Out of respect to the OP and his thread, I won't go into details...you may pm me for info ;^)
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The Hossenfeffer Bass Build
- Thread starter Gilmourisgod
- Start date
Does anyone out there have any info on required depth of routes for Ric bridge, pickup, and control cavities? I have the footprints for the routes worked out fairly well, but depths is another issue. My plan is to thickness plane the body wings and, leaving them rectangular and oversized for now, attach them to the neck beam with doublestick tape. This will give me square references off centerline and a wide area for the router to ride on. The Ric neck pup pocket looks hugely oversize on most basses, which undermines the neck beam at its weakest point. Id like to avoid that with the absolute minimum depth route needed for pup vertical adjustment. The neck pup magnet is a little lower but much narrower than the pup itself, I figured on a stepped route at two depths. Advice or suggestions appreciated.
Unfortunate you didn't ask this a month or so ago, when I had my Jetglo apart swapping out the pick guard and bridge pickup - I could've taken measurements at that time. I should have my Mapleglo 4003 here in a week or so, and I'll likely try a few pickup configurations on it to see which way it sounds the best. I'll be sure to take measurements then. In the mean time, here's a pic of the stock bridge pickup. The rout will have to be close to an inch deep, regardless of the position setting of the pickup - the two adjustment screws are just under an inch deep.
Sorry about the mess on my work table.
Thanks Maple! The one I'm really trying to shave my way down to is the neck pup. Aceonbass hooked me up with stock hi-gains, but I'm not sure how close they need to be to strings to work properly. I know the stock Ric pup routes are a bit oversize. If you have time, just a measurement from top of pups to bottom of string on your 4003 at height that seems to work well would be great. I can't imagine they'd need more than 1/8" adjustment upper or down from that point, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm realizing that by the time you hog out pup and bridge routes, this may as well be a set neck. The bridge pup route alone entirely bisects the neck beam except for 1/4" at the bottom.
Xaxxat
Thanks for the diagram, I have the pickups, so setting the depth of the routes is actually more to do with how close they should be to the strings. I found a starting figure of 5/32" on RRF, guess that's a decent starting point. The one number I can't find anywhere is the control cavity depth. Id like to set it up for the option to use the push/pull vintage/modern tone pot, which looks deeper than a standard pot. The body is 1-1/4" thick, so maybe 3/4" deep control cavity?
Thanks for the diagram, I have the pickups, so setting the depth of the routes is actually more to do with how close they should be to the strings. I found a starting figure of 5/32" on RRF, guess that's a decent starting point. The one number I can't find anywhere is the control cavity depth. Id like to set it up for the option to use the push/pull vintage/modern tone pot, which looks deeper than a standard pot. The body is 1-1/4" thick, so maybe 3/4" deep control cavity?
Attachments
The push-pulls I have are about 25mm tall, 28mm if you include the grounding tab on switch casing.
Robert, You are the man! Plugging that into my design now. Thanks a lot! 25mm rounds up to just under 1" , if the push pull pot is 25-28mm, I may as well set the cavity depth at an even 1", which leaves me a 1/4" thick cavity floor. Thanks to Jon Clegg for the pot dimensions.
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I put a picture of my bridge in there. It looks horrible. I replaced the R bridge because I couldn't adjust the intonation. I got the idea from Geddy Lee.
You could always pretty it up a bit with a wood inlay to match the fingerboard
Robert
I'm betting a Hipshot Ric bridge would cover the bridge recess completely and really dress that up. It looks like the neck pup cavity was hogged out for humbuckers?
I'm betting a Hipshot Ric bridge would cover the bridge recess completely and really dress that up. It looks like the neck pup cavity was hogged out for humbuckers?
That's a good idea. It's been that way for 30 years though. If anything, I would like to get the original bridge to function. Maybe move it back a couple mils. I also need to replace the upper half of the pick guard. It's cracked and the pickup hole is shaped for a standard gtr hum bucker. In the 80's I didn't care about "retro", everything had to be modded.
Yes it did Gil. At one point I had EMG jazz PUPs in it. When I put the Ric PUPs back in (5yr ago), I wondered why I ever took them out? They sound great! The only thing I don't like is the hard POP when the string hits the pole piece.
A bit more progress today:
Cut side wing plank to 6" width to flatten on my jointer. I am hoping to use the offcuts as glueing cauls if I can cut close enough to my body lines. I have a lunchbox planer, but it snipes pretty bad and I couldn't afford to waste any board length on snipe. I totally and shamelessley stole this idea by GMC about using a sacrificial board run through the planer along with my maple plank to take the snipe on the ends.
Bass8 Diary Of Contruction page 1
In GMC's words, this "worked a treat"! I jointed a 2x4 and stuck the square edge to my maple board with doublestick tape so the two could be handled as a single board. I can't believe I never thought of this before. Thanks GMC!
I drilled three 3/8" dowels per side on body wings and neck beam, more as registration devices than anything structural. This will keep everything lined up as a I route for the pickup, bridge, and control cavities. They all fall outside the body routes.
Starting to look vaguely bass-like. Loosely doweled together, this gives me a nice wide/flat base to route cavities into.
Dang this is fun, wish I had more than 3 hours a week to work on it!
Cut side wing plank to 6" width to flatten on my jointer. I am hoping to use the offcuts as glueing cauls if I can cut close enough to my body lines. I have a lunchbox planer, but it snipes pretty bad and I couldn't afford to waste any board length on snipe. I totally and shamelessley stole this idea by GMC about using a sacrificial board run through the planer along with my maple plank to take the snipe on the ends.
Bass8 Diary Of Contruction page 1
In GMC's words, this "worked a treat"! I jointed a 2x4 and stuck the square edge to my maple board with doublestick tape so the two could be handled as a single board. I can't believe I never thought of this before. Thanks GMC!
I drilled three 3/8" dowels per side on body wings and neck beam, more as registration devices than anything structural. This will keep everything lined up as a I route for the pickup, bridge, and control cavities. They all fall outside the body routes.
Starting to look vaguely bass-like. Loosely doweled together, this gives me a nice wide/flat base to route cavities into.
Dang this is fun, wish I had more than 3 hours a week to work on it!
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A bit more progress today:
Cut side wing plank to 6" width to flatten on my jointer. I am hoping to use the offcuts as glueing cauls if I can cut close enough to my body lines. I have a lunchbox planer, but it snipes pretty bad and I couldn't afford to waste any board length on snipe. I totally and shamelessley stole this idea by GMC about using a sacrificial board run through the planer along with my maple plank to take the snipe on the ends.
Bass8 Diary Of Contruction page 1
In GMC's words, this "worked a treat"! I jointed a 2x4 and stuck the square edge to my maple board with doublestick tape so the two could be handled as a single board. I can't believe I never thought of this before. Thanks GMC!
I drilled three 3/8" dowels per side on body wings and neck beam, more as registration devices than anything structural. This will keep everything lined up as a I route for the pickup, bridge, and control cavities. They all fall outside the body routes.
Starting to look vaguely bass-like. Loosely doweled together, this gives me a nice wide/flat bass to route cavities into.
Dang this is fun, wish I had more than 3 hours a week to work on it!
Your welcome, here to help
Gareth
BTW, nice build....keep it comming. The good, the bad, the ugly and the subsequent work arounds...
A small step in the greater scheme, but it took me a while, purely due to sucking at template making, but finally got the pup, bridge, and control cavity routes done. A PITA, because the neck pup and bridge are two-stage routes. I kept the neck pup route as shallow as practical to avoid the "swimming pool" that seriously weakens the neck joint on some Ric basses. Still have to drill through for bridge ground and bridge pup wiring.
Trying to decide i f I should cut out wings necks or taper neck?
Trying to decide i f I should cut out wings necks or taper neck?
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