Winter Build-Off 2023: Twin Tigers!!!

[Lonnybass]

Having a chance to build his own bass with the help of his dad is a pretty amazing opportunity.

I'm looking forward to it. We were in the workshop earlier checking out some neck dimensions and he complained that a jazz neck felt too narrow at the 12th fret. I told him it was exactly the same width as the one on the claro walnut he likes so much. He didn't believe me. Thus, I introduced him to my trusted friend Digital Caliper

 

[Lonnybass]

In between approximately 56,000 other projects going on right now, I dug the neck I made for the jazz bass in my old workshop out of storage for a test-fitting and hardware mock-up.

I'm not sure if this will get finished up before the fretless tiger twin - there simply aren't enough hours in the day around here!

 

[Lonnybass]

In addition to the usual logo inlay all my basses get, this will also receive a special decal on the headstock. Like G&L, only more…relevant?

 

[Lonnybass]

Finally a couple of minutes with nothing going on so I can actually work on basses! Jazz bass logos are on and ready for finish.

 

[Lonnybass]

I wasn't happy with the headstock decal - it looked great except around the edges! So we redid it by hand…

 

[Lonnybass]

Test fitting the jazz bass neck for the first time. The two-beam method for neck pockets never fails!

We'll just keep chipping away at this and the Tiger Bass and eventually at least one of them will get done!

 

[Lo-E]

Good to see you're still thumbing your nose at child labor laws! That kid's going to grow up unafraid to do things with his hands and that's a great thing.

 

[Lonnybass]

Good to see you're still thumbing your nose at child labor laws! That kid's going to grow up unafraid to do things with his hands and that's a great thing.

We'll see if he agrees after he spends an entire day progressively wetsanding from 600 to 800 to 1000 to 1200 to 1500 to 2000 to 3000 to Micromesh to buffing compound to auto polish to wax.

 

[Videojunkie]

We'll see if he agrees after he spends an entire day progressively wetsanding from 600 to 800 to 1000 to 1200 to 1500 to 2000 to 3000 to Micromesh to buffing compound to auto polish to wax.

Take it easy and in small bites unless he gets in a groove. That way it doesn't become tiresome.

 

[definenredefine]

We then begin to add amber to the center, and begin vignetting the colors to a natural fiery burst.View attachment 4993963View attachment 4993964View attachment 4993965

I don't know why I didn't ask this months ago, but when you say "vignetting," do you mean literally pulling the red into the yellow using the cloth or sponge or whatever?

 

[Lonnybass]

I don't know why I didn't ask this months ago, but when you say "vignetting," do you mean literally pulling the red into the yellow using the cloth or sponge or whatever?

That's exactly right, with a slight caveat…we pull the yellow (or whatever lighter) color into the red (or other darker) one. It's a bit easier to get your middle color tones by going from light to dark. More control that way.

 

[definenredefine]

That's exactly right, with a slight caveat…we pull the yellow (or whatever lighter) color into the red (or other darker) one. It's a bit easier to get your middle color tones by going from light to dark. More control that way.

Gotcha, thanks!

 

[Lonnybass]

This is looking good! With the logos cured up, I'll resume adding clear coats this weekend.

 

[Lonnybass]

And while the jazz neck is being topcoated, and finally with a little bit of free time on my hands, I'll get to work on buffing out some basses.

About to get started on the tiger twin now…

 

[Lonnybass]

And tomorrow morning, with my little guy home from school, we'll work on the red jazz bass together.

 

[Lonnybass]

Getting close…

 

[Lonnybass]

Some good progress on both basses! Little guy helped quite a bit…gave me a chance to enjoy my morning coffee and take a few action shots.

 

[Lonnybass]

 

[Lonnybass]

Bass #1 is just about done. Gonna give this a careful quality control check under the magnifying glasses to look for any areas that need spot work.

 

[definenredefine]

Some good progress on both basses! Little guy helped quite a bit…gave me a chance to enjoy my morning coffee and take a few action shots.

View attachment 5068877 View attachment 5068878 View attachment 5068879

I'm gonna ask another incredibly basic question - when you're wet sanding (which is what I presume your kiddo is doing in the last couple of pics), do you wet the paper? Or do you put the water/soap mixture directly on the bass? Or some combination of both?