Winter 2017 Build Off - Padauk Single Cut

[Lonnybass]

Lisa

Let me know if you need any help with the Luminlays, they are great but a few tricks to really make them work.

 

[pilotjones]

My results from testing light exposure of padauk, and the dye I extracted from padauk. About a third of the way down the page.
Practice build: 5-string multi-scale, HD woods

 

[lbridenstine]

Lisa

Let me know if you need any help with the Luminlays, they are great but a few tricks to really make them work.

There are tricks? Yes, please.

My results from testing light exposure of padauk, and the dye I extracted from padauk. About a third of the way down the page.
Practice build: 5-string multi-scale, HD woods

Thanks for reminding me! I just spent way too much time going through your thread again. That's a lot of color change for 1 day exposure. Has the color of the finished bass changed at all?

 

[Lonnybass]

Ok so few things on the Luminlays...

You want to cut them oversize and then file them level once the glue has set. If you cut them to length there is a chance you'll deform the edges of the cylinder and it won't look like a perfect round inlay.

You also want to make sure the inlays are all pointing in the same direction out from the neck instead of shooting off in slightly different directions, as the glow will be most even when they are all oriented straight out from the board.

I typically buff them up to 400 to 600 with wet sanding, as a polished end will give you the most reflective glow.

Also just a heads up that you can buy UV flashlights at Home Depot for like $6 and they work great at charging them up.

These things are great! Makes standard non glowing dots obsolete in my opinion. Let me know if you have questions!

 

[Lonnybass]

These just came out of the shop the other day.

 

[lbridenstine]

Ok so few things on the Luminlays...

You want to cut them oversize and then file them level once the glue has set. If you cut them to length there is a chance you'll deform the edges of the cylinder and it won't look like a perfect round inlay.

You also want to make sure the inlays are all pointing in the same direction out from the neck inside of shooting off in slightly different directions, as the glow will be most even when they are all oriented straight out from the board.

I typically buff them up to 400 to 600 with wet sanding, as a polished end will give you the most reflective glow.

Also just a heads up that you can buy UV flashlights at Home Depot for like $6 and they work great at charging them up.

These things are great! Makes standard non glowing dots obsolete in my opinion. Let me know if you have questions!

Cool, thank you!

I didn't know that they were able to point in different directions, so that's good to know not to do that.

Is one piece enough for a bass with the oversized cuts? I like to start dots on the 1st fret (I like the look) and go up to the 24th with double dots on 12 and 24.

Also, how long would you say the glow lasts on a charge?

 

[Lonnybass]

Cool, thank you!

I didn't know that they were able to point in different directions, so that's good to know not to do that.

Is one piece enough for a bass with the oversized cuts? I like to start dots on the 1st fret (I like the look) and go up to the 24th with double dots on 12 and 24.

Also, how long would you say the glow lasts on a charge?

When you cut the rods they can shift around a little bit in the pilot hole so you just want to make sure that the glue dries with all of them parallel to each other instead of slanted.

I would definitely recommend ordering two sets per bass. One MIGHT be enough - but since they come from Japan, it's a two to three week shipment time. Don't want to run out on the 18th fret on a 24 fret bass! Expensive, but worth it to avoid a hefty production delay.

The greens and blues differ slightly in terms of glow...I think the greens have a brighter initial glow but the blues glow longer. I get about a half hour out of each charge in the dark, but keep in mind that they will recharge under stage lighting so it's kind of a continued thing. If you were doing an orchestra pit kind of thing you could easily zap them for a minute or two between tunes and be in good shape all night.

 

[lbridenstine]

When you cut the rods they can shift around a little bit in the pilot hole so you just want to make sure that the glue dries with all of them parallel to each other instead of slanted.

I would definitely recommend ordering two sets per bass. One MIGHT be enough - but since they come from Japan, it's a two to three week shipment time. Don't want to run out on the 18th fret on a 24 fret bass! Expensive, but worth it to avoid a hefty production delay.

The greens and blues differ slightly in terms of glow...I think the greens have a brighter initial glow but the blues glow longer. I get about a half hour out of each charge in the dark, but keep in mind that they will recharge under stage lighting so it's kind of a continued thing. If you were doing an orchestra pit kind of thing you could easily zap them for a minute or two between tunes and be in good shape all night.

I see what you mean.

I was assuming I should get 2, but wasn't sure. I think I'm going to get the blue with black piping. I don't think green would look good on this bass. I'll probably try out green on a different build at some point though.

I'm not likely to play more than a 30 minute set, so if I charged it right before it sounds like it'd be fine (assuming I even play shows).

 

[Lonnybass]

Lisa,

I think you said in an earlier post that you were going to do a ziricote fingerboard - for dark woods I would use the standard rod, and leave the black piping for the lighter boards.

I used the standards on my cocobolo boards and they look fantastic. On the maple and pistachio boards, I went with the piping and this was a great match for the lighter toned lumber. I can shoot you pics if you wanna see the difference. The black piping really pops against light colored fingerboards.

 

[lbridenstine]

Lisa,

I think you said in an earlier post that you were going to do a ziricote fingerboard - for dark woods I would use the standard rod, and leave the black piping for the lighter boards.

I used the standards on my cocobolo boards and they look fantastic. On the maple and pistachio boards, I went with the piping and this was a great match for the lighter toned lumber. I can shoot you pics if you wanna see the difference. The black piping really pops against light colored fingerboards.

I'm planning on putting binding on the fretboard, I haven't decided what kind yet, but I'm thinking about bloodwood with b/w/b maybe. Invalid Link Removed

Or I suppose I could make my own binding with some padauk.

I saw your pistachio board, I'm not sure if I've seen the cocobolo one. I'd love to see it.

 

[lbridenstine]

Or maybe maple binding would be better.

 

[pilotjones]

Thanks for reminding me! I just spent way too much time going through your thread again. That's a lot of color change for 1 day exposure. Has the color of the finished bass changed at all?

I would say that it has darkened and browned. Not a ton, but I think it has changed. Not nearly as much as that test board that sat in the full sun all day unprotected. It's still definitely a reddish wood, but probably browner than it was when first finished. It depends on the lighting, too. It never looks just brown. Sometimes it looks like a crimson, hardly brownish at all.

I guess you could say the color is "brick red" -- since bricks vary so much.

The finish is pretty yellowed, which complicates things. For reference, the bass is normally in a case, and comes out 2-3 nights a week for about four hours under artificial light. It has had some outdoor day gigs, and some miscellaneous daytime use, but mostly I noodle around on another bass with high action, so that this one always feels good and easy when I take it out.

 

[lbridenstine]

I would say that it has darkened and browned. Not a ton, but I think it has changed. Not nearly as much as that test board that sat in the full sun all day unprotected. It's still definitely a reddish wood, but probably browner than it was when first finished. It depends on the lighting, too. It never looks just brown. Sometimes it looks like a crimson, hardly brownish at all.

I guess you could say the color is "brick red" -- since bricks vary so much.

The finish is pretty yellowed, which complicates things. For reference, the bass is normally in a case, and comes out 2-3 nights a week for about four hours under artificial light. It has had some outdoor day gigs, and some miscellaneous daytime use, but mostly I noodle around on another bass with high action, so that this one always feels good and easy when I take it out.

Interesting. At some point I'll need to do some finish tests.

Your thread also got me thinking about the dreaded grain fill. I hate grain filling. I haven't decided anything about whether or not to grain fill or what look to go for with the finish yet.

 

[pilotjones]

Interesting. At some point I'll need to do some finish tests.

Your thread also got me thinking about the dreaded grain fill. I hate grain filling. I haven't decided anything about whether or not to grain fill or what look to go for with the finish yet.

Yeah, that base was grain filed with oil finish plus sawdust, and the padauk pores have all shrunk back. A result I would say of the combination of the tendency of oil to continue shrinking over a long period, and the cavernous size of the pores in padauk.

 

[lbridenstine]

Yeah, that base was grain filed with oil finish plus sawdust, and the padauk pores have all shrunk back. A result I would say of the combination of the tendency of oil to continue shrinking over a long period, and the cavernous size of the pores in padauk.

Well, that sucks. I was looking into it a little bit, and I think I might do shellac>grain fill (I have some ColorTone filler, maybe I'll use that?)>shellac>unknown top coat. The problem is I don't know what color grain filler to use because it would be going on wenge, padauk, and black limba. Wenge has really big pores too. I did not enjoy grain filling with epoxy when I did that on a previous wenge top, but I do like that epoxy is clear.

 

[pilotjones]

Yeah, that's tough question as far as color grain fill for wenge and padauk sided by side (which I love the look of). My first thought is just clear fill, and the longshot thought is black or very dark brown tinted, to disappear on the wenge and to accentuate the pores in the padauk. You'd definitely have to do some scrap tests, though, and take a good look at the pore patterns on the actual surfaces.

 

[lbridenstine]

Yeah, that's tough question as far as color grain fill for wenge and padauk sided by side (which I love the look of). My first thought is just clear fill, and the longshot thought is black or very dark brown tinted, to disappear on the wenge and to accentuate the pores in the padauk. You'd definitely have to do some scrap tests, though, and take a good look at the pore patterns on the actual surfaces.

Yeah, I'll have to test. I think dark brown might have to be the color unless I can do clear.

 

[PDX Rich]

That wenge should look fabulous with the paduak top. That stuff is crazy-heavy though. One of my current builds (8-octave) has a 5-piece laminated w/w/w/w/w neck through. Heavy, nasty splinters, strange porous feel.....but, a really wonderful wood once all is said and done.

 

[lbridenstine]

That wenge should look fabulous with the paduak top. That stuff is crazy-heavy though. One of my current builds (8-octave) has a 5-piece laminated w/w/w/w/w neck through. Heavy, nasty splinters, strange porous feel.....but, a really wonderful wood once all is said and done.

Yeah, it is really heavy. It was like $38 shipping because of the weight too. :-/ I'm going to go with the Hipshot Ultralite tuners and the neck won't be super thick, so hopefully that plus the wenge going through the body will prevent neck dive. Also, the neck is only like half-wenge, so that might help too. Black limba for the main part of the body should help with the overall weight of the bass, I think... I hope. My seven string guitars are really light feeling (no hardware on yet) with the wenge/walnut necks + black limba bodies, but they're set necks.

 

[lbridenstine]

I was placing my LMI order and decided to see what grain fillers they had and found this:

I watched the video and checked reviews on amazon and it looks like it's what I need for this bass, so I bought some. Hopefully it'll work good.