WBO 2022 - Luna's Last Opus

[SpaceJockey]

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 believe Solidworks has a way to automatedrawings, but I'm not sure if it's a native feature or if third party software is required. Autodesk Inventor does too, but I think the automation for these has more to do with formatting, as opposed to error checking.

 

[SpaceJockey]

Nothing major to report today, but I got the remainder of the frets in during an extended lunch break

I need to finalize a design for the string retainer. It will go between the nut and this moon piece. I just need it to be wide enough for a pair of M6x1.0 set screws per string.

I also need to thin down this headstock top plate to allow for a bit of a break angle behind the nut (It is not glued up here)

 

[Flamingo21]

I also need to thin down this headstock top plate to allow for a bit of a break angle behind the nut

Wouldn't it be easier to thin down the core wood of the headstock instead?

 

[SpaceJockey]

Wouldn't it be easier to thin down the core wood of the headstock instead?

Hmm I hadn't even considered that. However, there isn't much room above the truss rod nut at this end. I may end up doing a little of both to get things looking right.

This headstock veneer piece is currently about 1/4" thick. So it'll get sanded down to about half that thickness to make it work here. There will also be a recess for the string locks themselves.

Here is how Strandberg does their headstocks (Ignore the red arrow)

Mine will be similar in the end, at least as far as spacing and placement of components. The key differences will be the use of two set screws per string, and my string lock will be one piece.

 

[SpaceJockey]

Today, I trimmed and filed down the fret ends. I also cleaned up the mess from gluing the frets. Next time I need to be more careful, because the 2.5 hours I spent painstakingly scraping glue off was miserable.

I've got to make a new template for the pickup cover/ramp. This first one didn't come out right, the two corners with the acute angle do not match up well. It also needs to be longer so I can get the pickups exactly where I want them. (the random notch is because we used it as a waste board for another milling operation)

The shape will get cut from this bookmatched piece of walnut:

It was originally destined for use as a ukulele back. It's not a perfect match with the top but the grain pattern is close enough and I don't mind a bit of variance.

 

[SpaceJockey]

Inching ever closer to the finish line...

I learned a valuable lesson about template making yesterday. Your final parts will only be as good as the template. It's also critical to really take your time, because things can go wonky real quick with a spindle sander.

Long story short, I spent much of yesterday afternoon remaking a set of templates. A little bit of patience could have prevented all this. Time is our most valuable resource so I am not fond of having to redo things.

Anyways, here's the pair of templates for my control cavity and it's cover:

And this is the actual cover plate:

I've decided on an [Invalid or Expired Link Removed], in the 7 hole configuration.
The top mounted control plate has been scrapped, because this walnut top is just too damn beautiful to cover any of it up. It also wouldn't give me as such room as I need to mount all the pots and switches.

 

[SpaceJockey]

I also spent some time filling voids in the top and on the fretboard.

Most the voids were pretty shallow, so I used Stewmac's Dark Brown CA glue to fill them and Gluboost to speed up the curing process. Then scraped it down flush with a razor blade, followed by some sanding.

There were also some small gaps between the top and the neck that needed filling. I taped off the top, leaving just enough room to force in a mixture of walnut dust and wood glue into the gap.

Sanded the top to 120 grit after that and called it a day. I need to save the rest of the sanding for the finishing stage.

 

[Gary_M]

That's a beautiful baby!

 

[Beej]

Yeah, wow.

 

[SpaceJockey]

That's a beautiful baby!

Yeah, wow.

Thank you for the kind words!

I'm putting some thought into how I will finish this thing. The claro walnut is porous, I can see the pores without having to squint.

I'm leaning towards doing an oil finish. I went ahead and ordered both varieties of the guitar finishing oil Crimson Guitars makes, "High Build" and "Penetrating".

I used offcuts from the tops to test on at home. Mostly I just wanted to see how much the oils would darken the wood, so I didn't do much sanding before I applied the oil.

I was hoping for it to be a bit lighter than this, but it does look good. And this oil was easy to apply.

Any recommendations for an oil with minimal or no tint? I'm also open to other types of hand applied finishes, that can give a satin look and feel.

Also, what is the best way to seal porous woods like this?

 

[Beej]

Personally I like to seal up with epoxy. Most oil finishes can be applied over it.

 

[lbridenstine]

You can do Varathane ultimate and rub it in like oil. Bruce has posts about that in the Waterbased finishes thread. I tried it and it feels nice, without the color added. I do like how your test pieces look as is though, IMO.

 

[Gary_M]

Rubio Monocoat natural looks great on walnut.

 

[SpaceJockey]

You can do Varathane ultimate and rub it in like oil. Bruce has posts about that in the Waterbased finishes thread. I tried it and it feels nice, without the color added. I do like how your test pieces look as is though, IMO.

Wow that waterbased finish thread is massive! I've got a lot of reading ahead...

These test bits are a fair bit darker in person than the photo. I've got more offcuts to test on so I'm gonna do some experimenting with the waterbased stuff

 

[SpaceJockey]

I got the control cavity cover cut out, and routed out for the cavity and battery box. The purpleheart back plate is about 1/2" thick, so it didn't take long to get through.

I sanded the wood cover to 3/16" on the drum sander. In order to ensure a flush fit, I routed to a depth of just a hair under 3/16", then sanded the cover flush with the top afterwards. The ledge for the cover to rest against was made using an offset bit.

I'll just be using screws to secure the cover. A Stewmac battery is on order. Not pictured is the stewmac battery box template I used. These clear acrylic templates are nice because it was easy to line up where I had marked at, unlike the MDF templates I've been using.

 

[Beej]

Wow that is some hot stuff

 

[Hout]

Really beautiful!

 

[Lonnybass]

Wow, wow and wow!

 

[lbridenstine]

Wow that waterbased finish thread is massive! I've got a lot of reading ahead...

These test bits are a fair bit darker in person than the photo. I've got more offcuts to test on so I'm gonna do some experimenting with the waterbased stuff

It's a monster thread, for sure.

Luckily, I saved the post link for that topic. Here you go, Post #1061: Using water based products for instrument finishing, Target Coatings 9000 6000 and Varathane WB

 

[SpaceJockey]

I glued up the walnut for the pickup cover/ramp

And if you look closely, you can see the critical error I made. I didn't line the pieces up well. I'm questioning my sanity because I could have swore they were lined up perfectly...

It can be fixed though. I used a pipette to apply water along the glue joint, and used the LMI heating blanket to soften the glue. The titebond didn't put up much of a struggle and I was able to separate the pieces.

The heat and moisture made the thin cuts pretty flexible, so I clamped them down flat on the workbench and will leave them like that for a while to prevent warping.

I've been giving some thought to the hardware scenario. I have this set of Nova headless hardware still, and I could save myself a considerable amount of time by just using it like I originally planned.

The design work is already done for the custom hardware I had planned, but due to scheduling constraints, I'm not sure when my friend with the machine tools I need will actually have time to help me get this done. Needless to say, I'm excited to play this bass finally after spending the last year and a half building it.