment to the shape i am making it. this is how the top will look. might be laminte
 
#19
well, suprisingly, i came acrost a board of purple heart in the schools wood stock. i am going to be checking out places with choice woods next week to see what all i can do. so far i have 3 wood options i am thinking of.
1. flamed or quited maple bookmatched at the center
2. quilted maple wings, purple heart center
3. quilted maple wings, purple heart center, and a thin strip of iron wood in separating the wings from the center on either side.

pics soon if i can get the camera to work
 

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