- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,013
- 1
- 31,725
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
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Short scale Eight string?
- Thread starter Jisch
- Start date
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- scale short short scale
For most of my builds I've done 95% of the work at my dad's workshop. He's got a really well appointed (though cramped) shop, and it's always nice to bounce ideas off him and talk to my mom when I'm over there. Over the last year I've start to build up some tools of my own - mostly just clamps, a router and an orbital sander. Even with those limited tools I've done a lot more work at my house and less over there. Today I went over my dad's to use a forstner bit to pull out some of the wood for the neck pocket. My mom was a little upset that she was seeing updates to my bass build on Facebook and she wasn't seeing me over there as much. Nothing really to report, but it's nice to have supportive family. And while I'm on that thread - my wife is so patient and helpful. I only hope I'm as supportive in her endeavors.
I got the neck pocket routed this morning, one minor problem with the depth on the router bit and the collette hitting the template, not a big deal, I just removed the template and ran the router through one last time using the already cut sides as the template. The pocket looks great, very tight. I had to make the decision of whether to round over the neck or to square off the pocket. I went for a hybrid approach. I rounded off the neck inside the pocket and left it square up by the fretboard. It looks good that way.
I've got some design work to do around the neck - I think back to what @mapleglo said in this thread a few pages back about how I build and I think this is kind of what she was referencing - I really should have this all planned out and it would be way more efficient if the material around the pocket was already cut (or at least I knew where the cuts were going to happen). In thinking about it I make sure that things will work out (i.e. scale length and bridge placement), but the details get figured out as I build. That means that I do the minimum necessary until decisions need to be made. I suppose you could call that a lack of commitment, but I like to let the build dictate what it will look like as I go along. Poor planning might be another way to state it. Anyway, this was good progress considering how little time I had, hopefully get some frets installed tomorrow morning. I have half of them detanged.
I've got some design work to do around the neck - I think back to what @mapleglo said in this thread a few pages back about how I build and I think this is kind of what she was referencing - I really should have this all planned out and it would be way more efficient if the material around the pocket was already cut (or at least I knew where the cuts were going to happen). In thinking about it I make sure that things will work out (i.e. scale length and bridge placement), but the details get figured out as I build. That means that I do the minimum necessary until decisions need to be made. I suppose you could call that a lack of commitment, but I like to let the build dictate what it will look like as I go along. Poor planning might be another way to state it. Anyway, this was good progress considering how little time I had, hopefully get some frets installed tomorrow morning. I have half of them detanged.
Frets installed, lots of prep, easy money once the hammer came out.
I got the neck pocket routed this morning, one minor problem with the depth on the router bit and the collette hitting the template, not a big deal, I just removed the template and ran the router through one last time using the already cut sides as the template. The pocket looks great, very tight. I had to make the decision of whether to round over the neck or to square off the pocket. I went for a hybrid approach. I rounded off the neck inside the pocket and left it square up by the fretboard. It looks good that way.
I've got some design work to do around the neck - I think back to what @mapleglo said in this thread a few pages back about how I build and I think this is kind of what she was referencing - I really should have this all planned out and it would be way more efficient if the material around the pocket was already cut (or at least I knew where the cuts were going to happen). In thinking about it I make sure that things will work out (i.e. scale length and bridge placement), but the details get figured out as I build. That means that I do the minimum necessary until decisions need to be made. I suppose you could call that a lack of commitment, but I like to let the build dictate what it will look like as I go along. Poor planning might be another way to state it. Anyway, this was good progress considering how little time I had, hopefully get some frets installed tomorrow morning. I have half of them detanged.
Yeah, I do things the same way
I'm about 85% done with the fret job. Assuming I build another fretted neck I will invest in some fret specific tools, just for the sake of consistency. I'm using a half dozen different jeweler's files. It would be easier with the right tools for sure.
I'll admit that the night before last when I put the neck down I was pretty convinced I was working the world's most expensive firewood. The fret job looked like crap, I couldn't seem to find the sharp points with the file and it sure looked like the frets were already too short on the sides.
As is common with my builds a night of sleep (or lack thereof) and consideration lead to a productive session the following day. I have a couple of unfortunate dents in the fretboard from my initial fret forming. The biggest mistake I made was covering the neck in blue tape. It gave me a false sense of security about how careful I needed to be with the file as I was doing the initial filing to make the frets flush on the edge of the neck. Nothing big, but it could easily have been avoided if I was more careful. At least in my case, it would probably have been better to just leave the neck with no tape on it. I have some sticky 320 grit sandpaper and I stuck that to a 24" level to level the frets and to make them flush on the sides. I am amazed how quickly 320 cut through stainless frets, wow.
After a couple hours of addressing each fret one at a time I am in a good place the frets look pretty good. It's not perfect, but acceptable for my first fret job.
I now need to go through and buff all the frets out. I saw a video of a guy doing that using a drafting erase shield and I'm sure I have one of those around here somewhere, but I could find a seltzer can a lot more quickly, so I made a guard out of that (it's amazing how thin they can make aluminum cans these days - a wonder of modern technology and consistency). I'll need to put some tape on the back of this just to be sure it doesn't harm the fretboard.
Traveling for work today, so I won't get back to it until tomorrow evening. I need to do side dots and cut the top of the body, then install the tuners (inside the body) and figure out a bridge. I think I'm just going to make a compensated bridge out of ebony, and of course carving the neck. Lots more to do, I'd say I'll have it finished in about 2 weeks or so, I can't wait to play this thing!
As is common with my builds a night of sleep (or lack thereof) and consideration lead to a productive session the following day. I have a couple of unfortunate dents in the fretboard from my initial fret forming. The biggest mistake I made was covering the neck in blue tape. It gave me a false sense of security about how careful I needed to be with the file as I was doing the initial filing to make the frets flush on the edge of the neck. Nothing big, but it could easily have been avoided if I was more careful. At least in my case, it would probably have been better to just leave the neck with no tape on it. I have some sticky 320 grit sandpaper and I stuck that to a 24" level to level the frets and to make them flush on the sides. I am amazed how quickly 320 cut through stainless frets, wow.
After a couple hours of addressing each fret one at a time I am in a good place the frets look pretty good. It's not perfect, but acceptable for my first fret job.
I now need to go through and buff all the frets out. I saw a video of a guy doing that using a drafting erase shield and I'm sure I have one of those around here somewhere, but I could find a seltzer can a lot more quickly, so I made a guard out of that (it's amazing how thin they can make aluminum cans these days - a wonder of modern technology and consistency). I'll need to put some tape on the back of this just to be sure it doesn't harm the fretboard.
Traveling for work today, so I won't get back to it until tomorrow evening. I need to do side dots and cut the top of the body, then install the tuners (inside the body) and figure out a bridge. I think I'm just going to make a compensated bridge out of ebony, and of course carving the neck. Lots more to do, I'd say I'll have it finished in about 2 weeks or so, I can't wait to play this thing!
I trimmed up the body tonight.
And installed the side dots, I was super careful, this is the first time I've got them all in straight
And installed the side dots, I was super careful, this is the first time I've got them all in straight
Now the fun starts.
I drew out the top/back of the body where it will connect with the neck:
and rounded over the edges:
It's a long way from finished, but here's the basic idea:
the top - weird camera angle makes that upper horn look uuuuuuge, sorry, I know, no politics.
I marked out the facets for the neck, but I ran out of time.
I drew out the top/back of the body where it will connect with the neck:
and rounded over the edges:
It's a long way from finished, but here's the basic idea:
the top - weird camera angle makes that upper horn look uuuuuuge, sorry, I know, no politics.
I marked out the facets for the neck, but I ran out of time.
Ok, it's decision time and I'd appreciate any feedback. My original plan was to do relief carving on the face of the body, through the top wood so you could see the backing wood, similar to the way @earlysecond did on his Sting-Jay (below). I was planning on doing this in similar spots - in the arch for the lower horn and on both sides of the waist. Now after looking at it, I don't think I want to do that anymore. I think it looks good the way it is. I wiped some mineral spirits on the woods and there is not a lot of contrast between the two - the mahogany (back) is a bit redder than the sapele on the front, but they are similar in how dark they are. It would be obvious that there are two different woods, but not like this with dark red against maple. There is a thin black laminate between the two layers on my body as well. This is one of those decisions there is no coming back from :-D
Thoughts?
.
Thoughts?
.
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,013
- 1
- 31,725
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
I like that kind of relief carving, and I think it would even look good (subtle, but good) with your body woods.
But - you already have maple "racing stripes" that provide enough visual interest. If the only purpose of the carving is aesthetic, then I would skip it on this build.
But - you already have maple "racing stripes" that provide enough visual interest. If the only purpose of the carving is aesthetic, then I would skip it on this build.
I got the neck roughed in. This was my first time using a Shinto rasp. It worked really well, I get the benefits of this over a shurform - less digging in. The fact it has a rough and not so rough side is cool, although I wish it had a handle or something smooth on the end of it. I guess I should be wearing gloves, but it's a bit rough on the hands.
First facet:
Really rough:
Still a little rough, but getting there.
Tired and hungry, I'll get more done in the morning:
First facet:
Really rough:
Still a little rough, but getting there.
Tired and hungry, I'll get more done in the morning:
Time for a leap of faith. I cut a triangle to hold the tuners, now I need to drill holes through the front for the strings to come through. The tuners will have the strings evenly spaced so the holes will have to put the strings in the right spacing before hitting the string bridges. I think I am going to make the string bridges out of brass, I need to work on that too. I need to do a lot of thinking.
I guess I'm committed to this thing now. I think I have the tuners figured out, but I couldn't get myself to pull the trigger on the drill. Tomorrow, I guess.
It looks like I'm going to get four glue surfaces on the tuner mount, so I think my earlier paranoia was just that.
I figured out some cool stuff for the rear end, we'll see how it works out.
It looks like I'm going to get four glue surfaces on the tuner mount, so I think my earlier paranoia was just that.
I figured out some cool stuff for the rear end, we'll see how it works out.
I drilled out the string holes. I need to do a little clean up, but they look good. Everything lined up just how I thought it would. I'm tempted to temporarily mount the tuners and strings, but I don't want to mess up the strings and have to buy another set.
I guess I'll need to get the tuners finished now. I need to drill out the M3 hole and tap for 6-32, and also drill and tap for the set screw. I won't be able to make the bridge until that's settled.
I guess I'll need to get the tuners finished now. I need to drill out the M3 hole and tap for 6-32, and also drill and tap for the set screw. I won't be able to make the bridge until that's settled.
I put on a single string and brought it up to tune last night, there were all kinds of variables that were uncontrolled, but it worked. The string changing process for this instrument is going to be a bit painful, but in thinking it through it shouldn't take any longer than it would to wind up eight strings. I'm waiting on a bridge to get here, I needed two more tuner blocks as I only had six from the first guitar bridge I had. I need to adjust the tooling on the string holder a bit - the slot where the string goes needs to be slightly wider so the tuning screw doesn't have interference and the set screw that holds the string needs to have cleaner threads at the bottom of the hole, I know you can get taps that put threads all the way to the bottom of a hole, but I don't have one of those taps. I'm not sure it's worth buying one just for this.
I need to figure out the headstock. I made a mistake when gluing on the string terminating block, it's not cut square on both sides. I was thinking I would leave that for later, but I shouldn't have done that, it's going to be a bit of a pain to cut now - no big deal, but a bit of hassle I could have prevented. The headstock cover needs to also clamp down the balls on the end of the strings, I'm thinking of using inserts, but I need to work that all out.
I feel like I hit a bit of a lull in production here. I'll probably feel better once I get that headstock worked out.
I need to figure out the headstock. I made a mistake when gluing on the string terminating block, it's not cut square on both sides. I was thinking I would leave that for later, but I shouldn't have done that, it's going to be a bit of a pain to cut now - no big deal, but a bit of hassle I could have prevented. The headstock cover needs to also clamp down the balls on the end of the strings, I'm thinking of using inserts, but I need to work that all out.
I feel like I hit a bit of a lull in production here. I'll probably feel better once I get that headstock worked out.
I got the holes drilled and threaded on the tuners and I cut off the end of them that was not needed. I had to order another bridge from Carvin as I needed two more "tuner" blocks. I ordered it two weeks ago and I called on Friday "we're having a hard time getting small parts orders out the door". Hmpf, supposedly it shipped on Friday, hope to have it by mid-week. That's unusual for Carvin, I usually get really good service from them.
Ok, here's where things get weird. I just started working on the "headstock" I have a cover I made out of maple, bookmatch sapele (to match the body) and some spalted maple from my firewood pile. It's still pretty clunky now, it will get better as I shape it, but the width is pretty much it as I have 8 strings in there and I need to also leave room for inserts/screws to hold it down. The cover will hold the strings in place. I am undecided if I will drill a hole for truss rod access or not. I think I'm going to leave it without a hole so I'll have to remove the cover to adjust the truss rod.
Ok, here's where things get weird. I just started working on the "headstock" I have a cover I made out of maple, bookmatch sapele (to match the body) and some spalted maple from my firewood pile. It's still pretty clunky now, it will get better as I shape it, but the width is pretty much it as I have 8 strings in there and I need to also leave room for inserts/screws to hold it down. The cover will hold the strings in place. I am undecided if I will drill a hole for truss rod access or not. I think I'm going to leave it without a hole so I'll have to remove the cover to adjust the truss rod.
