Wenge ASAT

[charlie monroe]

Thanks heaps for the links!

 

[BTL]

This is just a shot in the dark, but I'm thinkin 2 big ol hunks of Wenge.

I did find a piece of ebony for the pick gaurd. Tracking number says it will be here end of next week.

That looks fantastic!

 

[Scoops]

How's wenge to work with?

It not the easiest wood to work. And yes, when the grain starts to widen, like towards the heal in the pic below, it becomes more necessary to use a file to finish it.
This neck is going to take some considerable bench time to get right. I'm using a scraper to remove wood as I refine the profile. It looks like the rewards will be worth the efforts though

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I managed to be completely ignorant about scrapers until recently, now i'm like Born Again Scraper Boy, keep grabbing it, though getting a good wire edge on it consistently is hit or miss. I'm lucky to get two really sharp edges out of four, more practice I guess. That wenge is so gorgeous, gotta try it. Neck looks great.

 

[Scoops]

BTW, A rasp seems to work for well for Wenge too

 

[gsnad2000]

I have had good success using my Shinto rasp carving wenge necks.

 

[Scoops]

I have had good success using my Shinto rasp carving wenge necks.

I don't have a Shinto, but will probably get one because using the tools that I currently have aren't really effective in carving the profile. But I do make progress.
My profiler shows the asymmetric profile I put in. It's always so difficult to show an asym profile in a pic.
Picked up a new bastard as well. The one I had was really old. The new one seems much more effective. Especially at leveling the areas where the grain doesn't want to behave

Cheers

 

[gsnad2000]

You never realize how dull an old file is till you get a new one, then it's like "whoa!" How was I using that other thing?

 

[Scoops]

You never realize how dull an old file is till you get a new one, then it's like "whoa!" How was I using that other thing?

When I wrote up that post, I had originally put a line to the intent of what you said here, but for one reason or another, I took it out. But it's true! A new file is a "whoa!" moment

 

[Scoops]

I have had good success using my Shinto rasp carving wenge necks.

I don't have a Shinto

But I have been informed that I'm on

good list and there will be one under the tree this year.

 

[gsnad2000]

Gotta love it when the big guy comes through for you!

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I'm asking for Amazon and Stewmac gift cards, that should cover it. An expensive hobby, but a whole lot cheaper than Auto Restoration!

 

[Scoops]

Hello,

I manged to get a little work done on this over the weekend. Got a pick guard cut out of Bakelite. I'm liking the look, but not the pick guard itself. As this one was free hand cut, it's not quite right, but that can be fixed. I'm not really fond of this particular Bakelite finish. I have some old Bakelite that has more of a matte to flat finish on it. That's what I was hoping to get here. This stuff is just a bit to shiny for my tastes.

Cutting the fore arm cut out was a major PITA, but I got it, and it's nice and smooth

During the past week, little by little, I've been whittling away on the neck profile. As sometimes happens, the neck bows as I remove wood. Once I get the neck completely profiled, I'll let it sit for a couple more weeks to see if it moves any more. Then I'll cut a radius in it.

Thanks for looking

 

[gsnad2000]

I'm sure you can flatten the finish on that Bakelite with some high grit sandpaper or steel wool or something similar, no?

 

[Scoops]

I'm sure you can flatten the finish on that Bakelite with some high grit sandpaper or steel wool or something similar, no?

I have some synthetic steel wool. That worked pretty well. Thanks

But I have been informed that I'm on

good list and there will be one under the tree this year.

And Santa Delivers!!! I should have purchased one of these things years ago.

 

[ctmullins]

Shinto for the win! Looking great brother!

 

[Scoops]

This is getting close

I started to polish the wood on the body.

Unfortunately I think I painted myself into a corner. My OCD said build it to look like a Tele. So why is this an issue? Where do I put the switches? I have a pup selector, series/parralell, and a active/passive.

As my playing goes, I could put them between the control plate the bridge pup and it would be a non issue. I could make room for 2 of the switches on the control plate

How vital is the preamp to the sound of the G&L bass?

 

[ctmullins]

Push/pull pots?

 

[Scoops]

Push/pull pots?

That was the first thing that crossed my mind.

I have a 1.1" deep control cavity. Many of the PP pots are a bit taller than 1.1". I have found some that are only 1" I haven't looked real hard, but I'd need a 1M ohm pot with a switch as well. Even if I went with those, I'd have to create a larger access section in the back of the instrument so I could put the circuit board from the preamp in.

Really simple if I just went passive

So then my mind wanders....
Get a Standard Tele control plate. Use a standard Tele pup selector switch. Use a stacked pot for Bass and Treble. Ditch the Active/Passive switch, and put the series parallel switch on the control plate. This may be my route (thinking out loud here)

 

[ctmullins]

These are only 1" deep: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]