We've all been there - it's all about the learning and improving. Every instrument I've made has had at least one oops - some recoverable, some not so much.
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The Rickenbarner - my first fully scratch-build!
- Thread starter RaniBrandt
- Start date
From what I see the main problem is with the band saw, not you. I would bet money the blade on that saw is incredibly dull and/or too thin for cutting nearly 3" of wood. Buy a Timber Wolf 1/2" x 4PC blade and you will cut like a pro.
Damn, that's painful, but sometimes you are better off starting over. At least the wings aren't glued on yet. Let's see how philosophical I can remain if this happens on my build too! I tried cutting my body wing profiles on a bandsaw with a dull 1/4" blade (On scrap first, thank god), and it burned the hell out of it and wandered badly. I ended up using a new 1/8" blade, still burned a little, but didn't wander.
Trying to get back on track here, so here's another neck glue-up:
As you can see in the next photo, I made a wider walnut stripe (about a full inch), mainly so I didn't have to buy more maple. The leftover bits were not as wide as I'd hoped, but I had just enough to get to exactly 2 1/4" total width, so I'm happy with that. Here's the new neck next to the body bits:
And it looks like we've got another bleeder! I'm not even sure how this happened, I just found it when I came in the house:
As you can see in the next photo, I made a wider walnut stripe (about a full inch), mainly so I didn't have to buy more maple. The leftover bits were not as wide as I'd hoped, but I had just enough to get to exactly 2 1/4" total width, so I'm happy with that. Here's the new neck next to the body bits:
And it looks like we've got another bleeder! I'm not even sure how this happened, I just found it when I came in the house:
It just required a little blood sacrifice; this neck should be perfect now 
I make it a rule that I bleed at least once, every time I use more than one tool in a sitting. The woodworking goddess' demand it, and they will be fulfilled.
Its weird, but I never feel cuts when I'm working on something, I only realize I'm bleeding when I see it on the wood (soaks into endgrain really nicely). New neck blank looks good, I think it will look great with walnut headstock wings. Should be plenty stable as a three piece. The more I see this build, the more I wish id done a 4003w build, alas, that ship has sailed. Next time!
Blood, sweat and tears...it's all in there bud. Every hand crafted bass build has these elements!
After a couple of days spent repairing my mower deck, I finally got a little work done on the bass. First, I used my backup drawing as a reference to draw the side profile of the neck directly onto the wood:
Then, I routed the truss rod channel, and it fits like a glove:
I also made the first step to radiusing the fretboard, by making a circle cutting jig for my router, which will be used to make a 10" radius jig:
That's all for today!
Then, I routed the truss rod channel, and it fits like a glove:
I also made the first step to radiusing the fretboard, by making a circle cutting jig for my router, which will be used to make a 10" radius jig:
That's all for today!
Got a good amount of stuff done on the new neck today. I blocked up the neck at an angle so I could plane the back side of the headstock down with the router:
After planing:
Then I used the ROSS to smooth out the back side of the volute:
I did the more or less the same process for the front side of the headstock (forgot to photograph that, though). Then I ran the neck through the ROSS about ten times to get it down close to final thickness before carving:
I gotta say I'm very happy with the way this one is coming out. The band saw can suck it!
After planing:
Then I used the ROSS to smooth out the back side of the volute:
I did the more or less the same process for the front side of the headstock (forgot to photograph that, though). Then I ran the neck through the ROSS about ten times to get it down close to final thickness before carving:
I gotta say I'm very happy with the way this one is coming out. The band saw can suck it!
I didn't get much done today, but any progress is good, so here ya go.
Gluing up the headstock wings:
A quick look at what it'll become, just to keep the eyes on the prize:
And lastly, the headstock paper template glued on:
Gluing up the headstock wings:
A quick look at what it'll become, just to keep the eyes on the prize:
And lastly, the headstock paper template glued on:
Well, I made another flub on the neck this morning. I was attempting to rout the neck taper by using a long, thick metal ruler as a template, as shown here:
Everything was going well until the very last pass, when apparently the bit slipped in the chuck by a millimeter or so, causing it to cut into the ruler (and the neck, of course):
Now there is going to be a gap between this section and the lower body wing. Luckily, it's on the back, and only spans a couple of inches. What I'll probably have to do is build up that area with epoxy and maple sawdust, then sand it flat before gluing up the wings. I guess it's nothing major, but a pain in the butt nonetheless.
Everything was going well until the very last pass, when apparently the bit slipped in the chuck by a millimeter or so, causing it to cut into the ruler (and the neck, of course):
Now there is going to be a gap between this section and the lower body wing. Luckily, it's on the back, and only spans a couple of inches. What I'll probably have to do is build up that area with epoxy and maple sawdust, then sand it flat before gluing up the wings. I guess it's nothing major, but a pain in the butt nonetheless.
Updates coming soon, but in the meantime, my band's first single/mini-EP is out!
thefulcrum.bandcamp.com
thefulcrum.bandcamp.com
I decided to go a different way with the gap in the neck problem. I planed down the gap on the one side, then planed down the other side to match. Since that left the neck too narrow overall, I added a strip of walnut on both sides, like so:
Leaving me with this:
The strips go all the way up to the nut, as you can see here:
Here's the neck after routing clean the overhang on front and back:
And once that was fixed, I taped off the truss rod area and added staple prongs to keep the fretboard in place:
And then glued the fretboard on:
That's it for now!
Leaving me with this:
The strips go all the way up to the nut, as you can see here:
Here's the neck after routing clean the overhang on front and back:
And once that was fixed, I taped off the truss rod area and added staple prongs to keep the fretboard in place:
And then glued the fretboard on:
That's it for now!
I decided to skip trying to rout the radius, and went with the sanding method instead:
It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would:
Now it's really starting to look like a bass:
It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would:
Now it's really starting to look like a bass:
Thanks, Gilmourisgod! I was able to get a lot done today. I drilled the fret marker holes:
Plugged the holes with walnut dowels:
Started carving the neck with a spokeshave and random orbital sander:
It's still a little thick, but it's coming along nicely. Not bad for a day's work, and I even got some time at the beach, too!
Plugged the holes with walnut dowels:
Started carving the neck with a spokeshave and random orbital sander:
It's still a little thick, but it's coming along nicely. Not bad for a day's work, and I even got some time at the beach, too!
