What's On Your Workbench?

[jimmy rocket]

I've often why cherry is so underutilized by bass builders. Perhaps because it looks similar to Alter but costs a lot more?

Anyway, I think it's great. Sweet baritone too.

I build a lot of furniture in cherry, but growing up in Pennsylvania it was so ubiquitous that I have a hard time thinking of it in the same category as more often seen instrument woods. Its lovely though, and I have a stack that would make some nice instruments so maybe I should just get on with it.

 

[ctmullins]

Huge fan of cherry and walnut both! That thing is gorgeous.

 

[Will_White]

I'd say cherry has the same image problem as oak, when I think of cherry wood I think furniture not bass.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Eh I dunno about that.

Oak is practically a weed. It's garbage wood. The most dimensionally unstable crap I've ever had the displeasure to work.

 

[Dadagoboi]

Eh I dunno about that.

Oak is practically a weed. It's garbage wood. The most dimensionally unstable crap I've ever had the displeasure to work.

True about red oak. White oak is a different story...and a different species. Ask any high end furniture builder or barrel maker.
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[HaMMerHeD]

Yeah. White oak is a lot different, but still has that Oak look, which i just hate. Im not sure why. Even expensive quarter sawn white oak just screams cheap to me. It's probably the abundance of fake oak print skinned particle board furniture.

Furniture wise, I'd rather have just about anything other than oak. Except, basically, any conifer.

 

[Beej]

Almost every piece of furniture in my place is quartersawn white oak. We like antiques.

 

[speyer]

Basically it's a hollow maple frame with the top and bottom inlaid into it. Kind of a new idea I came up with a couple years ago for building a body. I've got another instrument where I did the same thing, only that one is a walnut frame with a bubinga top and back. That body is currently hanging and letting the lacquer cure.

Pictures and details of how I did it can be seen here: Doug's Guitar - Building The Body

Reminds my of my old Reverend bass in more ways than one... Looking great sir!

 

[speyer]

I just finished building and installing my cherry kitchen (aka my wife’s work bench):

 

[speyer]

I’ve got a couple nice chunks of figured cherry that will become bass bodies. Easy to work with, nice density and looks great IMO.

 

[jmorbita]

Nice! looking forward to see the basses matching the kitchen!

 

[Manton Customs]

Another medium scale Precision style bass, one piece Ash body with black grain fill and Nitro lacquer on top.

 

[dwizum]

Cherry is just about my favorite wood. It glows with a satin finish, it's easy to work, and it's cheap. Walnut and maple can battle it out for second place.

I know most of you have probably seen these photos before but I can't help but share again since the subject of cherry and walnut came up. I'm so happy with how the cherry turned out on this, I think I'm going to be using it as often as possible in the future. If I ever build another similar semi-hollow instrument, I'll probably skip the maple back and just do a solid cherry body with a cap on the front.

 

[Jon Clegg]

Yeah, I was pretty pleased with how the cherry turned out on this one:

 

[bluesfordan]

I'm chomping at the bit to finally get my bass build done. Then it dawned on me, the neck is unfinished. I looked at the 'how to' thread but it was mostly about how to make a neck from scratch. not what I'm trying to do. I like the look of a vintage neck but I know absolutely nothing at all about finishing an instrument, I had always bought ready to bolt parts. it has a rosewood fingerboard so I only want to finish the maple. Any good links/videos etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[charlie monroe]

I'm chomping at the bit to finally get my bass build done. Then it dawned on me, the neck is unfinished. I looked at the 'how to' thread but it was mostly about how to make a neck from scratch. not what I'm trying to do. I like the look of a vintage neck but I know absolutely nothing at all about finishing an instrument, I had always bought ready to bolt parts. it has a rosewood fingerboard so I only want to finish the maple. Any good links/videos etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

WWDVD?

 

[JIO]

I'm chomping at the bit to finally get my bass build done. Then it dawned on me, the neck is unfinished. I looked at the 'how to' thread but it was mostly about how to make a neck from scratch. not what I'm trying to do. I like the look of a vintage neck but I know absolutely nothing at all about finishing an instrument, I had always bought ready to bolt parts. it has a rosewood fingerboard so I only want to finish the maple. Any good links/videos etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Depends on your taste in 'vintage'. Most 'vintage tint' necks out there are too amber/yellow. (not authentic looking) To begin with, find a picture of the 'look' you are wanting to use as a visual reference, most likely a real vintage neck. Those who have spraying experience will mix a suitable translucent tint and spray a light coat (of lacquer) on - satin works better for a 'vintage' look, or spray gloss and scotch-pad the playing portion for a satin-y feel. One can also use stains for achieving the desired 'look'. If going that route, you'll need to do tests on the back of the heal to find the one you prefer. A sanding sealer will need to be applied and sanded first to assure the wood grain takes the stain evenly. The stain should be rubbed-on so as not to leave brush marks/streaks, and may require a few passes after each dries. They also make stain/sealer poly in various wood colours that can be rubbed on all in one shot. If only using a dedicated stain - the neck will need to be sealed once the stain cures. This can easily be done with rattle-can lacquer clear.

 

[M-rek]

I think I‘m about done with my build - the Spear S2 transformation
So it has a single Delano Xtender in the „Stingray sweetspot“ position, master volume, coil selector switch (the chicken head!) and a simple tone control. I don‘t hear much different between the neck single coil mode and the both parallel mode, I think I need to check the wiring.
Anyway, here are some pics



First, I made a wooden ramp with radius, but I wanted the finish to be a little more visible...

...so I made this acrylic ramp instead


here‘s the headstock

I may put a Jockomo inlay sticker on there soon. Can‘t decide which one at the moment.

Okay, so what do you guys think?

oh yeah, as a reminder, this is the bass before I started working on it ;-)

 

[bluesfordan]

WWDVD?

what would DV do? Not sure, who is DV?

 

[charlie monroe]

what would DV do? Not sure, who is DV?

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Your sig says don’t take advice from Darth Vader