The guitar store I hang out at isn't nearly that interesting... and no dogs.
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WBO 2022 - Luna's Last Opus
- Thread starter SpaceJockey
- Start date
Don't worry, you aren't missing out on too much other than dogs. To be honest, I find some of the random visitors annoying, because many of them don't realize the longer we spend chit-chatting, the less work we'll get done
. And if you ain't buying something or getting a repair/maintenance done, the shop is losing money by entertaining these people for any more than a couple minutes. Eventually the owner had to put a sign up to dissuade those who think this is a barbershop from coming in...
I made some more progress on adding the contours and carving the neck heel yesterday.
A series of round over bits was used, stepping up in size from 1/8" to 1/2" to prevent any tearout.
Now that the heel is mostly carved out, I can move on to shaping the neck.
I have a Warwick FNA Jazzman 5 with a neck profile that I love. So I will copy the dimensions from that as best I can. It's a chunky D shaped profile, and suits my sausage fingers fairly well.
I am also gonna start on the hardware, once my shipment of raw materials from McMaster-Carr arrives.
A series of round over bits was used, stepping up in size from 1/8" to 1/2" to prevent any tearout.
Now that the heel is mostly carved out, I can move on to shaping the neck.
I have a Warwick FNA Jazzman 5 with a neck profile that I love. So I will copy the dimensions from that as best I can. It's a chunky D shaped profile, and suits my sausage fingers fairly well.
I am also gonna start on the hardware, once my shipment of raw materials from McMaster-Carr arrives.
For the hardware, the original plan was to use brass. However, after doing some rough calculations on weight (and price), I've decided to opt for 6061 aluminum.
If I went with the brass hardware, the total weight would be roughly 1.75 lbs. Building from aluminum will get me a set of hardware in the 0.5 lb range. This bass is already on the heavy side at 9.2 lbs currently, so any weight savings is welcome.
I still want the hardware to be brass colored though, which means I'll have to find somewhere to have the pieces either anodized or plated in brass. My main concern with either option is how it will wear over time. I plan to make this my main instrument, so if the coating is thin, it will get ugly eventually.
If I went with the brass hardware, the total weight would be roughly 1.75 lbs. Building from aluminum will get me a set of hardware in the 0.5 lb range. This bass is already on the heavy side at 9.2 lbs currently, so any weight savings is welcome.
I still want the hardware to be brass colored though, which means I'll have to find somewhere to have the pieces either anodized or plated in brass. My main concern with either option is how it will wear over time. I plan to make this my main instrument, so if the coating is thin, it will get ugly eventually.
Shame there isn't any stunning grain in those woods... 
This is what I'm leaning towards. Hopefully I'll be able to find a place locally that does it.
At long last, the neck carving has begun
This has been the most difficult part of the build so far, so I'm glad I saved it for last. The peak of my woodworking experience going into this project was on a pinewood derby car...
I used the coarse rasp on the table in the background to get it to this point. The basic shape is there but it needs to be thinned out about 1/8" from here.
I also removed some more material for the cutaway
The raw materials for the bridge came in as well. Work on the bridge hardware will start late next week, probably Friday.
This has been the most difficult part of the build so far, so I'm glad I saved it for last. The peak of my woodworking experience going into this project was on a pinewood derby car...
I used the coarse rasp on the table in the background to get it to this point. The basic shape is there but it needs to be thinned out about 1/8" from here.
I also removed some more material for the cutaway
The raw materials for the bridge came in as well. Work on the bridge hardware will start late next week, probably Friday.
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The neck shaping is done!. Well, almost - there is lots of sanding in my future
I also need to finish the volute area and reduce the headstock thickness a bit.
I should have planned out the neck profile better, it would have been less of a headache. I like a flatter, D-shaped neck profile so that's what I aimed for as I was carving.
A set of calipers, rasps, a straight edge and sanding blocks of various lengths were critical to the operation. I aimed for the neck to be about 7/8" thick at the first fret, and around 1" at the 12th fret.
I took a stab at using the Stewmac contour gauge but using my eyeballs and the straight edge felt more intuitive. I'm sure it's a useful tool in the right hands...
I also need to finish the volute area and reduce the headstock thickness a bit.
I should have planned out the neck profile better, it would have been less of a headache. I like a flatter, D-shaped neck profile so that's what I aimed for as I was carving.
A set of calipers, rasps, a straight edge and sanding blocks of various lengths were critical to the operation. I aimed for the neck to be about 7/8" thick at the first fret, and around 1" at the 12th fret.
I took a stab at using the Stewmac contour gauge but using my eyeballs and the straight edge felt more intuitive. I'm sure it's a useful tool in the right hands...
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I am pretty happy with the body and neck in their current states.
The neck heel got some more material removed yesterday
Started like this:
and the final version:
If you look closely at the before image, you can see that the line between the veneer and bocote gets a little wonky. I went too far while carving and there was not enough material left there to have a clean line. The only thing I could do to clean it up was remove more material. The bocote was only about 1-2 mm thick in the problem area so it didn't take long.
There is only one area that needs some more shaping, the "headstock". Its going to get shortened, and thinned out to provid some visual balance.
The neck heel got some more material removed yesterday
Started like this:
and the final version:
If you look closely at the before image, you can see that the line between the veneer and bocote gets a little wonky. I went too far while carving and there was not enough material left there to have a clean line. The only thing I could do to clean it up was remove more material. The bocote was only about 1-2 mm thick in the problem area so it didn't take long.
There is only one area that needs some more shaping, the "headstock". Its going to get shortened, and thinned out to provid some visual balance.
Attachments
My buddy Brandon with Brough Guitar Engineering is helping me out with the hardware. We started matching the tuner block yesterday. Manual machining is slow work! But here are some action shots:
I'm not an engineer but I did my best with this drawing. We didn't make any further progress because I forgot to include some critical dimensions
I'm not an engineer but I did my best with this drawing. We didn't make any further progress because I forgot to include some critical dimensions
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Blame that Willy Wakanda guy, he approved the drawing.
It's very hard to check your own work, and checking drawings is definitely a skill of its own. My employer eliminated checkers years ago as a cost reduction and we've been paying for it ever since.
It's very hard to check your own work, and checking drawings is definitely a skill of its own. My employer eliminated checkers years ago as a cost reduction and we've been paying for it ever since.
Most AV companies I have worked with over the years have their engineers do their draftsman work as well.
Once I worked at a company with a dedicated draftsman, I realized how foolish they all were. He turned out nicer drawings in a fraction of the time, and with far more details and precision than any AV engineer I know.
Yeah, there's a largely unappreciated difference between knowing what information you want the drawing to convey and knowing how to make that happen. Most of the engineers I know that produce really good drawings came up through the German or British apprentice system and spent some significant time just working as draughtsmen. It's usually not a significant part of the training of an engineer over here.
I take an interest in subway maps, to the point that I tried to create my own versions of them more than once. Everybody knows what information such maps need to convey, but it's surprising how some maps fail to make it happen!
That's a shame, cost cutting will be the end of us all.
This is one of the rare instances where I think using artificial intelligence would be appropriate. It has no place in the arts and media, but a well trained AI could do this in a split second. Somebody has probably invented this already at the rate things are going...
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The CAD package we use at work already has automated checking for things like whether the 2D sketches in the model are fully constrained. Checking for missing dimensions on the drawing is essentially the same thing. Now you have me wondering if that feature is also there and we just haven’t enabled it for some reason.
I got started on installing the frets today
A simple task, but a tedious one. Trimming and filing down the tang on each fret added to the time this took considerably. It didn't help that I botched quite a few frets along the way
Good thing I ordered extra fret wire...
Speaking of which, this wire is the Jescar Evo gold alloy. I don't have much to compare it to, but it looks fantastic and that's the real reason I chose it. And it didn't cost too much more than the regular stuff so I'm more than happy with it.
The one question I have is will they eventually get tarnished? The copper present in the alloy makes me wonder. I guess only time will tell.
A simple task, but a tedious one. Trimming and filing down the tang on each fret added to the time this took considerably. It didn't help that I botched quite a few frets along the way
Good thing I ordered extra fret wire...Speaking of which, this wire is the Jescar Evo gold alloy. I don't have much to compare it to, but it looks fantastic and that's the real reason I chose it. And it didn't cost too much more than the regular stuff so I'm more than happy with it.
The one question I have is will they eventually get tarnished? The copper present in the alloy makes me wonder. I guess only time will tell.
