WBO 2022 - Luna's Last Opus

[SpaceJockey]

I finally got around to finishing up the fret slotting jig earlier today

Unfortunately the fret slotting saw wasn't long enough to be used with this jig, gonna have to hunt down another one. Preferably with a built in depth stop. Any suggestions?

 

[SpaceJockey]

Fret slots have been cut!

The template was secured to the fretboard with some thin superglue (Stewmac 10 Thin), with painter's tape applied to both surfaces to act as a barrier. The depth stop for the saw was attached the same way.

This made for easy removal of the paper template after the fret slots were cut.
The board is just a little bit too narrow so it will be getting bound with ebony.

I'm torn when it comes to inlays here. There's already plenty going on with the grain pattern, so any busy or large inlays are a no-go.

 

[RichterScale]

I'm a big fan of side dots and no front inlays.
Especially when the board has that much figure to show off.

 

[SpaceJockey]

I'm a big fan of side dots and no front inlays.
Especially when the board has that much figure to show off.

Yeah, that's what makes this choice so hard.
I love what Padalka did with this build here:


I want to do this, but instead of wood for the inlay/purfling, either use the Zipflex abalone purfling or a thin strip of brass.

That zipflex stuff is pricey and also a little flashy for my tastes so I'm leaning towards the brass. I think it will look great with the LMII Evo gold frets.

The fretboard will be bound with ebony, and the brass will give some good contrast against that black binding. Rather than routing a channel for it, I would use some additional pieces of ebony to make the binding wider wherever the position markers are. And I would include a strip of black veneer on the other side of the brass as well.

McMaster-Carr has it in every thickness imaginable, but I think I'll go with the 0.025" sheet:
Ultra-Formable 260 Brass Sheet, 2" x 36", 0.0250" Thick
McMaster-Carr

That will give me plenty of material to work with, and for a bit less $20 bucks too.

 

[Mickey666]

Yeah, that's what makes this choice so hard.
I love what Padalka did with this build here:
View attachment 4825457 View attachment 4825458
Now that is just ridiculously kool!
I'm stealing that, just gotta find someone that can build it.

I want to do this, but instead of wood for the inlay/purfling, either use the Zipflex abalone purfling or a thin strip of brass.

That zipflex stuff is pricey and also a little flashy for my tastes so I'm leaning towards the brass. I think it will look great with the LMII Evo gold frets.

The fretboard will be bound with ebony, and the brass will give some good contrast against that black binding. Rather than routing a channel for it, I would use some additional pieces of ebony to make the binding wider wherever the position markers are. And I would include a strip of black veneer on the other side of the brass as well.

McMaster-Carr has it in every thickness imaginable, but I think I'll go with the 0.025" sheet:
Ultra-Formable 260 Brass Sheet, 2" x 36", 0.0250" Thick
McMaster-Carr

That will give me plenty of material to work for, and for a bit less $20 bucks too.

 

[SpaceJockey]

I'm not one to rush things typically, but at this point, I just want this build completed. As such, some of the details I planned to include will be omitted for the sake of speeding things up.

Firstly, I'm gonna skip on the inlays. I was playing another bass I own that has no inlays on the fretboard, and I realized that I won't miss them as much as I thought. The side dots are what I really rely upon. I ordered that brass strip but I will save it for a future build. There is plenty going on with the grain already.

The neck will still be getting bound in ebony. And I decided on a final shape for the end of the fingerboard.

The fingerboard is not yet glued on to the neck. But the neck itself is glued into the body.

Then I used a forstner bit to remove most of the material

A lesson I learned here was that I should have set the forstner bit a little higher. I set it to the final depth, not really considering that the point on the end would leave all these holes. This won't be visible once the top is on but it does bother me knowing they are there

Anyways, here is how it looks after some router action:

 

[RichterScale]

It's fine.
They're tone holes.

 

[SpaceJockey]

It's fine.
They're tone holes.

Tone holes
Yep, I'm gonna stick with that if anyone asks

There is obviously still a lot of work to be done, but now that the neck is attached I feel like I'm finally over the hump with this build. It felt good to hold it, even in its unfinished state

 

[Reedt2000]

It's fine.
They're tone holes.

Weight relieving tone holes

 

[Flamingo21]

I feel like I'm finally over the hump with this build.

 

[Beej]

It's fine.
They're tone holes.

Tone holes
Yep, I'm gonna stick with that if anyone asks

Weight relieving tone holes

Agreed. And in fact you probably need more of them for really holy tone.

 

[SpaceJockey]

I put the bass on a more serious weight loss program today

Started by hogging out most of it with a forstner bit (only partway finished here)

Then the router came out to play

After routing, an assortment of chisels, gouges and coarse sandpaper were used to get it to this point

Still got to clean it up but I'm happy with the result. The reason I have the different depths is to allow for a generous belly cut. I need to put myself on a weight loss plan too

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I put the bass on a more serious weight loss program today

Started by hogging out most of it with a forstner bit (only partway finished here)
View attachment 4850106

Then the router came out to play

View attachment 4850107

After routing, an assortment of chisels, gouges and coarse sandpaper were used to get it to this point

View attachment 4850108

Still got to clean it up but I'm happy with the result. The reason I have the different depths is to allow for a generous belly cut. I need to put myself on a weight loss plan too

Well, hey now… let’s not get too crazy. Put the bass on a diet first and see how that goes.

 

[Videojunkie]

it does bother me knowing they are there

Just think about how they are extra rough spots for your glue to bind to!

 

[SpaceJockey]

I've been slammed with work the last couple weeks, but managed to slip into the shop for a bit yesterday.

The claro walnut top was a bit thinner than I'd like, so a thin 1/16" piece of purpleheart was glued due to the back.

The body template was used as a clamping caul, in combination with some metal bars to ensure a proper glue up.

Alao, some design changes were made. I decided to eliminate the treble side f-hole, so that a control plate can be mounted on top, similar to how Carl Thompson does on some builds. I'll use on of the offcuts from the walnut top for the control plate.

The bridge hardware design is 95% complete. I will work out the final dimensions once the top is actually glued onto the body.

The one thing I couldn't decide on was a shape for the pickup cover/ramp. To my eye, this rhombus shape clashes with the rest of the curves and contours of the body. Back to the drawing board...

 

[Flamingo21]

To my eye, this rhombus shape clashes with the rest of the curves

How about a Rounded Rhombus?

 

[SpaceJockey]

How about a Rounded Rhombus?
View attachment 4869032

I like how that looks! Thanks for the suggestion. This current shape was dictated primarily by the pickup placement.

When I had first "finalized" this design, the ramp shape was like this:

Sort of a rounded rhombus also. I wasn't happy with how the treble side curves came out, and I gave myself a serious headache trying to tweak out the splines in Fusion 360. I can draw stuff well enough using CAD but don't ask me to do it by hand on real paper, it's a disaster every time

I'll probably end up somewhere in between what you drew and this original shape in the end.

 

[Videojunkie]

FWIW, I like the squared shape, but the angles need to correspond better to the bridge and end of the fretboard. So it wouldn't be parallel on those sides. You could also taper it to follow the strings along that axis as well...

 

[Beej]

That Claro is insane!

 

[SpaceJockey]

FWIW, I like the squared shape, but the angles need to correspond better to the bridge and end of the fretboard. So it wouldn't be parallel on those sides. You could also taper it to follow the strings along that axis as well...

Ahh that's a good point. Maybe the angle is the issue here. Thanks for your input