Sin Cabeza Cinco - Headless Fretless 5 String Bass Build

[michaelwayneharwood]

Just a thought for the future... whenever I glue boards on necks, I always use thick stable cauls between the clamp and the board. That makes sure you get no weird humped spots and even squeeze out everywhere between the board and the neck.

It might not be obvious from the pic I posted, but I did that on the back of the neck, but was unable to on the fingerboard due to it being pre-radiused. Thanks for the advice - it's excellent!

 

[reverendrally]

Cork/rubber sanding blocks with cauls on top of them. They conform to the radius and spread the load out evenly.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

I took the clamps off this morning and pulled the neck off my clamping caul, only to have a chunk of the neck be left on the caul. It's easily fixable, but put me back a night or two. The honduran mahogany is really soft. Janka hardness is supposed to be 900 for this wood, but it feels much softer. I am REALLY glad I put in a double action truss rod.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Tonight saw a repair glued into place. The more I work with this wood the more concerned I am about how soft it is. It reminds me of working with balsa, though it's a harder than that. I am half afraid that truss rod adjustment is gong to rip the fingerboard right off the neck. This is the blank I ordered, and I am wondering if I might have made a mistake... Can anyone provide me assurance that this is not going to fail badly?

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Of course I may be paranoid... When I was working on the Les Paul I remember thinking that Black Limba was a very soft wood as well, and my adventures with oak may be coloring my expectations a bit.

 

[Hamish MacCleod]

I hope this works out for you.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

I hope this works out for you.

Thanks so much! As long as the truss rod doesn't pop the fingerboard off I think I will be fine.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Carvin has Honduran Mahogany as an option for a neck wood, so I am probably fine.

 

[MrArose13]

You got the right stuff, It should work out just fine.

It will probable be what I'd call a" soft neck" meaning very sensitive to climate change and string gauges. Most commonly used in guitars and acoustics for it's warming properties, when used in basses its typical that you see it as a primary wood of a laminate sequence, or, backed up with CF reinforcement rods, or, two TR. Personally, I love mahogany. I did't see what the scale length was (probably just skipped over it some how) so I'll add this... GREAT for short scale, not a good time for a thin neck.
All that said, I don't think you'll have a problem. best of luck

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

You got the right stuff, It should work out just fine.

Thanks! That definitely puts my mind at ease. It's for a 34" scale, and the neck will be fairly thick.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

The neck got a nice taper this evening. It went very well with no surprises, tear out, or stupid mistakes. The glue joint is solid and seamless, and aside from a few saw marks it looks really good. Next on my list is to get the body freed from the body blank, and route a neck pocket.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

The next step for moving forward with the build is to free the body from the Sapele blank. I will be using a band saw to do so, and as such I need a template to use in that process. My method for doing this is using Inkscape to export a PDF of what I need with a 1" by 1" grid in the background. This allows me to print it as a "poster" on regular 8 1/2" by 11" card stock on my inkjetprinter, and then piece the separate pages together. Once together I cut out the shape I need and use it as a stencil on the blank itself. With the lines for the 24th fret, the 34" scale length, and the center of the design on the stencil I can transfer those to the blank for easy reference.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

With the stencil cut out and taped together the outline is transferred to the body blank. Measurement lines for scale and other pertinent reference points are penciled in. The seam for the join in the two piece body blank provides a convenient center line.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

The body has been freed from it's wooden prison. A lot of quality time with my hand rasps is next, and that's when I get to really experience the character of the Sapele. I only know that it's Janka hardness is higher than than the oak I have been working with recently. One of these days I will invest in a spindle sander. I have tried sanding drums attached to my drill press and found them less than helpful. I purposely chose the most symmetrical grain pattern for the back as it pertains to lining up on the center line as the front will be broken up by the rosewood and the ill matching grain on the top will not be visible.

 

[ctmullins]

I love sapele! It has such a gorgeous ribbon figure to it. It works easily, more easily than maple, though with the open grain sometimes tear-out is a minor issue. And it has such a nice musky smell to it when cutting!

Big fan of sapele.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Musky! That's the perfect way to describe the smell. It has a slight cedar overtone to it as well, but the main scent brought images of ancient trees to mind.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

A bit of progress was made on the body shaping. Shaping the body by hand with rasp and file is VERY satisfying.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I'm wondering if it would have been better to route the neck pocket, pickup recesses, electronics area while the blank was still square? I made this mistake on body build, and it was a real PITA getting enough surface for the router to ride on. I guess you could save the body cutoffs and use them as additional support. Getting the sequence of operations right is my weakpoint.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

I'm wondering if it would have been better to route the neck pocket, pickup recesses, electronics area while the blank was still square? I made this mistake on body build, and it was a real PITA getting enough surface for the router to ride on. I guess you could save the body cutoffs and use them as additional support. Getting the sequence of operations right is my weakpoint.

I have had more troubles attempting to route everything before getting the body cut out, but it may be due to the fact that I cut them out "freehand" using a bandsaw, and hand rasp the body into the shape I want afterthat. The neck pocket and and pickup routes will have templates to ride on for the initial material removal, and if necessary I will create "ramps" out of scrap wood when additional support is needed.

One of the beautiful things about this kind of work is that there is no "right" way, except for methods that incur additional risk. In my mind safety has to be placed before function. That being said some will use a coping saw, some will use a band saw, some will use a template and router, and others will combine methods. I have seen people use a chisel to create a pickup route, and others freehand one with a router with excellent results.

All of this is to try to communicate to you that there is no "best" way. Every method has a list pros and cons, and as long as you are being safe experiment until you find a method that works for you. The wonderful thing about internet resources like TalkBass is that there is a plethora of readily accessible information and people willing to offer their opinions on methods that have been successfully employed.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Fret lines have been started. Reference frets (e.g. 3, 5, 7, etc.) will have white styrene plastic lines all the way across, while the other frets will have 1/4" reference side lines. The 1/4" lines will all be on the bass side up to the 12th fret, and on the treble side from there up to the 24th fret. instead of filling the remaining slot with veneer I will be filling with clear CA. Tape was used to measure out 1/4" from the edge of the fingerboard and provided a stop during the gluing process.