Special Edition Build Off - I Gotta P

[Gary_M]

Yeah, it's probably not the best thread title. I mean, I already have a P... but I could use another P... so maybe it should be "I Need Another P", or perhaps " I Need to P Again"?

At any rate, I have a bunch of Jazz basses, and a mid-90's American Standard Precision that I love dearly. I run rounds on it, and it sounds big and brash and ballsy. (Pretty much the way I love a P bass to sound) But, lately I've been wanting to go for a more classic sound and I'd like to have one bass in my arsenal that has flats on it all the time.

So, I'm going to build a P bass to satisfy that need. This will a fairly traditional take on a P bass. Literally nothing radical, just a clean, classic sounding and looking instrument (I hope).

I'm trying to keep costs low, so I'll be using as many "in stock" materials as I can using standard, decidedly "unboutique", hardware, wood and electronics. Essentially, a hard departure from my five string build from last year.

Here are the specs as they stand right now:

• 4 String P Style Bass
• 34" Scale Length, all standard dimensions
• Two way truss rod
• Poplar body
• Figured maple neck (hey, I already have it)
• Fretboard birdseye maple, maybe... still undecided
• Standard Fender hardware
• Fender P pickup
• Nitro finish (Will be solid color, but undecided at the moment)
• Flatwound strings

Here is the obligatory "pile 'o wood" shot. I'll be using templates that I just made from my own 95 P bass.

I really hope that I can get this done within the timeline. Wish me luck!

 

[Gary_M]

Here's a little bit of progress from yesterday.

The body will be made from poplar and will be made from two pieces. I'm not stressing over a centered glue joint especially since this will be a painted body.

Initial flattening of one side.

Jointing the glue edges.

A nice glue joint, ready to go.

Mixed up some UF glue.

Clamped up to dry overnight.

 

[Gary_M]

I little bit more from today.

Fresh out of the clamps, and tracing the body outline. I trimmed off the excess width of the blank after this step.

Next, I flattened on side in preparation for the drum sander. The blank is too wide for my planer.

Over to the drum sander with the newly flattened side down. Here I'm nearly done. You can see that the low area is right along the glue line. After this side was done, I flipped it over for a couple of light passes on the freshly planed side.

And done. A nice clean and trued up blank to start from.

I drew in a center line and traced the body outline to check placement.

Thanks for looking. More soon.

 

[Beej]

Poplar gets a bad rap sometimes, but it is such a lovely wood to work with. I love the super fine shavings that I can get with a hand plane. That probably sounds weird.

 

[Gary_M]

Poplar gets a bad rap sometimes, but it is such a lovely wood to work with. I love the super fine shavings that I can get with a hand plane. That probably sounds weird.

Yeah Beej, I totally agree, and not weird at all. I like working with it and there have been lots of guitars made from poplar. One of my Les Paul styled builds has a poplar body with a maple cap. I dyed the poplar black and the maple top has a nice blue burst. I love that guitar.

My only beef with this particular piece is that it's a bit on the heavy side. I contemplated some sort of weight relief, but I don't think I'll do that at this point.

 

[Gary_M]

I made a little more progress on the body today.

I mounted the cavity template the rear of the blank keeping it carefully aligned with the center line and previous outline.

I marked key depths on the side of the blank to make it easier to set the stops on the (inverted) pin router.

I routed the cavities in several steps. Here's the first pass.

Second pass... or third... OK, I lost track.

Final pass. Not sure why I don't have a full picture.

The FedEx guy stopped by with a delivery. I just love that guy.

I rough cut the body outline on the bandsaw, attached the outline template and sanded it as close as possible to the template.

Back to the pin router to trim the body down to size in several steps.

Here's the basic body completed.

Need to rout the roundovers and cut the contours to get the body finished up.

More soon!

 

[Dark Horse]

Looks good so far !

 

[Gary_M]

Looks good so far !

Thanks, man. I appreciate it! I need to get some more builds started to catch up with you!

 

[Gary_M]

I made a little bit of progress during my lunch hour today.

I add tape to both sides of the body to elevate it just slightly before routing the roundover. This helps to prevent scratches from a few uneven spots on my router table.

I make the roundover in several shallow passes.

Done.

Belly cut and forearm relief are next. Or, maybe preliminary neck work... not sure what I'll feel like working on after supper.

 

[Gary_M]

I decided to work on the neck a little bit tonight. I cut the rough blank from a much larger board. That's why this is such a goofy looking layout. I kept one parallel edge and used it against the router fence to make the truss rod slot. This truss rod will be installed for a heel adjustment.

Once the slot was cut, I carefully marked, then drilled the access hole for the adjustment nut.

A nice fit!

I think the figure on that maple is gonna look amazing when the finish hits it! More soon.

 

[Gary_M]

Today I made a little bit more progress on the P project. Not as much as I wanted, mind you, but a little.

The first thing that I did was to cut the neck outline at the band saw.

I attached my neck template and sanded the neck blank as closely as I could to the template. I used both the Robosander and oscillating belt sander. This will minimize the amount of material to be removed by the router. This is absolutely critical with figured maple since it tears out if you give it a dirty look.

Next I went to the router table and trimmed the neck to its final outline with a spiral compression bit.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned the process that I use to avoid tear-out when perimeter routing. Here you can see my routing pattern marked on the template. Simply put, I always try to rout downhill. NOT climb cutting... downhill. There is a big difference. Climb cutting is a either an accident or a ruined workpiece waiting to happen; that's just my opinion, so don't tar and feather me.

To accomplish this method for the full perimeter, you need a pattern bit with both top and bottom bearings. So, I start on one side, marking the downhill paths, then flip the workpiece over. I change to the opposite router bit bearing and rout the downhill paths on the second side. Once you're finished, you can just rout all the way around again to clean up any small inconsistencies. Not sure if that made sense!

It's hard to get a good picture of the surface, but it's really smooth with no chipping.

Hey, it fits!

Nice and snug. Of course I can't leave it that snug or it would never fit after the finish is sprayed, but the dimensions will come down a bit with sanding.

I have decided to go with a birdseye maple fretboard. Here is the board as it has been sitting on the shelf for 4 years.

Running it through the drum sander to remove the shellac seal coat and bringing it down to thickness.

Done, and ready for fret slots and a 9.5" radius.

Comments welcome! More soon.

 

[Reedt2000]

Looks great, really clean work

That maple is awesome, in the neck and the fretboard. I know your plan is solid color, have you decided which? Gonna go classic look or modern?

 

[Gary_M]

Looks great, really clean work

That maple is awesome, in the neck and the fretboard. I know your plan is solid color, have you decided which? Gonna go classic look or modern?

Hey, thanks! Right now I'm thinking candy apple red. I've never tried it, so I'll have to do some experimentation. From what I've read, everybody does it a little differently.

If you have any suggestions, fire away, I'm always open to anything.

 

[Scoops]

Hey, thanks! Right now I'm thinking candy apple red. I've never tried it, so I'll have to do some experimentation. From what I've read, everybody does it a little differently.

If you have any suggestions, fire away, I'm always open to anything.

If you go Candy Apple Red, what color you going to make your base?

Not that it matters, but I prefer gold.

 

[Gary_M]

If you go Candy Apple Red, what color you going to make your base?

Not that it matters, but I prefer gold.

I was planning to go over a gold base coat for sure. Silver is fine, but the gold is warmer. I have some gold pearl powder and some very fine gold flake on hand. I may do some samples of each. I also have various red options available.

The weather here just keeps hovering in the "not quite done with winter" mode... If I can get some consistent spring weather, I can start shooting some samples soon!

 

[Reedt2000]

I was planning to go over a gold base coat for sure. Silver is fine, but the gold is warmer. I have some gold pearl powder and some very fine gold flake on hand. I may do some samples of each. I also have various red options available.

The weather here just keeps hovering in the "not quite done with winter" mode... If I can get some consistent spring weather, I can start shooting some samples soon!

Gold base, with gold flake in the translucent red or the first couple layers of clear could be really cool. Never seen that before. It would probably mean more clear and level sanding at the end though.

 

[Gary_M]

Gold base, with gold flake in the translucent red or the first couple layers of clear could be really cool. Never seen that before. It would probably mean more clear and level sanding at the end though.

Oh man, now you've got me thinking... that would look pretty cool. Although, it must be said that I have exactly zero experience with shooting pearls, flake, etc... so I don't want to get the cart in front of the horse.

I think we have some leftover brown paint from painting the kitchen cabinets a while back. That may be more my speed.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I know this sounds weird but look up Diecast Resurrections on YouTube. He customizes and restores various diecast car models. In his later videos he has Createx Auto Air colors that Createx sent him and does some crazy pearls and candies. I learned a lot about how those are supposed to work from watching his vids.

 

[Jeff Siddall]

Beautiful work as usual!

I noticed you didn't route truss rod adjustment access into the body. Are you planning on taking the neck off to make adjustments?

Edit: Oh, and color? I like boring: you can't go wrong with black and maple, so if red doesn't work out...

 

[Gary_M]

I know this sounds weird but look up Diecast Resurrections on YouTube. He customizes and restores various diecast car models. In his later videos he has Createx Auto Air colors that Createx sent him and does some crazy pearls and candies. I learned a lot about how those are supposed to work from watching his vids.

Not weird at all. In fact, I think I've seen some of those. I'll circle back and take another look, thanks!