I just heard that the Winter 2017-18 build is a walnut theme, so I'm in! Chances of actually finishing it in 2018? Hmmm.......
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The Hossenfeffer II Build
- Thread starter Gilmourisgod
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Do you know any more details, or just that walnut must be incorporated in some way?
That's all i've heard so far, discussion about it here:
Winter 2017 Bass Build off - Voting Final
I'm doing the walnut bass regardless, but it would be cool to glom onto the winter build. Got any old walnut furniture you could hack up?
Ronald, I'm pretty much set on having walnut as part of the theme for this coming winter build off. I put this out there to give people time to save up/look for/purchase the walnut they want to use. I know some people like to plan and have the materials on hand. It would be unfortunate to have to wait a couple weeks after the build off started to start yours because you didn't have the materials. I'll be looking for both the body and neck to be made mostly of Walnut. Stringers and accent laminates of a different wood will be acceptable.
That's about all I want to put out there right now.
Cheers
Cool, thanks for the info, Scoops! I'm in the middle of a new build right now, but I may go pick up some walnut boards this summer, just in case I feel like freezing in the garage this winter!
As the Hossenfeffer I build finally wheezes to a close (almost) I took a break from buffing to re-make my template for the HF II with a continuous-taper neck beam. I buit the Hossenfeffer I with a neck parallel to the centerline as it passed through the body, which produced no end of pain and suffering. Now that I'm 4 years older and wiser..... fu*ck that. This will be WAY easier.
And here's the obligatory wood-porn shot, we have two roughly book-matched 1/4" thick crotch mahogany flitches (donated by a very generous and highly skilled TB'er, you know who you are!) that will form the body wing and headstock tops, a 1" thick walnut stair tread cast-off for the walnut body wind bottoms, and a lovely 1-1/8" thick plank of curly rock maple for the neck, which will have one or two walnut stringers laminated down the center of the neck.
I had resigned myself to having to mail-order some overpriced maple again, but stumbled on a local cabinet/millwork shop right under my nose that sells the odd piece of figured wood. I got this plank, 1-1/8" x 6" x 9' for $50, which counts as a good deal in these parts. Nice edge curl there, this will be oriented to show on bottom face neck.
And here's the obligatory wood-porn shot, we have two roughly book-matched 1/4" thick crotch mahogany flitches (donated by a very generous and highly skilled TB'er, you know who you are!) that will form the body wing and headstock tops, a 1" thick walnut stair tread cast-off for the walnut body wind bottoms, and a lovely 1-1/8" thick plank of curly rock maple for the neck, which will have one or two walnut stringers laminated down the center of the neck.
I had resigned myself to having to mail-order some overpriced maple again, but stumbled on a local cabinet/millwork shop right under my nose that sells the odd piece of figured wood. I got this plank, 1-1/8" x 6" x 9' for $50, which counts as a good deal in these parts. Nice edge curl there, this will be oriented to show on bottom face neck.
I always figured that Ric did the continous taper thing because it was easier, not because it looked better...
Your wood choices look great!
-Jake
Your wood choices look great!
-Jake
Instead of another exact copy of a RIC trademark, why not advance the design to where RIC could or should take it. 24 frets on a deeper, swoopier cutaway would change the body shape significantly, while retaining obvious RIC styling clues. Then apply the same styling cues to the headstock. Add a J-bass style nut, and 4002 pickup placement with similarly styled pickguard, and I'd buy one! Better yet, send me a copy of your 1:1 design and I'll do the restyle. By the way, my custom wiring harnesses are only a few $$$ more than RIC's, come assembled, and don't have any of their inherent design flaws.
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Second and last clone build, because my son wants one too! This will be his graduation present from Mass Maritime if I can finish it it time. I will be having you build the harness for me, stay tuned..
So here's the obligatory neck lamination shots, nothing glued up yet. I had some nicely figured walnut for the 1/8" laminations, and a lovely curly maple board for center stringer and main neck beams. They developed a bit of warp after cutting, must have released some interior tension, but I think the clamping and glue will cancel that out. Interesting how different my mindset is on this one, I can picture every step in my head without a lot of angst or worry. The main challenge will be sequence of events related to the crotch walnut top lamination, I have to figure out the wiring channels ahead of time, no pickguard to conceal anything.
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Wait a minute.... Mahogany wings and headstock, 5 layer Maple-Walnut laminated neck? That sounds kinda familiar...
Walnut body and headstock wings, both with crotch mahogany caps, so it will be at least a little different than yours!
That crotch Mahogany and the walnut are much prettier than my veneers. I hope you're not going to put a pickguard on it.
Bite your tongue off! No pickguard, see slightly cartoony image first post this thread. I was thinking curly walnut tops at first, was gifted the crotch walnut.
You can't beat a good bit of free crotch!.......errrrrm....
Ye Olde neck lam glue-up. Overdid it a little on the glue, resulting in drippy mess. Per usual, using my saw table and fence as straight clamping surfaces.
Got the neck jointed and planed square and flat about 1/64" over final thickness. It's dead flat and straight, for now at least.
I had a bit of trouble with tearout on the curly maple. I've never worked with it before, tried all the obvious stuff like super light cuts, reversing feed direction, etc. Unfortunately some of these gouges are a full 1/32" deep, so there goes my sanding allowance. The worst of them can be located in the neck carve area, but I still have to shave at least 1/32" off the beam thickness where it it will be exposed and un-carved passing through the body.
I'm thinking my best bet to erase the tearout is with a straight cut bit in my router jig, set to take an extremely fine cut, if anybody has any suggestions on how to machine this curly maple without tearout, please weigh in. I could use my card scraper, but I find I tend to produce slightly radius surfaces at beginning and end of stroke, at least with the router, I know it will be a consistent cut.
Got the neck jointed and planed square and flat about 1/64" over final thickness. It's dead flat and straight, for now at least.
I had a bit of trouble with tearout on the curly maple. I've never worked with it before, tried all the obvious stuff like super light cuts, reversing feed direction, etc. Unfortunately some of these gouges are a full 1/32" deep, so there goes my sanding allowance. The worst of them can be located in the neck carve area, but I still have to shave at least 1/32" off the beam thickness where it it will be exposed and un-carved passing through the body.
I'm thinking my best bet to erase the tearout is with a straight cut bit in my router jig, set to take an extremely fine cut, if anybody has any suggestions on how to machine this curly maple without tearout, please weigh in. I could use my card scraper, but I find I tend to produce slightly radius surfaces at beginning and end of stroke, at least with the router, I know it will be a consistent cut.
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The one tool I use that never results in tearout is sandpaper in a good sanding block. A hand plane would work too, but I'm still shopping for one.
Thanks All, I think I can orient the beam so the worst tearout gets carved off the neck, I’ll just have to sand or card-scrape the rest out. Glad I didn’t have at it with a router and make things worse.
You could plane it out with a long hand plane going downhill. Tearout appears when you plane uphill - same with a router or electric planer.
I don't know what grain direction you have on the other piece of maple, if they go in the same direction, you are safe, if not, you would have to plane in very shallow passes, with a pretty much closed mouth of the plane and gliding the plane at an angle. An extremely sharp blade (polished on a strop) is essential here.
I don't know what grain direction you have on the other piece of maple, if they go in the same direction, you are safe, if not, you would have to plane in very shallow passes, with a pretty much closed mouth of the plane and gliding the plane at an angle. An extremely sharp blade (polished on a strop) is essential here.
There doesn’t seem to be a dominant grain direction, it switches back and forth, so it doesn’t matter which way you machine plane it, still tears out. Alas, I lack the hand planes and skill to use them! Might have to learn on this one. I’m probably going to have to bandsaw and sand the headstock flats, obviously a router won’t work.
