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The Hossenfeffer Bass Build

#403
Gsnad/Ctmullins
Are Schaller tuners metric sized, so I know better for the Hossenfeffer 2? I'll take your advice, might be able to wrap some fine sandpaper around a 31/64" bit (I have one) and ease the holes a little, maybe chamfer them a hair too? By "press fit" are we talking hand tight or hammer tight? If I crack the headstock I'll have to cry a little and get maudlin drunk, nobody wants to see that!

Edit: just watched this on Youtube, looks like a highly effective method for cracking a headstock. I dont think applying that much pressure makes sense, I still have to get the bushings out again to paint.

 
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#404
Yeah you are too far in to start crackin headstocks!!!

I believe the schallers are all metric, but not 100% certain. Try the sandpaper on a dowel but if you find it too tedious you can pick up a cheap round rasp at the big box stores for under $10. You must need another new tool by now, right??

P.S. I don't think I have chimed in on this build in a while, but I've been watching every step and it is looking fantastic!!
 
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#408
I like the big old school elephant ear tuners, we'll see how it balances. If it ends up neck heavy, I may swap them out. I won't know until I have all the hardware on. As bare wood it seems nicely balanced, maybe a tiny bit neck heavy with the big headstock.
 
#410
Honestly, I've never understood the allure of the traditional huge elephant-ear tuners. They're just way overkill, and way too heavy to hang out on a headstock. I suppose they were the only tuners available back in the dark ages, before Leo had gray hair. But ew, they're pretty awful IMHO.

As @Coolhandjjl said, if you like the look, Hipshots have them without all of the extra weight.
 
#411
ctmullins said:
Honestly, I've never understood the allure of the traditional huge elephant-ear tuners. They're just way overkill, and way too heavy to hang out on a headstock. I suppose they were the only tuners available back in the dark ages, before Leo had gray hair. But ew, they're pretty awful IMHO.

As @Coolhandjjl said, if you like the look, Hipshots have them without all of the extra weight.
Click to expand...

For those of us who grew up during the old days, the best basses had those tuners. I love the look, personally. But yeah, my tuner brand of choice is the Hipshot ultra lights. If I'm going to have the huge elephant ear tuners hanging off my headstock, I want them to weight as little as possible.

10hniv5.jpg
 
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#413
The elephant tuners are part of my whole nostalgia trip on this build, as close as possible to my first bass, with a few technical improvements. The bass will be painted, so after I do a full hardware mockup under string tension so I can level the frets on my fancypants neck jig, we'll see how it hangs. If I have to fill some tuner screw holes its no big deal on a painted bass. I already have a few parts that are getting shunted off to the Hossenfeffer 2 build for my son (he gets the leftovers, heh!), a white pickguard, clear TRC, etc.
 
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#415
If you plan on building more you may want to invest in a reamer to enlarge holes properly (keeping them truly round). Stewmac has them at [Invalid or Expired Link Removed], but you can certainly find them cheaper at machine supply stores.

My 73 Rick 4001 is a little neck heavy, by the way, but not enough that it ever bothered me as long as I had a hand on it.
 
#419
A reamer won't pull out chunks of wood (or finish, if there is any). It is also more precisely controllable. The reamer shaves precisely. Yeah, they are expensive (although cheap ones abound in a Google search, but I can't attest to the quality), but how expensive is the instrument that you are working on? How many ways can you get a drill to screw up (or is that just me?)? You don't want to splinter the wood around the holes. If you do it with a drill be extremely careful that you don't get out of 90-degrees; that's where you'll grip on the edge encourage splintering. Also, try a rat tail file running the drill in reverse so that the teeth don't bite too quickly. If you do get a reamer, get one that matches the taper that you are shooting for (which is why I don't like the super-cheap hardware store reamers that you can get for less than $10). Maybe a step drill would work for you. If you do use a drill bit, it may be a good opportunity to learn how to plug holes and re-drill!
 
#420
On my first couple of builds, I always seemed to have the tuner holes slightly undersized for some reason. I enlarged them by wrapping sandpaper around a dowel - or any cylindrical object slightly smaller than the tuner hole - and turning slowly until the hole was enlarged to the proper size. Need it slightly larger? Add another wrap of sandpaper.
 
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