WBO 2022: Löwenbäss

[Slidlow]

Hey if you are willing to cross the border there are two specialty wood stores up here, one in Burlington and one in Cambridge. Got my ebony 2x4s in Burlington. Exotic woods is in Burlington and I'll remember the other when I finish fine tuning that implant carrier frequency.

 

[Slidlow]

I'm pretty sure that a human can't do that perfectly by hand and there's some trick that will be revealed to me once I've reached a certain level.

Not at all difficult for a human!

 

[TerribleTim68]

Not at all difficult for a human!

...said the machine.

 

[RichterScale]

I think there is a special secret blade and technique that is not discussed publicly. Once you reach level 8 druid status, you are taken to a secret chamber inside of Mount Kailash, where you will spend one year learning the way.

 

[Jeff Siddall]

Hey if you are willing to cross the border there are two specialty wood stores up here, one in Burlington and one in Cambridge. Got my ebony 2x4s in Burlington. Exotic woods is in Burlington and I'll remember the other when I finish fine tuning that implant carrier frequency.

Exotic Woods looks like it would be a very expensive place for me to visit, even with their entirely reasonable prices.

One think to keep in mind is that some species they sell are CITES listed, meaning you won't be able to cross the border without a permit.

 

[Level5wizard]

I like the neck and headstock you have. I think with a little refinement you have it nailed. IMO.

 

[RichterScale]

I tried adding a shape to the transition, to see how that worked before making any major moves.
Worked down the volute a little and oh, duh, I realized I could make my own little radius sanding block with the 2 ends of the spindle sander. Made it much easier to smooth out the neck.
I think I should finish the headstock and see what it looks like with the veneer (unglued). If it's good to go, I can move onto the FB, attaching wings, pup route and finish sanding/blending.

 

[RichterScale]

Oh yeah,...I still have to make knobs (which I've never done) and the grub screw set I bought is back ordered till April. I guess I can borrow a couple from the Laguna for a while.
@TerribleTim68 how much time we got?

 

[Beej]

26 days, so basically about five minutes.

 

[RichterScale]

26 days, so basically about five minutes.

Yes. Time moves exponentially faster as you get closer to a deadline. It's a scientific law. I think Einstein discovered it.

 

[Reedt2000]

Yes. Time moves exponentially faster as you get closer to a deadline. It's a scientific law. I think Einstein discovered it.

Probably

 

[RichterScale]

I'm done for tonight. Next is get the FB cut and thicknessed. Once I do that, I can run string to the tuner posts and see what I need to do with veneer thickness, recesses, etc and get the tuners at the right spot for break angle. Just eyeballing them, the look like they might sit a smidge high.

 

[Flamingo21]

I like the ends of the headstock wings the way they are now. They look intentional. Like you meant it.

I don't blame you for wishing the extra laminates away, I even imagine you building the whole damn thing again one day. But for now, I feel you've made the most of it.

 

[RichterScale]

I don't blame you for wishing the extra laminates away

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the plan was to add them and then trim the neck down to the proper width, which I was hoping would leave just enough of the outer lams to leave a thin strip at the extreme edge. Which would be a nice border for the Wenge FB.
But, the neck ended up exactly 1.5" at the nut, before even touching the lams. So, I couldn't sand much off and it left them about 5x bigger than I'd hoped.
Just more motivation not to make the same mistakes next time.

 

[Flamingo21]

Just more motivation not to make the same mistakes next time.

And at the same time, a valuable lesson in dealing with unexpected situations.

 

[RichterScale]

I cut the FB blank 4" wide and 5/16" thick. The plan was to do a flat board with no radius, plane the board down to 3/16" except for 1/4" or so at the end, to use as the nut after the zero fret, like so

I actually left it a little thicker than 3/16, but I had a low spot at the end of the board. I assume it was a chip out, but it was a weird strip that was very clean, almost like the router bit dropped lower for a sec, but that's not possible, so it was just a weird chip out on the face. Anyway, I had no choice but to take it down to 3/16 after that.
After seeing how thin it was and then holding it against the neck in the playing position, I think it's too thin.
So, I resaw'd another thin piece of wenge that I'll glue to the bottom, then I'll flip it and plane the bottom down until the board is 1/4" thick. I haven't planed down the section from the pickup to the bridge yet, so I can just plane that down from 5/16 to 1/4.
I'll post pics of what I got going on tomorrow before I glue or hack anything and see if the hive comes up with a better plan of attack.
Also, I was thinking about how much more room there is from the body to the string on a typical bass design. I was wondering if a 3/16-1/4" edge of a FB would cut it. So I looked at other basses like the Marleaux and Ritter and it's the same. Just the thickness of the board and the string just above. Not much room, but I've never seen a comment about it. Maybe it will be fine. If not, I might carve out a small recess/channel in the body, along the top edge of the board for my thumb. Not sure about that yet. I usually put my thumb on the pickup, but that will be the same height above the body as the board. I guess we can wait until it's all together. It will probably be fine.
I stopped at Cabela's on the way home because I needed a duffle bag for carrying crap back/forth to work. While I was there, I grabbed a bottle of Tru-Oil. I don't have any plans for it, but all the cool kids are doing it, so I wanna see what all the hoopla is about.

 

[RichterScale]

I modded the slotting jig a bit, slotted the board and glued on more material to thicken it up.
I tried stacking weights on it, but it wasn't compressing evenly, so I had to hurry up and clamp the crap out of it. The little glue roller worked okay. They always talk me into buying $5-10 crap when I'm cashing out at Rockler.
Hopefully this board isn't trashed tomorrow, because I'd have to go buy a new piece of wenge, which would ruin my goal of building the entire bass from the single maple and wenge boards. Unless I make a board out of maple. But I'm gonna say a maple board is a hard no.
Tomorrow is cutting the taper on the board, planing the back down and getting the body wings glued on.

 

[Flying B]

Yes. Time moves exponentially faster as you get closer to a deadline. It's a scientific law. I think Einstein discovered it.

Douglas Adams said "I love deadlines, I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by."

Looking great by the way.

 

[Gary_M]

Douglas Adams said "I love deadlines, I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by."

Looking great by the way.

I've always loved that quote.

 

[RichterScale]

I'm not worried. If being a kid in the 80's taught me anything,.... Besides everything is about me and what I want, is that all you need is a terrible rock tune that's trying to be anthemic and a montage.
I'll have this whole bass built in under 2 min and run it across the finish line with .01 sec left on the clock.
Causing the antagonist to throw up their hands and make a sour face.