Winter 2017 Build Off -- The Dan-0-Backer

[Jon Clegg]

They are used on Ibanez basses and can be had in silver, gold and black. For individual units, they are substantial, have internal body interface (for more dynamic coupling) and feel nice for palm-muting on the surface. Staggering them is a must as fore-aft adjustment (if going string-thru) is best determined before installation.

Yes, I plan on staggering them to put the center of the range at the points given by Bruce Johnson's formula. Meanwhile I've routed the channels for the headstock binding. The bends at the top will require softening with heat. I plan to practice on the poplar mockup that I used to practice the routs on.

 

[Jon Clegg]

Headstock bondage... I mean binding!

Should be getting ready to fret this weekend

 

[Jon Clegg]

Mocked up TRC with logo:

 

[Jon Clegg]

Decided to finish things off at the headstock end; drilling for the tuners, opening up the TR access, etc.

 

[Jon Clegg]

RTV'ed the truss rod in this morning before work.

Got home and put in a couple of staples to keep the FB from shifting

Put in the side dots

Glue up prep

And the all important glue up picture!

And that will wrap things for tonight, probably.

 

[I-Am-The-Slime]

cruising along nicely!

 

[Jon Clegg]

Thank you!

 

[Jon Clegg]

Pulled it out of the clamps this morning:

All nice and tight. There are a couple of places where the sides of the neck are slightly proud of the fretboard; I'll take care of those during the neck carve. I will also need to fill in the very tips of the headstock binding that broke off during handling; I'll pack in some shavings of the binding and dissolve with acetone.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

How did you handle the transition of headstock binding to neck binding? I plan on trying that on the Hossenfeffer II, any advice? Looking sweet!

 

[Jon Clegg]

Thanks!
I routed the headstock binding on my router table so that the break angle feathers into the fretboard binding which goes all the way to the bottom of the fretboard, in my case.

Put in the binding so that it extended up and beyond the rabbet, then cut that flush up to the point where the nut is. I left the binding in the nut area slightly proud since I'll be putting a shim in there for the nut. I'll post a close up tonight.
In any event, the two bindings meet flush. I'll scrape the joint and possibly paint with a bit of acetone to smooth it over if needed.

 

[Beej]

I'll just stand over here in the corner quietly shouting "go! go! go!" into your subconscious...

 

[Jon Clegg]

I'll just stand over here in the corner quietly shouting "go! go! go!" into your subconscious...

I feel this strange compulsion to go down to the workshop..

 

[Jon Clegg]

As promised here's a closeup of the transition from the headstock binding to the fretboard binding:

You can see the little chip out on the tail of headstock binding. Haven't done anything yet so this is how the joint turned out raw. I'll give it a scrape and some more pictures after I fix the chip(s)

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Thanks! One picture=1000 words. One nice thing about the ABS is how well it dissolves in acetone to form a goop that can be troweled in. I had to patch a few little holidays on mine, heh! I have a headstock template, maybe I'll try bind a couple scrap headstocks for practice before I try it for real. I melted a few pieces of insanely expensive Celluloid checker binding trying to get it hot enough to take tight bends. The difference between flexible and toast is like one degree.

 

[Jon Clegg]

Oh yeah. Oddly enough, I ended up not using heat for much more than a subtle bend. the inner bend on the top of the headstock was accomplished by just feeding the binding into the rabbet from the end then using the string to pull it in tight. This allowed the ABS to bend without breaking. Likewise on the top I used an extra long piece, secured it at the top right corner of the headstock and pulled it in with string, if that makes sense.

 

[Jon Clegg]

Weekend update:

Spent the weekend fretting over this <ducks for cover>

After looking at the 20 or 30 different ways to install frets on the internet... I decided to tap in the ends with a fret hammer then press them in using a brass caul insert in a DIY caul in my drill press. Slotted the caul using my table saw, used a 5/16" jam nut, etc:

Pressed in the first fret beautifully. Then I applied a bit too much force:

Glued it back together, reinforced and pressed on

Need to dress the ends, etc. But right now, I think I'll have a beer.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

That's pretty cool. Do the barrel nuts allow the thing to swivel a little? I used a cheap cast aluminum one I got on ebay with the radius ground into it, and a rod that chucks into the drillpress. It works ok, but has no swiveling function, so it doesn't level itself to the fret. I might mod it up somehow.

 

[Jon Clegg]

I didn't make this one swivel. I'll look at redoing it so that it will. All that I need to do is open up the shaft hole side to side a bit to allow pivoting and radiusing the top.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I got all the frets in with mine, but noticed it tended to leave them high in the center, so I had to tap in anyway. They ended up pretty damn tight in the slots, so I didn't glue. Your neck is looking great!

 

[Jon Clegg]

I

I got all the frets in with mine, but noticed it tended to leave them high in the center, so I had to tap in anyway. They ended up pretty damn tight in the slots, so I didn't glue. Your neck is looking great!

Thank you!
I didn't glue mine either. I did end up eyeballing it quite a bit to keep the caul centered on the neck but it pressed down nicely. I gave it a few taps here and there for my own peace of mind.