It's a cool setup, and makes sense in theory. Have you thought about getting some extroooded alooominooom and making a few mods to it?
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The Hossenfeffer IV Build
- Thread starter Gilmourisgod
- Start date
That is one cool looking bass! I might have to make me over of those...
The main problem is rigidity of the main beam. The Vinson plans just have it as a 2x4, but that is NOT stiff enough. I laminated piece of plywood to one side, which made it.... still not quite stiff enough. In retropect, I should have used a piece of scavenged LVL or Parallam. This might be one of those Stewmac tools that nobody really needs, somehow Luthiers got along without them for generations, but since I made it.. might as well use it.
Not much progress this week, family obligations and whatnot, but I did get the frets leveled and polished, and a brass nut made. This is the first one I've made from scratch, so I made a few mistakes. In retrospect, I think the E string needs to be set at 5/32" from the edge, not 1/8", and I filed a little too much off the top of the nut, the A string seems to want to pop up out of it's slot if I play hard. The strings are supposed to be about 1/2 their diameter into the nut, these are riding more like 1/3. Sigh... probably re-making the nut again, but at least I learned a few things about making a brass nut. Namely: unless you are doing something unusual, just buy a pre-slotted brass nut and alter as needed, I spent WAY too much time making this only to have it not work well.
On another note, I bought a couple of these chrome knurled knobs from Q-Parts, very nice quality. They had one style with Faux tortoise shell inserts, at my request, they left them loose. It occurred to me that since I have a couple of the MOP stars left from the fingerboard inlays, I could make a couple walnut inserts and inlay stars into them. Worst case scenario if I botch it is using the tort inserts, but I'll give it a shot. As luck would have it, the inserts are exactly 5/8" diameter. The challenge will be getting the inserts thin enough, something like 3/32" thick which is about what the MOP stars are. My plan is to leave the plugs long, set into a backer board flush, and use my dremel router to cut the star recesses. I'll keep trying until I get it perfect, I only have (3) extra stars. I think this will look cool, and tie the hardware togehter with the neck somewhat. My other option is to use Bubinga inserts to match the fingerboard. Any opinions on this?
I don't own any plug cutters, so I spent $4.99 at Harbor Freight on a set of what may be the most worthless tools I have ever purchased. You can see the slightly charred result of the walnut plug, these things are so dull right out of the package that any attempt to actually USE them resulted in smoke and blue heat damage to the bit itself. I cut two plugs with minimal pressure and frequent stops to let the bit cool off, it was almost gnawing it's way through the wood by pure friction alone. This one is going back to HF so they can dispose of these properly.
On another note, I bought a couple of these chrome knurled knobs from Q-Parts, very nice quality. They had one style with Faux tortoise shell inserts, at my request, they left them loose. It occurred to me that since I have a couple of the MOP stars left from the fingerboard inlays, I could make a couple walnut inserts and inlay stars into them. Worst case scenario if I botch it is using the tort inserts, but I'll give it a shot. As luck would have it, the inserts are exactly 5/8" diameter. The challenge will be getting the inserts thin enough, something like 3/32" thick which is about what the MOP stars are. My plan is to leave the plugs long, set into a backer board flush, and use my dremel router to cut the star recesses. I'll keep trying until I get it perfect, I only have (3) extra stars. I think this will look cool, and tie the hardware togehter with the neck somewhat. My other option is to use Bubinga inserts to match the fingerboard. Any opinions on this?
I don't own any plug cutters, so I spent $4.99 at Harbor Freight on a set of what may be the most worthless tools I have ever purchased. You can see the slightly charred result of the walnut plug, these things are so dull right out of the package that any attempt to actually USE them resulted in smoke and blue heat damage to the bit itself. I cut two plugs with minimal pressure and frequent stops to let the bit cool off, it was almost gnawing it's way through the wood by pure friction alone. This one is going back to HF so they can dispose of these properly.
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Which is why I haven't bought anything from HF in years. Even though StewMac is hopelessly overpriced, at least the quality is there.
I love the star idea, that sounds very cool. 
I had some plug cutters like that from canadian tire, which carries a wide range of tools from crap to quality, so HF quality stuff happens all the time. In my case, they did the same thing as those, so with nothing left to lose, I got them red-hot and quenched them in oil and I'll be damned if they aren't way better. I honestly wonder if they were annealed and then manufactured, but never heat treated to bring back the hardness.
I had some plug cutters like that from canadian tire, which carries a wide range of tools from crap to quality, so HF quality stuff happens all the time. In my case, they did the same thing as those, so with nothing left to lose, I got them red-hot and quenched them in oil and I'll be damned if they aren't way better. I honestly wonder if they were annealed and then manufactured, but never heat treated to bring back the hardness.
HF is good when quality isn't the overriding concern. The tool cases, straightedges, screwdrivers, spring clamps, Xacto knife handles, broomsticks and random other things I've gotten there are okay; they're things for which I'd buy the same bottom-shelf items somewhere else but they're cheaper at HF. When the manufacturing quality or accuracy matter more, that's when HF is worth a miss.
Harbor Freight also has the occasional outlier too; items that work better than you'd expect. I got vernier calipers there after they had been recommended by Sheldon Brown in a mailing list (unfortunately I don't think the model is stocked any more). iirc Bruce frequently talks up the paint sprayer they sell.
I usually only buy stuff that's identical to what you find at local hardware stores (like zip ties, bungy cords, etc.) , just less expensive at HF. I couldn't think of a reason I'd need a 5/8" dia. plug cutter in the future, so figured I'd take a chance. Chance taken = FAIL. These things are literally dangerous to use, a fire hazard. I bought a buffer from them a few years ago to polish my boat, and that still runs, so I got my money's worth out of it anyway. Same for an oscillating cutter I'll probably use once, ever.
Actually, I also have a buffer I bought from them years ago, and it's still running. Last time I checked, anyway. So yeah, they're not all bad.
The HF parallel clamps are actually very highly rated, and a fraction of the cost of what you find elsewhere. FWIW.
I find pretty much all of their clamps are worth buying at that price, it's a good way to get started on a clamp collection.
HF isn't all bad, I buy a lot of things there. But I totally understand your view of that plug cutter. My wife was a Cornwell Tools dealer for almost 4 years, her dad was a Cornwell dealer for something like 14 years. So they both have a very different opinion of HF. I think that's kind of how everything is really. We all have differing opinions of StewMac as well. It is what it is. No harm in taking the chance on the plug cutter. I wonder if you could return it, or if the price isn't worth bothering with driving over there.
I find pretty much all of their clamps are worth buying at that price, it's a good way to get started on a clamp collection.
HF isn't all bad, I buy a lot of things there. But I totally understand your view of that plug cutter. My wife was a Cornwell Tools dealer for almost 4 years, her dad was a Cornwell dealer for something like 14 years. So they both have a very different opinion of HF. I think that's kind of how everything is really. We all have differing opinions of StewMac as well. It is what it is. No harm in taking the chance on the plug cutter. I wonder if you could return it, or if the price isn't worth bothering with driving over there.
Despite the crappy HF plug cutters, it worked. Not perfect (star inlays are HARD), but I hope Lemmy would approve. These MOP stars are hand-made in Vietnam, so each one is slightly unique. Took me about three hours total to make the walnut insets. The best I'm capable of anyway, so I'm pretty happy how they turned out.
Yeah, that's the kind of thing you play at the Grand Ol' Opry. 
