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Short scale semi-hollow body build

#101
These are water based, I'll try wetting down the surface. I don't notice too much splotchiness, it's just the brightness that's bugging me. I want it to look natural to some degree. The red looks completely fake. Next I'm going to try mixing red and black together. The other test pieces I did I covered with resin and wow they really popped when I put that on, but the color underneath is still not great.
 
#102
I used a mixture of red and purple to get a "wine red" color way back years ago on my first 8-string build. Hang on, let me go find the ratio...

Got it: 3 parts red to 1 part purple.
 
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#104
I have a little clean up to do, but leveled, crowned and ends dressed.
20181215_174247.jpg
 
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#112
I can't recall a fall/winter with weather this crappy, I have missed so many mountain bike rides my girth shows it for sure. I guess it's time to adjust the diet to consider the fewer calories being burned.

The upside is I got a few hours in the shop this morning, even if I didn't burn as many calories, it was good fun.

I cut out the F holes
20181216_091746.jpg

In order for this to look like a carved top I need the thickness of the wood all the way around the hole to be consistent, you can see here that it's thicker toward the outside of the body.
20181216_091754.jpg

So I got to it with the gouge, dremel and sandpaper
20181216_092322.jpg

and now it looks consistent from the top
20181216_092441.jpg

The next problem is that you could see the dimples from the guide point on the forstner bit through the holes, not a good look, so I routed down to the bottom of the dimples and sanded the back
20181216_092448.jpg

I love how deep the cavity is, it gives the body a third dimension. I really didn't think of that aspect. I need to do a bit more rationalization from left to right to make them the same, but it's close now. I've got family events the rest of the day, so I won't get to do more until tomorrow.
20181216_102443.jpg
 

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#113
Awesome job on the f-holes @Jisch . I like that you stuck with the classic/traditional look, and added your own interpretation with the different proportions. At least it appears so to me, may be it is the angle of the foto? Anyway, what I see is that circles/dots at bottom, lower bout are larger than those at top near the waist. Very design oriented --- I've not seen (or noticed) other guitars/basses using this approach.
 
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#114
Thanks, I moved them around and printed out many different sizes before settling on that size and position. I wasn't confident of either when I cut them, but I really like the way it came out.

I looked around for the "right" ones, and I liked the that had the bigger bottom bulbs. I didn't really draw these as much as I found them, but it was after looking at a lot of different ones.

I hope I can come to a similar conclusion with the color.
 
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#116
During my 3 AM hour of wakefulness (which both sucks and is a good time to get some thinking done) I thought about how to install the pickups without using the ears, or obscuring the ears. I decided that living with the ear bump outs was going to be infinitely easier than any other option, to the point where other options were not in play. The basic problem is that the ears will be level or just under the top of the bass, so there's not really a good way to mount from the rear and get the pickups high enough. I am satisfied with my decision, they look decent. There's a lot of fine tuning to do, but I got the holes basically complete.
20181217_084535.jpg

I put some Tru Oil on my test piece and I'll put some UV cure coating on it (assuming the sun actually comes out again). Tru Oil definitely adds some amber to the whole equation, not a big deal, but it does change the tone a bit. The UV stuff is clear and definitely thicker.
 
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#117
Jisch said:
During my 3 AM hour of wakefulness (which both sucks and is a good time to get some thinking done) I thought about how to install the pickups without using the ears, or obscuring the ears. I decided that living with the ear bump outs was going to be infinitely easier than any other option, to the point where other options were not in play. The basic problem is that the ears will be level or just under the top of the bass, so there's not really a good way to mount from the rear and get the pickups high enough. I am satisfied with my decision, they look decent. There's a lot of fine tuning to do, but I got the holes basically complete.
View attachment 3250291
I put some Tru Oil on my test piece and I'll put some UV cure coating on it (assuming the sun actually comes out again). Tru Oil definitely adds some amber to the whole equation, not a big deal, but it does change the tone a bit. The UV stuff is clear and definitely thicker.
Click to expand...
Good decision, looks good
 
#118
I was looking over wiring scenarios at lunch, I totally forgot about the impedance loading from putting two pickups into one mix pot. I guess that shows how long it's been since I've done a passive bass. I might have to put a preamp in. The problem is I don't want anything to be visible from the F holes, which severely limits my real estate. If I split things up I might be ok, I'll have to see, it would mean 4 knobs instead of 3. Generally speaking I don't like stacked knobs I don't like how far they protrude from the top. I also am considering switches to go from dual to single coil, which means more real estate.
 
#119
My suggestions:
  • Try the passive blend knob first. The Alumitones don't behave exactly like normal magnetic pickups, and while I'm not an expert, they may pleasantly surprise you.
  • If the passive blend doesn't work out, try a 3-way switch maybe?
  • Skip the single-double switch. Those pickups are already pretty narrow-aperture.
  • A crazy thought: two knobs, master volume and master tone. Each is a push/pull switching on/off one of the pickups.
 
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#120
BTW -- for the F-holes, did you drill and use a hand/coping saw? Or was it router, with perhaps a mortising bit?

Jisch said:
Thanks, I moved them around and printed out many different sizes before settling on that size and position. I wasn't confident of either when I cut them, but I really like the way it came out.

I looked around for the "right" ones, and I liked the that had the bigger bottom bulbs. I didn't really draw these as much as I found them, but it was after looking at a lot of different ones.

I hope I can come to a similar conclusion with the color.
Click to expand...
 

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