The Hossenfeffer Bass Build

[Gilmourisgod]

BTW, Are you going to paint it that beautiful sky blue?

Around these parts, we call that BABY blue, and real men wouldn't be caught dead playing such a thing!
Nah, good old fashion hides-all-sins Jetglo black, just like my original 79' 4001 bass. We are into nostalgia tripping here, my friend. This will be my first ever rattlecan paint job, so it may be a "screw it up and sand back to primer" experience. That seems like a long way off given my current build pace, which will only get slower as spring cleanup chores get moving.

 

[PDX Rich]

I love that blue, but you can't go wrong with Jetglo!

 

[Gilmourisgod]

The iconic body shape released from it's Woody Prison (or some such poetic shite):

Cut to within 1/8" of final with a brand new 1/8" bandsaw blade, still burned a little. Dang that rock maple is hard! The offcuts will be perfect glueing cauls.

Clamped the neck flat to my tablesaw to cancel the 1/32" backbow it's developed and then epoxied in the CF stiffeners. Hoping that will get it back to dead flat, but the truss rod or string tension should kill it anyway.

This photo reveals how calling Ric basses "Neck Through" is kind of ridiculous. The bridge pup route leaves a 1/4" thick "bridge" that makes this a glorified set-neck. All the more reason to dowel the body wings to the neck.

A sequencing question:
Should I glue on the headstock wings before or after rough cutting back of headstock profile? The wings will make cuting the volute profile a lot more difficult.

 

[Hopkins]

When you install the fretboard, I would recommend clamping it into a slight forward bow. This will keep it from back bowing when hammering frets. A natural forward bow that you can take out with the truss rod is much better than a natural back bow that you have to rely on string tension or reversing a double action truss rod to get rid of.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Hopkins,
The fingerboard will be bound and inlaid. I've seen some builders complete the whole FB, frets and all, as a separate assembly. Any pros and cons to that approach? I can see waiting until the FB is glued to neck before fretting, but I'm definitely doing binding before glueing down the FB. Any advice on best next step appreciated. I double stick taped the templates to the body wings and started grinding back to line with my Robosander. I think I'll take it back to 1/32" off finish and then do very light passes with a flush trim bit to finish off. The problem with the Robosander is I only have 80 grit sleeves, and it really scores the wood. Hoping the router will leave a smoother finish.

 

[Hopkins]

Hopkins,
The fingerboard will be bound and inlaid. I've seen some builders complete the whole FB, frets and all, as a separate assembly. Any pros and cons to that approach? I can see waiting until the FB is glued to neck before fretting, but I'm definitely doing binding before glueing down the FB. Any advice on best next step appreciated. I double stick taped the templates to the body wings and started grinding back to line with my Robosander. I think I'll take it back to 1/32" off finish and then do very light passes with a flush trim bit to finish off. The problem with the Robosander is I only have 80 grit sleeves, and it really scores the wood. Hoping the router will leave a smoother finish.

Ive seen people fret before gluing the fretboard as well, I have no clue as to the pros and cons to this approach because I have never done it that way. I have always glued the fretboard first then fretted, its one of those it worked fine the first time so I never did it any differently scenarios. The only real problem I could see with fretting the board before gluing it, is that the fretboard wont be strengthened by the neck, and there will be a greater chance of breaking it at one of the fret slots. As far as binding before hand, that will absolutely be fine, and would still allow the neck to be forced into a slight forward bow before gluing the fretboard.

If you have a good sharp flush trim bit, especially a spiral cut bit the router will leave a nice surface.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Taped the body wing templates on and went at it with the Robosander to about 1/32" off my line all around. I found out the hard way that the 80 grit drums score really deep, so you end up having to sand beyond your line to get them out if you sand tight to the template.

I realized my flush cut bit isn't long enough to cut a 1-1/4" thick body, even multiple passes, so I'm shopping for a pattern bit:
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Suggested by Hopkins, and by all accounts, these are excellent, but since they are all bottom bearing, not really designed for a router table use. I don't want to use a handheld router on the wings, too small to support the router. I want to run these through my router table with template down. The ideal bit for my situation would seem to be spiral upcut with a top bearing and 1-1/4" cutting length with 1/4" shank. This does not seem to exist, so I'm looking at these:
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Either the straight top bearing flush trim or the top and bottom bearing flush trim look interesting. They have a shear cut one too, but only in bottom bearing. Any leads or suggestions appreciated.

Epoxied in the CF rods hoping they'd kill my 1/32" backbow, got maybe 1/64" out, guess that will have to be good enough for now. I probably would have had to over-bend it into relief to kill all of it, would have been a crapshoot.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

A frustrating day of setbacks, par for the course I guess. I saw these top and bottom bearing bits on the MLSC website:
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Nice little video showing how, by raising or lowering the bit, you can cut with template top or bottom depending on grain direction to avoid tearout. Looks great, right?
Alas, I am a cheap bastard, so I bought a cheaper version of the same bit on e-bay, a Yonico from precisionbits.com:
Straight & Spiral :: Flush Trim :: Flush Trim Router Bit Top & Bottom Bearing - 1-1/2"H X 1/4" Shank - Yonico 14982
Chucked it in my Crapsman router table and (thank god) tried it out on scrap with my template. Terrifying. It vibrated so badly I could literally see the end fluctuating around. I thought maybe it needs to be in contact with the work to stabilize? Nope, it's defective, vibrated so bad it gouged my template just above the top bearing. Ouch! At least it wan't my maple body wings. I tried it in two other routers, another Crapsman and a Bosch, same hair-raising vibration. Unsafe and unuseable. Has anyone tried one of these bits or other Yonico products? Maybe I just got a plain old defective bit, or maybe its just poorly made Chinese crap, never seen anything that bad right out of the box.

So now I have to repair the gouge in my template, decided I might as well even out a couple low spots on the templates at the same time with some West Epoxy and microlight fairing powder. Sanding templates again, Oh the Joy. Lesson learned (for the hundredth time): Cheap Tools Suck.

 

[mapleglo]

Yeah, router bits are something I don't go cheap on. I'll use cheap clamps, a cheap vise, a cheap drill press, and even cheap drill bits, but router bits spin *really* fast. I'm scared of the router even with good bits.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I wonder if I should try the MLCS version of this bit, or just take really shallow passes with a top bearing straight bit? Really dreading any tearout, but that's why they make Bondo, I suppose. Who makes really good quality router bits for reasonable cost these days? CMT orange bits any good? i have so little time to devote to this that setbacks really frost my cake! My own damn fault for cheaping out.

 

[mapleglo]

In my experience, there are no "reasonably priced" router bits. They are all very expensive. I've had good luck with Freud, Bosch, and Whiteside Machine Co.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I ended up buying a 1/2" dia. x 1" long Freud top bearing straight template bit. The quality of cut is no more than OK, got some tearout about where I expected to. The epoxy with microlight fairing worked great on the templates, may use it again to fill the tearout gouges. I won't use this bit for bodies again, just for simple stuff like pickup pockets. Next time I'll either get a spiral shear-cut bit or a good quality top and bottom bearing bit. Lessons learned the hard way, as usual.

That's it for router work on the body wings, next step is to glue on headstock wings and rough cut headstock.

 

[gsnad2000]

That's looking good!

I almost bought a set of yonico bits off amazon recently, they were temptingly cheap. But I was talked out of it and went with Freud which worked very well. I've also used Whiteside and had very good results with that also.

 

[Robert Canfield]

She's coming together nice.
My band saw's blade isn't robust enough, it keeps wandering on me no matter how slow I go.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Robert
If the blade wanders, the tension is probably too low. I used a 1/8" blade and did a tuneup on the saw to get the blade guides just right using Mark Duginske book "Mastering Woodworking Machines. Its just a cheap old Sears 12" bandsaw, but works better now.

 

[blindrabbit]

Around these parts, we call that BABY blue, and real men wouldn't be caught dead playing such a thing!
Nah, good old fashion hides-all-sins Jetglo black, just like my original 79' 4001 bass. We are into nostalgia tripping here, my friend. This will be my first ever rattlecan paint job, so it may be a "screw it up and sand back to primer" experience. That seems like a long way off given my current build pace, which will only get slower as spring cleanup chores get moving.

Just for fun, how about a trans black or black burst?

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Rabbit
Now that I've gouged it, I guess transparent finishes are out! I have a few small tearouts on the body face too, not sure why as I had brand new blades in the planer. I'm not sure what else I could have done to avoid tearout other than buy better , more expensive router bits.

 

[Robert Canfield]

Rabbit
Now that I've gouged it, I guess transparent finishes are out! I have a few small tearouts on the body face too, not sure why as I had brand new blades in the planer. I'm not sure what else I could have done to avoid tearout other than buy better , more expensive router bits.

 

[mapleglo]

I ended up buying a 1/2" dia. x 1" long Freud top bearing straight template bit. The quality of cut is no more than OK, got some tearout about where I expected to. The epoxy with microlight fairing worked great on the templates, may use it again to fill the tearout gouges. I won't use this bit for bodies again, just for simple stuff like pickup pockets. Next time I'll either get a spiral shear-cut bit or a good quality top and bottom bearing bit. Lessons learned the hard way, as usual.

That's it for router work on the body wings, next step is to glue on headstock wings and rough cut headstock.

On my first build, all maple, I tried using a router to trim the body and headstock with the templates I had made. Major tear out on both pieces, and I even ripped off a piece of the headstock. I never used the router again for final body or headstock shaping. I ended up having to make a new body wing as well, if I recall. So now I just cut the body and headstock with the saw as close as I can, and trim it to size with a drum sander on my drill press. No more tear out or broken pieces. Yeah, there a bit more fine sawdust, but I find it works better.

 

[neurotictim]

^This is why I spend most of my time on here in the Luthier's Corner. Now I will be sawing and sanding final shape. Gilmourisgod, sucks that you have had to learn the hard way, but hopefully it's some consolation that others are learning from you.