Winter Build Off 2022: 5 String Fretless Neck Through

[TerribleTim68]

Pizza needs high heat above and below. I'd try dropping a big metal mixing bowl over the pizza on the flat top, create that oven environment above with direct heat below. In my oven at home a pie at 400° takes bout 20 min, if your surface is hotter I'd expect even less. The hope would be the bowl creates enough above heat to melt the top real good in the time it takes the flat top to cook the bottom. The other move would be to flat top it till the bottom is good, then chuck it in a traditional oven to finish.

Yeah, the Evo has a big domed metal lid (sort of). -

But even with that, I've still never gotten it to work "right". I may also be running it too hot. That thing has a jet engine burner under it, every time I light it I think of those guys on that TV show "Moonshiners" saying "It's your turn to get blowed up..."

 

[Reedt2000]

Yeah, the Evo has a big domed metal lid (sort of). -
View attachment 4595777
But even with that, I've still never gotten it to work "right". I may also be running it too hot. That thing has a jet engine burner under it, every time I light it I think of those guys on that TV show "Moonshiners" saying "It's your turn to get blowed up..."

Could be. Typical pizza ovens run 500-700°, wood ovens can be way hotter and cook a pizza in minutes. Sounds to me like the above and below heats are mismatched.

 

[Gary_M]

Qüïmsgëfääërdën ÏÏ (rëvïsïtëd) - Tömmÿ wänt wïngÿ

A little more progress tonight getting the wings going.

I cut some black poplar veneer to use between layers.

Mixed up some glue and got everything arranged in order.

Lay down a piece, apply glue, lay the next piece on top, etc.

Each stack was taped together to prevent slipping.

Both stacks went into the vacuum bag.

More later.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

I wanna build a brick & mortar, old school oven.
Call it the Pizzalator 9000.

The problem with those in observed reality is that they usually become a big pile of masonry that's too annoying to use, so they don't get used. I've seen many people try it. My best friend from childhood has one in the yard, and I managed to get him to fire it up, but it's a right royal pain for the results obtained. It sits idle most of the time.

Too long and too much fuel to get to temperature for use, if you are not a commercial or community oven with lots of use once it's finally hot. That's assuming no errors made in constructing it that make it even more annoying to fire.

For reasonable volume use that you'll actually use, you want highly insulated, low mass, fast firing, little fuel. There are a lot of ways to get there; low-cost DIY ("rocket pizza oven") or things bought off the shelf. (e.g. Uuni or Ooni which is evidently the same company but spelled differently in different markets, since I've seen an Ooni ad with a link to a Uuni spec sheet...)

 

[TerribleTim68]

...
More later.

That title still makes me

Also, I'm still super jelly of your cool vacuum bag.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

cööl väcüüm bäg.

FTFŸ

 

[Gary_M]

Well, this morning I pulled the wing blanks out of the vacuum bag. To my horror I discovered that they were stained... like the tannins in the padauk had reacted with something. Maybe the glue, maybe the water in the glue. I mean, it's normal to see some glue pulled up through the wood when it's as porous as padauk, but I didn't expect this.

The piece on the bottom didn't exhibit the problem because it wasn't glued on yet, I had just used it as a platen during the glue up. (The plan is to try to cut a matching cover, so I need to have the back piece free for the moment.)

I've used UF glue frequently and never had this problem, but this is a new brand of glue for me. Sure enough, some quick searching found articles saying that Cascamite had changed their formulation during the pandemic due to sourcing issues. On top of that, a lot of users reported dark staining when using it with oak.

I assumed that the staining went all the way through the padauk as some initial sanding made the stains appear to be pretty deep. I had already made the decision that the top layer could stay as it would be covered by maple, but the back would need to be planed off and replaced.

I decided to go ahead and run it through the drum sander, since the top needed to be cleaned up anyway. Much to my surprise, all the stains cleaned up! Sometimes small victories are a big relief.

Tonight I took the neck over to the band saw and removed the bulk of the thickness from the back of the neck. It's always surprising just how much weight this removes.

More soon.

 

[RichterScale]

That band saw cuts like a dream.
And thanks for upsetting me for the first 3/4 of the post, just to find out everything is okay.

 

[Level5wizard]

Doesn't padauk have a lot of oils and what not like Rosewood? You guys are more experienced. I'm not hacking up pricey wood until I get this craft down.

 

[Gary_M]

That band saw cuts like a dream.
And thanks for upsetting me for the first 3/4 of the post, just to find out everything is okay.

Yeah, overall it was going to be a pretty boring post... it just needed a sense of drama to spice it up a bit.

 

[Beej]

Doesn't padauk have a lot of oils and what not like Rosewood? You guys are more experienced. I'm not hacking up pricey wood until I get this craft down.

It's a little bit oily compared to north american domestics, but not too bad I find.

 

[RichterScale]

Doesn't padauk have a lot of oils and what not like Rosewood? You guys are more experienced. I'm not hacking up pricey wood until I get this craft down.

I really only know what I know from watching these guys since last Feb and what I look up on wood database. I hacked up and rebuilt an old bass last spring, to get my feet wet and get a feel for a few of the steps, then jumped in head first with a scratch build and $150 Wenge board that I don't know the first thing about in service. I'm doing better on the things I didn't get right on the last one, but I'm already thinking about what I'll do on the next one. Whenever I have pause,... I pause. I ask and I search old threads.
Go for it.

 

[Gary_M]

Doesn't padauk have a lot of oils and what not like Rosewood? You guys are more experienced. I'm not hacking up pricey wood until I get this craft down.

It's a little bit oily compared to north american domestics, but not too bad I find.

Yeah, what Beej said. It has a bit of a silky quality, but I wouldn't say oily... maybe a bit buttery??

 

[Gary_M]

I haven't updated this thread for a while, but I've been chipping away at this project. Here's some of what I've been up to.

I needed to get the back of the body portion of the neck beam parallel to the front of the beam (this is due to the neck/body angle which has already been established on the front of the beam). So, I attached a piece of plywood to the front surface. You can just make out the parallel line that I have penciled in on the side.

I set up the fence to take a small amount off with each pass. With the plywood against the fence I was able to rough cut the neck beam.

I should have changed out the blade back to a 1/2", but I didn't want to mess with it as I need to cut the body wings soon. This worked well enough to rough it in.

A couple minutes at the belt sander got it dialed in perfectly.

Here is a shot where you can should now be able to see the neck/body angle.

I also ensmoothened the back of the neck and brought it to near finished thickness. Here I've transferred dimensions for my neck profile so that I can cut facets close to my final profile.

I think I'll make a couple more posts to get current. Back soon.

 

[Gary_M]

Next up I started cutting in the primary facets. I find it very difficult to photograph these steps, so I'll just post a couple shots as I'm sure you've all seen this before.

At times I do use tape to mark out lines as it is easier than trying to hold a straight edge to mark lines... also easier to see.

Here I'm blending my profile into the side of the fingerboard. This will be a fairly shallow C profile with virtually no shoulders. I'm really trying to slim this one down. You can also see that I've drilled for additional marker positions here.

Checking the profile progress. Coming in right on the money.

 

[Gary_M]

More progress on the neck...

Using my favorite silver hammer , I tapped in the additional position markers that I made up earlier. These were glued in with medium CA. It will have face dots from 12-24.

Dots were installed at 3,5,7,9, etc. on the side.

The dots were then filed flush.

It's nearly impossible to tell, but the main neck shaft has been carved close to its final shape and dimensions. I still need to work on the volute, and the heel will likely wait until after the wings are attached.

My profile came out right where I drew it, very happy with this result.

 

[Gary_M]

Qüïmsgëfääërdën ÏÏ (rëvïsïtëd) Hëädstöck Wïng Dëtäïl

I took a few days of PTO so that I can (hopefully) make some rapid progress on this bass. With that deadline looming, I'm like a deer in the headlights.

This morning I tackled the headstock wing detail. This was a feature that I wanted to implement on the first version of the design. But due to not allowing for the tuner washers, I could not execute it to the full extent. Instead of explaining it all, I'll just show you.

I mounted some elevation blocks near the nut area.

I made a copy of the center headstock template and cut off the tip (Mazel tov!) so that I had a hinge point. I carefully aligned the template and mounted it using the trick.

Next, I inserted an extra piece as a brace to keep it from flexing.

I used my Colt router with a 3/8" by 1/2" deep bit and took shallow passes.

I did some initial cleanup with chisels and sandpaper... this will need some additional fairing of course.

Neato.

I will be fitting additional contrasting laminates in the little wingies. I'm just happy to have this part done... made me a little nervous, mmm hmmm.

More soon.

 

[RichterScale]

This pleases me.
Continue.

 

[Gary_M]

This pleases me.
Continue.

That's a big 10-4.

 

[Max Bogosity]

That's slick. Makes the headstock look more substantial while actually reducing mass.