Short scale Eight string?

[Jisch]

I got the E and G strings in place and the intonation more or less set, close enough that I know this method will work. I'll need to add the other six strings and see where I am. I probably need to fasten down that bridge plate, or make one that spans the bass so I can clamp it on both sides, I didn't think far enough ahead, but I figured this was a throw away.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Yeah baby! Nice!

 

[Jisch]

After messing about with the brass rod idea, I think I'm going switch to an ebony compensated bridge. I just can't get the rod in the right place for all the strings - by stacking two rods next to each other, I end up with empty space where I need a string saddle. I'll try out the ebony and see how it goes, I may end up back in mechanical land with screws and string saddles, but I'm trying hard to stay away from that stuff. I want the front of this bass to be fairly simple looking, I thought two parallel rods would look pretty cool. More in a bit after I get the bones laid out.

 

[PDX Rich]

Getting close, you got this!

 

[Will_White]

After messing about with the brass rod idea, I think I'm going switch to an ebony compensated bridge. I just can't get the rod in the right place for all the strings - by stacking two rods next to each other, I end up with empty space where I need a string saddle. I'll try out the ebony and see how it goes, I may end up back in mechanical land with screws and string saddles, but I'm trying hard to stay away from that stuff. I want the front of this bass to be fairly simple looking, I thought two parallel rods would look pretty cool. More in a bit after I get the bones laid out.

What about a Hofner violin style bridge?

 

[Jisch]

Thanks for all the encouragement, I'm not frustrated at all, the ebony will look cool and I know it will work, I just haven't had a lot of time to work on it this week.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

After messing about with the brass rod idea, I think I'm going switch to an ebony compensated bridge. I just can't get the rod in the right place for all the strings - by stacking two rods next to each other, I end up with empty space where I need a string saddle. I'll try out the ebony and see how it goes, I may end up back in mechanical land with screws and string saddles, but I'm trying hard to stay away from that stuff. I want the front of this bass to be fairly simple looking, I thought two parallel rods would look pretty cool. More in a bit after I get the bones laid out.

Nice! The ebony will work nicely with this design, and I am betting that it will impart a lovely organic aesthetic.

 

[Jisch]

Here's the first version of the string saddle. I made it small so I can screw it in and cover the holes with whatever the final version ends up being. I need to make sure this offers enough support. I may need to make the back end of it longer, we'll see. I need to run to the hardware store and grab some screws before going any further.

 

[Jisch]

I attempted to put the four main strings on for an hour or so yesterday, it did not go well.

The basic problem is that I don't have enough adjustment in the tuner. Because I have the tuners inside the body, I have to pull the string through the body, attach the tuner to the string with the set screw, push the string back through the body, put the ball end in the holder, clamp it down with the cover and then thread the tuning screw into the tuner. I knew mounting strings would not be easy with this bass, and I'm ok with that, but there's a difference between "not easy" and "impossible". If I had more adjustment then I could install them loose, but with the limited amount of space I can only get about an inch of throw, that tight angle over the string saddle doesn't help on the heavier strings.

If the tuner is attached to the string too far back, then I can't get the string up to pitch before I run out of threads, if the tuner is attached too far forward then I can't get the ball end into the holder in the headstock. Yesterday I made three attempts using a sharpie to mark where the holder should go, out of three attempts (12 strings in total) I got 2 or 3 strings up to pitch. Perhaps with more patience I could get this system to work, but I am not sure as even with the amount of care I am taking I should be able to get more than 25% success!

Right now I'm running the string over the top of the end of the tuning block, then it goes into the slot in the block at an angle where I pinch it with the set screw. This makes mounting that block onto the string awkward as the angle of the string pulls the tuner off center. I think if I drill a hole in the end of the tuning block, run the string straight into it and pinch it inside that hole I will get a better purchase on the string (when it's an angle any movement of the block can cause the string to slip out from under the set screw) more tuning ability (the screw won't run into the string) and I should be able to adjust the string in the tuner inside the body. That last part may be a dream as there's not much room inside that cavity. I got some 1" screws yesterday and that seemed to help, but again I ran out of room inside the block because of the string taking up the end of the tuning slot.

Again, I'm not at all frustrated by this, just more engineering to be done. I'm still pretty confident I'll get it done, it's just a matter of coming up with a better solution, this is one of the realities of building a bass that hasn't been built before, you get to figure stuff out on the fly.

 

[Jisch]

I love it when a plan comes together.

I drilled a hole in the front of the block. I did specific sized holes for the larger strings, then used a similar sized hole for the 4 smaller strings, it didn't seem necessary to drill tiny holes for the tiny strings. Then I drilled another hole through the side of the block and tapped it so the set screw could squeeze the string. I had two holes get away from me, so I'll need to drill out two more (hopefully I can find two more - I'm pretty sure I have extras somewhere).

Here's what the tuning blocks look like right now:

And here's two installed - I got both strings up to pitch with no swearing and on the first attempt. I can now install the blocks with the strings held in place on the head, that makes things sooooooo much easier.

I can and will make the tuning hole bigger, it will make the whole operation simpler. So onward and upward! Pretty excited to get this step done (mostly).

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Nice job man! I want to underscore what I really love about your solution here, which is that you took an off the shelf product and cleverly re-purposed it to fit your end goal. I am impressed with the large amounts of creativeness, inventive thinking, and resourceful problem solving.

 

[Jisch]

I did a bunch of sanding yesterday, which won't show here. I've never used sapele before, the grain is not nearly as open as I thought it was, and it has some great depth to it, I can't wait to see what happens when the tung oil hits it. It already is very three dimensional, it also looks great next to the stripes in the maple stringers.

I got the control cavity worked out.

Slight miscalculation on the body thickness, the cover is really thick, so I routed out a little extra room for the 9v battery.

I didn't take any pictures, but I'm gluing some tabs on for the screws that will hold the cover in place, it was necessary due to the limited room for the control cavity.

I might start finishing this tonight. Wild.

 

[Jisch]

This is the "let's see how bad the sanding is" coat. I have fooled myself into thinking it's perfect, once again.

 

[Jisch]

I'm not sure what it is or how it happened, but a spot has developed on the back of the bass. Something got in the tung oil I guess. I'll have to sand back a bit to remove it, it will set me back a bit, but better than looking at it all the time and obsessing on that spot for the rest of my life.

 

[Jisch]

I sanded down until it was flat, mostly to get rid of the spot, but once I started sanding it seemed that I could get rid of the grain at the same time. Impossible to see in this picture, but it's now completely flat. I just knocked down the shine on the neck, I think that's done, assuming the last coat went on without any streaks or drips. The body will take a few more coats.

 

[Jisch]

Late afternoon, so I just worked on the easy stuff, mounting pots and stuff is not hard, nor does it require precision. I'll get to the bridge and nut when I'm a bit more fresh, everything seems to have worked out ok.

I used the EMG solderless system, although while putting things together, I realized that I forgot to drill for the jack. How did I forget that? I distinctly remember thinking that I needed to do it, but I must have distinctly FORGOT to do it. It looks like there's plenty of room for the jack and battery.

The neck needs work as well, there's one fret that is high and I need to work out some minor scratches on the fretboard. I probably shouldn't have mounted it before fixing it, but it's only four screws right?

 

[Jisch]

I've largely put this one aside as I worked on the short scale four, I decided to spend a few minutes on it this afternoon to try stringing it up. I would not want to be a roadie on my tour, whew. I ran out of steam, getting the strings in the tuner blocks wasn't all that bad, but I didn't have enough room to get them up to tension. It's far from a lost cause, with a little more time and patience I'll get it going.

 

[Jisch]

Warning: Zombie thread resurrection.

This was one of two basses to survive the fire, the bass has a decent amount of smoke damage, but I can take care of that by sanding it down and cleaning up the electrical parts. I am going to put a scarf joint on this and use regular tuners rather than the headless design as it stands today. I say that without actually having the bass in hand to see if that's even possible. I have next week off work and I'll post up progress or despair :-D

 

[AltGrendel]

Is it worth asking for a pic of said damage?

 

[Jisch]

Sure, I'll take a pic, it's mostly smoke damage, so soot on the outside, this one didn't get any heat. Luckily it was in a stand so as the soot fell it only got on the top edge of everything. I had a couple basses that were laying on their back, they had a lot more soot land on them.