Yet another reason why I love TalkBass. Sub'd. And thank you for the detailed progress. I have long been wanting to try my hand at my own build, and it's threads like this that is helping fuel my confidence.
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Walnut wishes, and six string dreams
- Thread starter Big B.
- Start date
Thanks man.
Thanks for following! I haven't completely decided yet. I have a neo 6 and a sidewinder 6 set in the works from David at SGD but with him being behind schedule its uncertain when they will arrive. (Before anyone wants to get into David's business here... don't. We have a mutually agreed arrangement and I don't want that in my thread. Thanks.
)I used Delano pickups and electronics on my last bass and was blown away with the tone but the price kind of hurts. If the SGD's don't come in time I'm considering a set of quadcoil Delano soapbars and a sonar
pre with mid switch. If the SGD's are available I may still go with the sonar pre. If price becomes more of an issue, I played Barts for years and could easily be happy with Bart pickups and pre. I've seen your pickups posts and you are clearly more in touch with the different products than me. Feel free to throw out ideas if you have them.
Aaaaaand we have hardware!
The bridge is a brass Hipshot A type with 18mm string spacing. I have recently started using the 1/2" diameter tuners opposed to the 3/8" tuners I was using before. I like the look and the strings wind more easily around the larger posts.
I've been concentrating on some other projects while waiting to get the hardware. Now I can get back to this bass and make some progress.
Next up is getting the neck attached to the body. First I mark the place of the neck bolts and drill a pilot hole through each point with a 1/16" drill bit.
I use a 3/4" forstner bit to drill for the bolt heads.
Next I used the pilot holes to drill through for the bolt shanks.
With the body drilled I turn my attention to the neck and the metal inserts. I clamp the neck into the pocket and with my hand I use a brad point bit through the bolt holes in the body to mark the placement of the inserts. I then clamp the neck in place and drill out for the inserts. First the larger hole for the rim, and using the centerpoint left by the forstner bit I drill out for the shank.
Next I work some epoxy onto the edge of the holes and then using a clamp I press in the inserts. I like to leave the inserts just above the surface and then level them back with a heavy file. This leaves a nice, uniform look to the inserts.
With everything drilled and complete the neck can be attached and I can see my baby taking shape.
The bridge is a brass Hipshot A type with 18mm string spacing. I have recently started using the 1/2" diameter tuners opposed to the 3/8" tuners I was using before. I like the look and the strings wind more easily around the larger posts.
I've been concentrating on some other projects while waiting to get the hardware. Now I can get back to this bass and make some progress.
Next up is getting the neck attached to the body. First I mark the place of the neck bolts and drill a pilot hole through each point with a 1/16" drill bit.
I use a 3/4" forstner bit to drill for the bolt heads.
Next I used the pilot holes to drill through for the bolt shanks.
With the body drilled I turn my attention to the neck and the metal inserts. I clamp the neck into the pocket and with my hand I use a brad point bit through the bolt holes in the body to mark the placement of the inserts. I then clamp the neck in place and drill out for the inserts. First the larger hole for the rim, and using the centerpoint left by the forstner bit I drill out for the shank.
Next I work some epoxy onto the edge of the holes and then using a clamp I press in the inserts. I like to leave the inserts just above the surface and then level them back with a heavy file. This leaves a nice, uniform look to the inserts.
With everything drilled and complete the neck can be attached and I can see my baby taking shape.
Last edited by a moderator:
Hopkins
Commercial User
I just get them at Lowe's. They are in the pullout bins in the screw and nail aisle. I found them in Atlanta, Alabama and Austin so I think they are storewide. If you look at the front of the pullout bins they will have pictures on the front showing what is in each bin. I wouldn't mind finding a different source for the bolts as they are a bit soft (brass possibly) and strip out rather easily but they work well enough if you are careful. The inserts though are great and they really lock the bolts when tight.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Hi folks. I've been MIA from the luthiers corner for a while but as I'm finishing some new projects I hope to update some old threads and show some new stuff too. As I look through my old threads all my photo links are broken (photobucket). I haven't posted any new photos since talkbass changed format a while back (which I hate) and it seems this may have started around that time. Did anyone else have an issue like this? I put many hours into those threads and I would be very disappointed if I can't get them back being viewable. I'm not very handy with computers so I hope one of you fine folks might have some ideas.
Hopkins
Commercial User
The broken links shouldn't have anything to do with the TB update. Linking pics still uses the same code.
Well it's been a while since I posted any progress but I'll just start where we left off. I believe when we last met I had epoxied in the metal inserts for the neck and drilled the body for the connecting bolts. Something like this.
With the hardware in hand I can drill the holes for the tuning keys. I clamp a piece of mdf to the back of the headstock to avoid tearout.
While we are doing hardware we'll go ahead and place the bridge.
Yes, those are frets, we'll get there in the next post.
The next step is to route a channel for the truss rod adjustment. I used a vertical door panel bit that has the profile I'm looking for.
Next I measured the distance from the center of the bit to the outside of the router plate and clamp a straight edge to the body as a guide.
I then just cut a small channel into the body to allow access to the truss rod. I made the cut in two passes to avoid leaving burns on the final surface.
With the neck in place as a reference.
Next time we'll radius the fingerboard and place the frets.
With the hardware in hand I can drill the holes for the tuning keys. I clamp a piece of mdf to the back of the headstock to avoid tearout.
While we are doing hardware we'll go ahead and place the bridge.
Yes, those are frets, we'll get there in the next post.
The next step is to route a channel for the truss rod adjustment. I used a vertical door panel bit that has the profile I'm looking for.
Next I measured the distance from the center of the bit to the outside of the router plate and clamp a straight edge to the body as a guide.
I then just cut a small channel into the body to allow access to the truss rod. I made the cut in two passes to avoid leaving burns on the final surface.
With the neck in place as a reference.
Next time we'll radius the fingerboard and place the frets.
Hopkins
Commercial User
It's good to see you active on the forum again B, looking forward to your build posts.
I pick up a shop trick, jig idea, or just plain inspiration every time one of Big B's threads pops up.
It's been like waiting for the next season of my favorite show! Glad to see you are back.
It's been like waiting for the next season of my favorite show! Glad to see you are back.
Shucks guys, you're making me blush here. I'm glad to be back again. I've been working on instruments here and there but just recently I've really had the time and resources to get back into it steadily. I'm also glad to hear that my posts have been helpful for others. That gives me a lot of motivation to keep it up.
Now it's about time to radius and fret the board so we'll cover a bit of that. To begin with I like to rough the radius out on my jointer. I start by making very shallow cuts on the edge of the fingerboard and working my way to the middle. As I get to the middle the cut gets closer to the centerline, leaving a roughly cone shaped fingerboard.
This is a hard process to describe and takes a lot of feel so you'll just have to take my word for it. This also pretty much requires a helical head machine as the straight knives tend to blow out the grain into the fret slots.
Once I'm happy with the rough shape I use a 20' radius block to sand the facets left from the jointer into a smooth compound radius. I start by making pencil marks to show any low spots.
Here you can see the pencil marks are not entirely gone yet.
I also use a long straightedge to check the string paths as I go. Once the initial radius is sanded in at 120 grit I work my way up through 150-180-220 grit paper to smooth out the surface. Once the radius is done It's a simple matter to tap in the frets and trim the ends.
I didn't take many pictures during this process so I can't offer a ton of detail. Once fretted I decided to carve the neck profile. I've gone about carving necks with several different techniques and have come back to the facet method of carving that is most common. I start by drawing guidelines to carve to and then removing the excess material between the lines.
Again, I'm short on progress pictures so for now you'll just have to take my word that it works. I do the rough carving with a Shinto saw rasp and then finish the roughing with a dragon rasp. The rasp cleans the saw rasp cuts and allows for minimal sanding to smooth out the neck.
Now is also a great time to drill the holes for the string ferrules on the back. I don't think string through body makes a difference in sound but some customers want it so I decided to include it in this bass.
With the ferrules installed and the neck carved I can assemble the bass and see what we are working with.
All things considered it plays well with very low action. A few buzzes here and there but nothing a bit of touch up won't fix.
Now it's about time to radius and fret the board so we'll cover a bit of that. To begin with I like to rough the radius out on my jointer. I start by making very shallow cuts on the edge of the fingerboard and working my way to the middle. As I get to the middle the cut gets closer to the centerline, leaving a roughly cone shaped fingerboard.
This is a hard process to describe and takes a lot of feel so you'll just have to take my word for it. This also pretty much requires a helical head machine as the straight knives tend to blow out the grain into the fret slots.
Once I'm happy with the rough shape I use a 20' radius block to sand the facets left from the jointer into a smooth compound radius. I start by making pencil marks to show any low spots.
Here you can see the pencil marks are not entirely gone yet.
I also use a long straightedge to check the string paths as I go. Once the initial radius is sanded in at 120 grit I work my way up through 150-180-220 grit paper to smooth out the surface. Once the radius is done It's a simple matter to tap in the frets and trim the ends.
I didn't take many pictures during this process so I can't offer a ton of detail. Once fretted I decided to carve the neck profile. I've gone about carving necks with several different techniques and have come back to the facet method of carving that is most common. I start by drawing guidelines to carve to and then removing the excess material between the lines.
Again, I'm short on progress pictures so for now you'll just have to take my word that it works. I do the rough carving with a Shinto saw rasp and then finish the roughing with a dragon rasp. The rasp cleans the saw rasp cuts and allows for minimal sanding to smooth out the neck.
Now is also a great time to drill the holes for the string ferrules on the back. I don't think string through body makes a difference in sound but some customers want it so I decided to include it in this bass.
With the ferrules installed and the neck carved I can assemble the bass and see what we are working with.
All things considered it plays well with very low action. A few buzzes here and there but nothing a bit of touch up won't fix.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Are you kidding? I'm posting on my phone so I couldn't tell. For some reason my old pics won't show and I can't figure out how to post new ones now. This is part of the reason I quit posting to begin with.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Are you kidding? I'm posting on my phone so I couldn't tell. For some reason my old pics won't show and I can't figure out how to post new ones now. This is part of the reason I quit posting to begin with.
Are you still using photobucket? All you have to do after you upload your photos to there is click the link on the right side of the page and it will copy the IMG code onto your clip board. Then all you have to do is paste them onto your thread
Attachments
Hopkins
Commercial User
The photobucket app on your phone is just as easy
Go to the image
Touch the little icon with three dots connected by two lines
Touch copy links to clip board.
Then touch the IMG link to copy it
Go to the image
Touch the little icon with three dots connected by two lines
Touch copy links to clip board.
Then touch the IMG link to copy it
