What's On Your Workbench?

[Videojunkie]

This weekend was spring cleaning in the shop. I spent several hours going through the detritus of the last several projects over the last 4 years... there's a bunch more to do, but it's a lot nicer, and I found an older Dewalt 1/2 inch hammer drill that I'm not entirely sure I knew that I owned...

I also spent a lot of time fighting with my 4 cycle weed trimmer that I've determined needs a new carburetor (after replacing the fuel lines and fuel tank), but the Amazon ones (cheap ones) are either mirror images or the intake is in the wrong place. Hopefully the right thing shows up later this week. (2nd try)

Over the last several years, my wife has been buying me pen making tools for birthdays and such (I made a wish list for her). She knows it's a tool, but has no idea what order I need them in, so it's been entertaining. (Oh look! A pen press. No spindle yet, no parts kits, etc...) well I finally have enough things to try it out for the first time, and made a pretty decent cherry pen (from scrap I found cleaning up the shop. )

 

[JIO]

This crazy thing.

View attachment 5421206

I've constructed things like that in the past...

 

[JIO]

That reminds of a time we were at an ice cream place that was part of a larger shopping area with a restaurant and an outdoor patio. We had gotten ice cream and I heard what sounded like live music so my son and I went out to the patio area and there was a guy singing and playing acoustic guitar. I heard drums but no drummer in sight. We worked our way towards the side of the stage and the guy had two kick pedals, one tapping a snare trigger and one padded and tapping an SM57 for the kick drum sound. I’m defs not that coordinated so it was pretty cool.

There's a long history of "one man bands".

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/75E9pItoZoQ

 

[tubedude]

That's one way to have a reliable drummer.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

That's one way to have a reliable drummer.

A one man band makes it a little difficult to rage quit and fire the drummer however.

 

[Lo-E]

…I found an older Dewalt 1/2 inch hammer drill that I'm not entirely sure I knew that I owned...

You just earned my eternal respect. You, sir, are my hero.

 

[rickwrench]

A one man band makes it a little difficult to rage quit and fire the drummer however.

I've fired my guitar builder/finisher (also me) more times than I can count.

 

[Lo-E]

Just did a nice setup on this six-stringer:

Later this week it’s headed to a local music store to be put up for consignment.

 

[Lo-E]

The last thing to hit the workbench yesterday was the ’78 fretless P-bass:

In post #6536 I said this about it:

Ironically enough, I own an actual 1978 P-bass which had all of these mods done to it when I bought it and I reversed every single one of them and returned it to stock about 15 years ago.

But it wasn’t entirely true. I did ditch the brass nut, the BA bridge and an ugly, black, aluminum pick guard but I kept the replacement pickup; an early Bartolini.

The Bart sounds great but not anything like a stock P-bass so I decided to put the stock pickup from the American Special into this bass. As expected, it sounds just like a stock P-bass pickup which is what I was after.

Back when I bought it I replaced the brass nut with rosewood. It sounds really nice in a solo context but it’s completely indiscernible in a band. I’ll probably just replace it with bone to get it looking correct.

I thought I had replaced the bridge with a Fender reissue but, alas, some of the things I do in my head don’t match what I do in reality. It’s a cheap knockoff so I guess I’ll replace it with a Fender reissue at some point. I also want to get the thumb rest on there as the body is drilled for it.

The biggest complication here is that this neck has the famous 12th-fret kink and the truss rod is just about maxed out. On a slab fretless this could be easily addressed with sanding but this is a veneer fingerboard and there really isn’t enough meat to sand, which means I’m going to need to apply some heat and some hope but that will end up getting its own thread.

 

[TerribleTim68]

I had an early doctor appointment and took today off so I was able to wrap this bass up.

I reattached the neck, strung it up, cut the nut slots to their appropriate depths, reshaped the nut, and did a setup:
View attachment 5475730

View attachment 5475731
I’m declaring it a success. ...

Looks great Low-E! I was never aware of Best Buy carrying musical instruments. I wonder if it was a regional thing.

....Over the last several years, my wife has been buying me pen making tools for birthdays and such (I made a wish list for her). She knows it's a tool, but has no idea what order I need them in, so it's been entertaining. (Oh look! A pen press. No spindle yet, no parts kits, etc...) well I finally have enough things to try it out for the first time, and made a pretty decent cherry pen (from scrap I found cleaning up the shop. )
View attachment 5475779 View attachment 5475780

I'd really like to get one of those presses. Currently I just press them on the lathe using some wooden cauls I made from offcuts. Looking forward to seeing some more pens from you!

There's a long history of "one man bands".

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/75E9pItoZoQ

And then there's this...

 

[Videojunkie]

I'd really like to get one of those presses. Currently I just press them on the lathe using some wooden cauls I made from offcuts. Looking forward to seeing some more pens from you!

I look forward to making more. I don't plan (yet) on going into the business of making them, but they're a fun and quick diversion.

 

[TerribleTim68]

I look forward to making more. I don't plan (yet) on going into the business of making them, but they're a fun and quick diversion.

I have never been able to sell one. People balk at the price I need to make it worth my time and can't understand why a pen would be $50. But I have a couple turning friends who regularly sell pens for as much as $120 each. I can't seem to get $20 for one.

 

[Videojunkie]

I have never been able to sell one. People balk at the price I need to make it worth my time and can't understand why a pen would be $50. But I have a couple turning friends who regularly sell pens for as much as $120 each. I can't seem to get $20 for one.

I figure they'll make nice handouts and small gifts to friends.

 

[Max Bogosity]

I just bought out the workshop of a guitar/violin/piano repair guy whose sons are cleaning out his house. I'm not even sure what I bought yet, but it's definitely all over my workbench. Planes, clamps, files, parts, jigs, strings, an old Conn strobe tuner, etc.

But the highlight so far is definitely the reel-to-reel tape labelled "Disco - pour DANSE."

 

[Videojunkie]

I just bought out the workshop of a guitar/violin/piano repair guy whose sons are cleaning out his house. I'm not even sure what I bought yet, but it's definitely all over my workbench. Planes, clamps, files, parts, jigs, strings, an old Conn strobe tuner, etc.

But the highlight so far is definitely the reel-to-reel tape labelled "Disco - pour DANSE."

I keep looking for those kinds of deals!

 

[Quills]

Couple of decent evenings spent jigging. Made unnecessarily harder by (a) the fact that I was determined to do it entirely with what I already had in the stash and (b) one of the sides (the original reference face) got glued-up slightly misaligned -- nothing I couldn't tape-shim my way out of if necessary, but irritating nonetheless. However, because I'd fastidiously made all the 'wall' pieces equally square, the back face came out perfectly bullet straight so I flipped it round and that became the new reference face.







It took about an hour to dial it in properly, but the result was worth it. Any deviation from straight in this image is either lens curvature or shadows. In person, it's dead on; I reconfigured it about 9 times even when some of the early configs were 'ok'.

 

[Lo-E]

Couple of decent evenings spent jigging. Made unnecessarily harder by (a) the fact that I was determined to do it entirely with what I already had in the stash and (b) one of the sides (the original reference face) got glued-up slightly misaligned -- nothing I couldn't tape-shim my way out of if necessary, but irritating nonetheless. However, because I'd fastidiously made all the 'wall' pieces equally square, the back face came out perfectly bullet straight so I flipped it round and that became the new reference face.

View attachment 5482669

View attachment 5482670

View attachment 5482671

It took about an hour to dial it in properly, but the result was worth it. Any deviation from straight in this image is either lens curvature or shadows. In person, it's dead on; I reconfigured it about 9 times even when some of the early configs were 'ok'.

View attachment 5482672

That’s nice!

 

[dune]

As of this point, I have no desire to ever craft a pickguard from acrylic again. And I'm going to have to clean up that truss rod adjustment recess, obviously.

 

[Quills]

That’s nice!

Thanks! I still need to sort-out the work-holding situation, but I've got options (toggle clamps and / or threaded inserts in over-platforms, probably), and also the depth is meant to be controlled by a washer/shim system which I haven't drilled-for yet, but at least the grunt work is done.

 

[TerribleTim68]

I'm okay with it Dune, I don't like pickguards anyways so any way I can get less of them in the world is a plus.
#Winning