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singlecut chambered.
- Thread starter jordan_frerichs
- Start date
made a shallow stomach contour
dremel carving (back, horn)
tried it on front, made a hole! actually not mad at all (maybe even happy in a way!), just need to make a creative patch up. i tried making it into a soundhole, but that resulted in a quarter sized hole. like i said, no big deal, as long as you can make the bad mistakes into something nice!
here is the current rough template for the head. it looks different because i am using larger, clover style, bass tuners, and all 8 string heads use compact tuners, so a little creativity was needed. the dips are where the guitar tuners will be (for decent string allingement to nut)
dremel carving (back, horn)
tried it on front, made a hole! actually not mad at all (maybe even happy in a way!), just need to make a creative patch up. i tried making it into a soundhole, but that resulted in a quarter sized hole. like i said, no big deal, as long as you can make the bad mistakes into something nice!
here is the current rough template for the head. it looks different because i am using larger, clover style, bass tuners, and all 8 string heads use compact tuners, so a little creativity was needed. the dips are where the guitar tuners will be (for decent string allingement to nut)
WOW...I must say, man, I am not normally too attracted to that kinda bass, but that thing looks STUNNING. The amount of talent here on TB is astounding...wow. The photos of this project are addictive!!
Thanx. I am hoping to glue a good patch to the hole In the upper horn, work on the neck taper, and glue the top of the head this week, so hopefully some worthy pics will be here soon.
Thats my side boob!
parts are wet from mineral spirits. The walnut under the fb is just a raise for the fb. he pics don't do the fb justice THANX GALLERY HARDWOODS!!! The layers on the upper point are to fix a hole.
I am fighting the urge to put in face dots on the fb. can't decide what finish to put over the fb. I have to keep the ruby red color, and not have it look redish brown when done. I am thinking about a glossy laqeurhick rickenbackers, but that may not look goo with the body finish with will be a low gloss wax type. HELP ME OUT ON THIS ONE PLZ!
parts are wet from mineral spirits. The walnut under the fb is just a raise for the fb. he pics don't do the fb justice THANX GALLERY HARDWOODS!!! The layers on the upper point are to fix a hole.
I am fighting the urge to put in face dots on the fb. can't decide what finish to put over the fb. I have to keep the ruby red color, and not have it look redish brown when done. I am thinking about a glossy laqeurhick rickenbackers, but that may not look goo with the body finish with will be a low gloss wax type. HELP ME OUT ON THIS ONE PLZ!
shallow stomach contour
back of bass wing point. i made that dip just by pressing a dremel with a circular sander attachment.
fb close up. you can't tell from the pucs, but there is a walnut accent om the back
lower wing. not much different from last time. planing to attach control cover with magnets.
some close ups of the upper wing
back of bass wing point. i made that dip just by pressing a dremel with a circular sander attachment.
fb close up. you can't tell from the pucs, but there is a walnut accent om the back
lower wing. not much different from last time. planing to attach control cover with magnets.
some close ups of the upper wing
Looking very good Jordan!! You're on your way to a beautiful bass, that's for sure!
Only thing I'm wondering is how about the fret slots? Some of them look really wide... (> 1 mm) Wouldn't the frets fall out? And why are some through the binding and others not? (Or is that just the picture fooling me?)
Only thing I'm wondering is how about the fret slots? Some of them look really wide... (> 1 mm) Wouldn't the frets fall out? And why are some through the binding and others not? (Or is that just the picture fooling me?)
I am deepening the slots and slotting the bindings, and i am not done yet. some of the first ones came out wider than i would want. the frets will be glued in with gurrila (can't spell!) glue, and i hope that will fix it.
I'm hoping it too for you. What kind of saw do you use? Cause a genuine fret saw wouldn't leave a slot that wide?
I was using the non-fine toothed side of my Irwin brand flush cut pull saw. I put the saw inside the slot, clamped a straight edge against it, the used the straight edge as a straight.
SOMEONE PLEASE CLARIFY IF GORILLA GLUE WOULD HELP KEEP THE HOLD BEST, OR IF SOMETHING ELSE IS MORE APPROPRIATE!
Got to love bloodwood. I just hope it will be that red on the finished bass, because on most instruments that i have seen with bloodwood as a fb, it comes a dull, brownish red. I am aiming for redder a ruby!
Re the gorilla glue: I haven't used it. But look up its Invalid Link Removed From what people here have said in the past,
- it expands
- therefore it tries to push apart whatever it is you are gluing
- therefore the pieces must be clamped
so for two pieces of wood, no problem, you just keep the clamps on until it stops expanding and sets. For frets it seems like a poor choice unless you find a way to clamp each fret whil it cures, and a good way to clean up the squeeze-out without ruining the fretboard and frets.
- it expands
- therefore it tries to push apart whatever it is you are gluing
- therefore the pieces must be clamped
so for two pieces of wood, no problem, you just keep the clamps on until it stops expanding and sets. For frets it seems like a poor choice unless you find a way to clamp each fret whil it cures, and a good way to clean up the squeeze-out without ruining the fretboard and frets.
i have a friend help with the fretting and he uses gorilla glue. He clamps a radiusing block matching the fb radius, and does it bit by bit. Since this fb has no radius, we can do them all at one with a flat board. the excess that comes out is very minimal, and is easily scraper away with an exacto knife and light sanding. Do you think it would give the slightly widened slots a good enough hold on the frets, or would super glue be best (if so, thick, thin, or between)?
You should use a glue that fills up the gap. Super glue needs a tight fit, so I wouldn't go there...
I don't know Gorilla glue, but I guess any epoxy type of glue wood fill the gap as if it has a plastic insert and would hold your frets pretty sturdy. But don't ever think about a re-fretting job
.
I don't know Gorilla glue, but I guess any epoxy type of glue wood fill the gap as if it has a plastic insert and would hold your frets pretty sturdy. But don't ever think about a re-fretting job
.I think i will take care of the wider slots last. I think i want to seal the fb with krazy glue or, epoxy or something, and a razor blade or something, as an internal stabalizer, not a finish. I am not sure whether i want to do this before, or after frets, because i can see problem in each-
Pre-fretting: I will have to constantly stop and clean out fret lines so they don't become sealed. Is there an epoxy or something that would set slower so i could cold have more time, or just protect better? Would it work to just fold masking tape over itself (so, there is no adhesive), put it in the slots, level it, and then just remove it, when the fb is stabilized?
post-fretting: I want to sand the fb to a high grit, at least 400, but might go as high as 1200+, pre-finish, and i think i would need extra sanding after i seal it, and that would not go well on an already fretted board.
Also, the binding was not equal, so i had to fix it with a router and straightedge, but the nut width is now at 1 5/8", instead of 1 3/4", which is annoying, but i would rather have a cleaner job on the fb, than an extra 1/8", but i really would have appreciated the slightly wider neck. still thinking over a finish for the fb, but so far so good. will probably finish that last.
If all goes well, i should have the headstock faced, shaped, flattened and drilled; and the neck tapered. Then i can prep and glue the fb, plan how i will hollow the body portion of the neck, act on that, glue a top and back to the body area of the neck, fret it, dot the sides, and it should be about ready for body wing glue-up. I have a plan on how i will do that, but more on that later.
Pre-fretting: I will have to constantly stop and clean out fret lines so they don't become sealed. Is there an epoxy or something that would set slower so i could cold have more time, or just protect better? Would it work to just fold masking tape over itself (so, there is no adhesive), put it in the slots, level it, and then just remove it, when the fb is stabilized?
post-fretting: I want to sand the fb to a high grit, at least 400, but might go as high as 1200+, pre-finish, and i think i would need extra sanding after i seal it, and that would not go well on an already fretted board.
Also, the binding was not equal, so i had to fix it with a router and straightedge, but the nut width is now at 1 5/8", instead of 1 3/4", which is annoying, but i would rather have a cleaner job on the fb, than an extra 1/8", but i really would have appreciated the slightly wider neck. still thinking over a finish for the fb, but so far so good. will probably finish that last.
If all goes well, i should have the headstock faced, shaped, flattened and drilled; and the neck tapered. Then i can prep and glue the fb, plan how i will hollow the body portion of the neck, act on that, glue a top and back to the body area of the neck, fret it, dot the sides, and it should be about ready for body wing glue-up. I have a plan on how i will do that, but more on that later.
Good luck with all these steps! About the epoxy: yes, there is. I used a slow setting epoxy from araldite which allows 2 hours before it starts setting and needs to be clamped for 6 hours.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] has some nice pictorials on how to address fret slot issues. Seems that kind of tool is something you could grind up yourself.
edit - [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].
I'd practice on some hardwood scrap before recutting any more slots.
edit - [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].
I'd practice on some hardwood scrap before recutting any more slots.
The base finally has a headstock face glued on, so once I redo the head design plan, I can shape, thickness and drill the head for tuners, but my next step is taper the neck section. (pic updates then). I decided not to seal super glue into the fb. I decided that i will engrave a design into the fb at the 12th fret, and paint it black. Same goes for the side marks, headstock logo, and wherever else i feel like it.
do you think it would work to shape the expander parts out of hardwood and super glue them to plyers?
do you think it would work to shape the expander parts out of hardwood and super glue them to plyers?
