WBO 2022: Löwenbäss

[Reedt2000]

I considered that. That would be the easiest and it's still an option. The 3 reasons I decided to poly the whole thing were, it would all look consistent, it would be simple and it would offer a little more wear protection in the spots where my thumb would contact the board and pup cover.
But when I get to the part of poly before or after frets, the simple part goes away.
Another thing I'm not sure of, is if having poly down first would cause any problems with seating the frets. I would assume it wouldn't, since even 3 coats of cured poly is so thin. But I don't know for sure.

Again the protection from wear is looking many years ahead in the life of the bass. I've never done it but I'd suspect there is risk of screwing with the poly trying to install frets after it's applied. Even cleaning with the fret saw might chip it. Putting it right over the frets then filing/sanding off sounds easier and less risky. If your not grain filling the fretboard you'll have visual contrast anyway which is why I'd just oil it, plus I think it would look cool and highlight the super-long fingerboard

 

[RichterScale]

If your not grain filling the fretboard you'll have visual contrast anyway which is why I'd just oil it, plus I think it would look cool and highlight the super-long fingerboard

I decided not to grain fill any of it. The maple doesn't need it and there's just too much wenge and too many pores to fill. I'd probably waste a week trying to fill it and end up making it look worse than if I just left it looking natural. So there will be contrast between the maple and wenge for sure.
As tricky and complicated as I've made some of the individual steps for myself, I want the finished overall look and vibe to be pretty simple. Everything made of wood is either wenge or maple, all from the same 2 boards and one finish on all of it so all the wenge looks the same and the FB doesn't look like it's a different wood or color than the body and neck. Kind of an equal/opposite, simple 2 part contrast, no one feature really stands out and steals the show kinda vibe.
There's always audibles and adjustments and mistake fixing on the fly, but that was the vision I had. That's why I'm bothering to figure out how to get the poly on the board without a fret fiasco.
If I can get the poly to lay down flat between the frets without excess buildup at the frets, it would probably be the easiest to fret first.
They're stainless, so yeah, they probably won't even need dressing in my lifetime, let alone removal.

 

[dwizum]

Like Ric does? (Or did?)
That seems easy, but doesn't it make a mess if you have to remove the frets?

Not as much of a mess as you'd think - you can score the poly and the frets generally come out cleanly. Worst case, you scuff sand the poly once the frets are all out, install new frets, and apply a new coat of poly once the new frets are in.

Since it sounds like you're going for a fairly light and thin poly finish, it should lay down between the frets very cleanly. If anything, to me, it looks cleaner to have the frets in first, since then you end up sealing the very edge of the crown to the surface so it looks nice and clean and perfect. I wouldn't say the same about a super thick poly finish where you can tend to get buildup along the edge of the crown but I don't have problems when sticking with thinner finishes.

 

[RichterScale]

Then I'll just add the poly after I fret.
Makes everything much simpler.
And so shall it be written, and so shall it be done.

 

[Camaro69]

This is the way

 

[RichterScale]

It is the way of the bass builder

 

[Flamingo21]

From here to eternity

 

[RichterScale]

I doodled a pup cover to get an idea of dimensions and design flaws. It's not much, I just wanted to show that I at least did something yesterday and I'm not a bad person.

 

[RichterScale]

@slowburnaz
What would you say is a good distance from the poles to the strings?
The biggest unknown right now is whether or not I should drill holes in the cover to allow raising the poles through the wood.

 

[RichterScale]

I have the thickness of the cover at 1/8" right now, but it's just a drawing and can be made thinner. And the cover will sit flush with the board.
So, 1/8" plus string height above the board. Which I don't know yet, but I'm guessing string height wont be much.

 

[slowburnaz]

@slowburnaz
What would you say is a good distance from the poles to the strings?
The biggest unknown right now is whether or not I should drill holes in the cover to allow raising the poles through the wood.

So, 1/8" plus something like another 1/8" - 3/16" or so? I think that should be fine, technically.

I guess then it sorta comes down to string-to-string balance, and how anal you wanna be about that ;-). If no holes, were you thinking about leaving the poles flush with the tops of the coils? Or would you build in a bit of radius on the inside of the cover so, for instance, the E and G coils could be flush with the tops of the coils, and the A and D coils would stick up a bit to match the board radius?

 

[RichterScale]

So, I have some still shots of a rough google sketchup model I did for a visual proof of concept on the string anchors. I found some alum spacers that have the perfect ID for the ball ends. The trick is, how to keep them from slipping out under tension, without a lip at the top to catch the ball.
What I came up with was to install them at a slightly larger than 90° angle to the string. That way, as the string pulls forward, it wants to pull down into the body, rather than up and out. At least, that's my theory.
My method to connect them all conductively will be to install .010" alum flashing between the board and body, drill through the wood and alum together and as I pound the alum tubes in, they should scrape along the edge of the holes in the the flashing. I haven't worked out the finer details yet, but that's the direction I'm headed. Since they are on an angle, once filed flush to the board, they will look like an oval, instead of a circle. Which I'm hoping looks cool and intentional.

 

[RichterScale]

So, 1/8" plus something like another 1/8" - 3/16" or so? I think that should be fine, technically.

I guess then it sorta comes down to string-to-string balance, and how anal you wanna be about that ;-). If no holes, were you thinking about leaving the poles flush with the tops of the coils? Or would you build in a bit of radius on the inside of the cover so, for instance, the E and G coils could be flush with the tops of the coils, and the A and D coils would stick up a bit to match the board radius?

Flat board

 

[NKBassman]

I guess then it sorta comes down to string-to-string balance, and how anal you wanna be about that ;-). If no holes, were you thinking about leaving the poles flush with the tops of the coils? Or would you build in a bit of radius on the inside of the cover so, for instance, the E and G coils could be flush with the tops of the coils, and the A and D coils would stick up a bit to match the board radius?

For me personally, I'm very picky about string to string balance. Either radiused or adjustable poles provide the most even response. Most of my basses are P-style, so you can still adjust each string individually. But I had to get radiused pickups for my Jazz bass because it was driving me nuts.

 

[slowburnaz]

Ah, okay... missed that in your specs

That should probably be fine. Seems it would make for a cleaner look, too.

 

[RichterScale]

So, 1/8" plus something like another 1/8" - 3/16" or so? I think that should be fine, technically.

Do you happen to remember the height when these were in a bass for the recordings? Because it sounded amazing.
I still have the flexibility of making the cover thinner or even making holes for the poles, if need be.

 

[RichterScale]

Ah, okay... missed that in your specs

WHAT!?!?
You don't hang on every word I post and remember everything I say?!

 

[slowburnaz]

Do you happen to remember the height when these were in a bass for the recordings? Because it sounded amazing.

First off, thank you very much!

Unfortunately, I don't know the exact height at the time of the recordings you heard, as I've done a lot of swapping. But, the pickup I currently have in my SBMM has the poles roughly 1/8" from the bottom of the strings... but that's also with the poles raised above the coil tops by almost the thickness of the cover, which is about .08", and I think that the most important factor is really the distance from coils to the strings, all else being equal.

Meaning, if you have the poles flush with the top of the coils, and those are, say 3/16" away from the strings, and you compared that to a situation where you had the poles 1/8" above the tops of the coils, and the poles were 3/16" away from the strings, you'd certainly get more output in the former case.... hopefully that makes sense.

 

[RichterScale]

hopefully that makes sense.

It does.
I agree that a smooth, solid cover top is ideal for the aesthetic.
The good thing is, I can install everything and test. If the output is a hair low, I can thin out the top and get the entire pup closer to the strings. Worst case, I drill holes and raise the poles, which is a nice option because I want the pup cover locked in flush with the top of the board. So it's nice that the poles are adjustable. And I don't think it would look bad at all if I drilled holes. But I have a feeling that it will be fine with leaving them flush with the coils and adjusting the height of the whole unit inside the cover.

 

[slowburnaz]

It does.
I agree that a smooth, solid cover top is ideal for the aesthetic.
The good thing is, I can install everything and test. If the output is a hair low, I can thin out the top and get the entire pup closer to the strings. Worst case, I drill holes and raise the poles, which is a nice option because I want the pup cover locked in flush with the top of the board. So it's nice that the poles are adjustable. And I don't think it would look bad at all if I drilled holes. But I have a feeling that it will be fine with leaving them flush with the coils and adjusting the height of the whole unit inside the cover.

I'm excited to see how this all turns out! I don't think you could have picked a cooler shape to go with... the Divas are just sexy as hell.