Winter Build Off 2020 - Leftovers and Locust

[rojo412]

This was going to be my only entry for this year, but something else came along at the same time. Since I love a good challenge and more pressure, I decided to tackle both.

This bass was intended to be mainly improvised as I went along, using as many parts and leftover pieces I had around here, so as not to spend more money than I already had.
The concept in general was to take this big piece of locust wood that I was given and make it into a carved, skeletal-style body. The neck was a botched project from the past, so I was thinking headless. And I wanted to keep things easier, so I figured go fretless as well.

The ACF "Leftovers and Locust" build

Specs:
- Locust body
- Maple/walnut headless neck
- Katalox board, unlined
- EMG 45TW pickup, volume and tone
- ??? hardware

Here's a rough sketch I did, though it will likely change a lot once the sawdust starts:

 

[Jon Clegg]

Sub'd

 

[rogerbmiller]

Subbed.

 

[ctmullins]

Cooooool! I love the desire to make use of cutoffs.

And I love me some headless!

 

[rojo412]

Starting with this big-ass piece of locust...

It was a huge piece, like about 2.5" thick and pretty long.

But cursory measurements showed that I couldn't evenly make 2 halves of a body anywhere with it.
That's not to say I couldn't make UNEVEN halves of a body though... So I did that.

I'm treating this bass like a "jam session" of sorts. The goal is to make stuff work, look really unique, and actually function. In my head, the final result will be almost a sculpture of sorts. With a solid 2" body blank to work with, I think the concept of doing a radiused body may be in order.
And I also really enjoy carving and shaping a lot, so this will be a tribute to that.

@rogerbmiller introduced me to the term "Jazzbo Geek," which is another thing I've got in my head for this project. The idea being, the final product of this bass will be the kind of thing you'd expect to see a guy playing on stage at an acid jazz festival.

 

[ctmullins]

Well done! How are you going to handle that giant knot? Stabilize it, or get rid of it?

 

[rojo412]

How are you going to handle that giant knot? Stabilize it, or get rid of it?

I'm basically trying to remove as much body as will look good. But I'm totally into stabilizing a knot with epoxy of some sort.

Cooooool! I love the desire to make use of cutoffs.

One of my earlier ideas was to basically make a cutting board of some scraps and just have a patchwork body. Kind of like that CT Rainbow bass, but with much less caring about what wood is where.
And I even thought about trying to do something like giant jigsaw puzzle pieces at some point, but unlikely for this year.

 

[Ekajimmy]

Cooooool! I love the desire to make use of cutoffs.

And I love me some headless!

+1
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[dwizum]

Excited to see how the locust works out. Do you know exactly what species it is? I have a bunch of black locust slabs I cut from trees in my yard and I've been wondering about the instrument building potential.

 

[Timggoer]

I thought I saw Jesus in that "big ass piece of locust" pic but on closer inspection I'm pretty sure it's Patrick Simmons.

 

[rojo412]

Hahahaha! You’re spot on! Good eye.

 

[Scoops]

I thought I saw Jesus in that "big ass piece of locust" pic but on closer inspection I'm pretty sure it's Patrick Simmons.

Looks more like a Picasso of a 3 eyed rabbit to me

 

[rojo412]

True, you could definitely make the case for many figures ending up kinda like Picasso works.
But I mean...

That's hard to deny. The flowing hair, the mustache, the kind eyes...

 

[Scoops]

True, you could definitely make the case for many figures ending up kinda like Picasso works.
But I mean...

View attachment 3639820
That's hard to deny. The flowing hair, the mustache, the kind eyes...

OK....I see it now. Still say it's a Picasso

 

[rojo412]

Body got unclamped and stayed together, so I figured "Why not make it the right shape?"

Not quite sure what sort of Rorschach we all see in that, but feel free to comment.

With that done, the truss got routed and the neck cut to shape:

And I mixed up some epoxy with black dye and glued that all together:

Used the remaining epoxy to fill in the gaps of the body, just in case certain sections don't get removed in the carving process:

When that's all dry, it should smooth out nicely. And if not... I'll improvise.

 

[rojo412]

Do you know exactly what species it is? I have a bunch of black locust slabs I cut from trees in my yard and I've been wondering about the instrument building potential.

I don't know, unfortunately. I looked it up and was thinking "Honey sounds right" from the color. But I saw black locust billets that were just as yellow.
Black Locust is pretty prevalent around here, so I'd say it's a decent chance of being that.
It feels a lot like working with ash. And ever since I saw a video with a guy making a cardboard Strat with the Fender Custom Shop, I figure that any wood strong enough to hold solid and be shaped and sealed... can be an instrument.
I say GO FOR IT!

 

[rogerbmiller]

Wow this is moving quickly!

 

[dwizum]

I looked it up and was thinking "Honey sounds right" from the color.

I had cut honey and black locust at my old house and they can look similar. Black seems to be harder. It's about the hardest wood I've cut (with a chainsaw). It does almost look like a yellow version of ash, I've been thinking it would look good with a colorful fretboard, maybe purpleheart.

 

[rojo412]

This stuff doesn't seem too hard. It's very comparable to most ash I've used. True Black Locust, I'd also heard, was very tough and tended to have a high blunting effect.
Whatever this is... I wouldn't do a fretboard in it.

 

[Jisch]

Wow, cranking right along.