Winter Buildoff 2022: Still A Diva

[TerribleTim68]

Interesting info guys. Thanks.

Yeah, I had considered doing something custom that was more similar to the Diva retainers, which would of course not be string-thru. I'm just worried about time here. I could drill holes and insert ferrules top and bottom and be done with it. But that introduces the sharp angle at the top from ferrule to bridge saddle. I don't really wanna try to do some odd angled string-thru that somehow comes out the side just to reduce string angle, because then you're exiting at the strap button location...roughly. I guess I need to put some more thought into all that.

The plan is to just use a tune-o-matic style bridge for the saddle piece, and then do something behind it for a ball end retainer. The tune-o-matic bridge and saddles would solve a lot of issues by both being easy to install and offering some form of intonation, what little bit it actually has, without needing to fab something complex in this short time frame. I guess if I knew I had two years to work on it, I wouldn't mind fabbing something.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Okay, we'll see how this goes. I have a brother-in-law who is the shop foreman at a very large machine shop here in town. He has worked his way up from the floor to the office, but still knows how to run every machine they have, including the water jet and the big CNC. Lots of way cool toys that I wish I could have access to! I sent him a message asking if he had any scrap 5/8" brass rod laying around and he said "I'll take a look". So I sent him this drawing (because I can do drawings) and said "Here's what I'm trying to make, I need 4 of these..." -

I figure my odds are pretty good that he's gonna go "I can make that!" and then I can just file a slot in the side of it myself.
Cross your fingers for me. I'm hopeful he just bangs it out without much begging.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Well poo, that didn't work. He has no scrap brass rod. I guess I'm back to the drawing board.
Who didn't cross their fingers?

 

[StereoPlayer]

Well poo, that didn't work. He has no scrap brass rod. I guess I'm back to the drawing board.
Who didn't cross their fingers?

Well…take him a piece of brass so he can do it!

 

[RichterScale]

Tim, when I decided to use the Diva as the basis for my build, I searched for pics and ended up using the drawing you posted in the begining of the other thread as a reference.
This whole time, until you posted the pics last night of all the parts together, it never clicked or crossed my brain that yours is also an all wenge neck and mostly wenge body.
And I looked at that first build thread a whole bunch, too.
Now that it clicked, I feel

 

[RichterScale]

Although, even if I'd noticed, I may have done it all exactly the same anyway.
I was dying to build something out of the wenge board.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Although, even if I'd noticed, I may have done it all exactly the same anyway.
I was dying to build something out of the wenge board.

Wenge is awesome, I love the look. Honestly, I went this route because it was all leftovers from Lucifer. I already had it, so why not use it? Keeps the wife happy when I'm not spending more money. And yeah, it's beautiful looking, I love it. It's insanely hard to work with, and it will splinter and stab you just out of spite. It's probably the most evil wood I've ever touched. I've said it before, it's make of concrete and hatred. Had I been born with more common sense I would not have used it for my first AND second ever builds. But, there's this odd part of my brain that says "How can we overcomplicate this, or somehow make it more difficult?" And then that's the way I do it.

 

[dwizum]

My first and second builds also had wenge in them. Several dozen instruments later and I haven't touched it since.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

“Concrete and Hatred”. Sign me up. Is there another wood that looks like Hersheys Dark Chocolate, minus the Hatred? Black walnut maybe? Some kind of ebony?

 

[RichterScale]

Other than making super fine dust, I haven't found it very difficult to work with, cut on the table saw or band saw. Actually, the resaw blade seems to like the wenge.
But, other than doing a 16" radius on a wenge fingerboard, I haven't tried any serious shaping with a rasp or sanding. So, maybe that's when I'll do the, oooooohhhhh, now I see what the bad rep is about....

 

[Beej]

Yep, I love the way it looks but I basically won't touch it anymore. The last sliver I got looked short but fat, however when it pulled out, it was around 3/8" long. And then it swelled up and a patch of psoriasis formed right around that spot that ached for about a month. Nope, done.

 

[Kenan]

Of course, you are custom building and that means you can choose the angle that they come at the saddle from, rather than being required to make it be straight up out of the body and whammo! Somebody here did string-though that came out the end instead of the bottom, even, IIRC. You could also choose straight 90° holes and then radius the top of the hole towards the bridge.

Mind you, I have flats that cost more than my entire electric bass + amp setup coming apart over the bridge (which is surely an expected angle for them to bend) on the Lidl.

I believe it is @JIO who has made a couple of basses with the string ferrules on the end of the bass rather than the back. It gives a very cool retro rocket ship look.

What flats do you have that cost more than the bass AND amp?

 

[dwizum]

I believe it is @JIO who has made a couple of basses with the string ferrules on the end of the bass rather than the back. It gives a very cool retro rocket ship look.

A couple of the regulars have done angled string through ferrules out the heel of the bass like you're describing. It can definitely look really dramatic!

 

[RichterScale]

The last sliver I got looked short but fat, however when it pulled out, it was around 3/8" long.

I get slivers all the time. Every kind of wood and metal too.
I probably shouldn't jinx myself, but no Wenge slivers yet. I do notice I'm hyper conscious of it though when I handle it.
I s'pose it's just a matter of time.

What flats do you have that cost more than the bass AND amp?

Probably upright. Upper range is like $800.

 

[Kenan]

Probably upright. Upper range is like $800.

Oh believe me, I know! I just thought he was talking about bass guitar strings. I've been buying used Olivs one at a time in the classifieds and I finally have a full set! Lol.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Sticking Your Neck Out -
So I got to leave work early today to go have some blood work done. Luckily the line wasn't long and I was in and out pretty quickly, but I won't be telling my boss that. It did give me some time to slip out to the garage before the wife gets home and make some progress. I decided I didn't want the neck beam standing proud of the body wings, so I whipped out the ol' #4, opened up the throat a bit, sharpened up the blade and started scrubbing. After some major gains there, I pulled out the #5 and tried to clean it up a bit from the hogging method. It isn't completely smooth and flush, but we now have something like this -

It's a good place to start. And it also gives me the chance to rough in that heel some. So, let's pull out the Dremel, pop in the little Saburtooth bit and start carving. I'm no carving expert, but it works pretty good for some major roughing in, and at the end of it I now have this -

Nope, it isn't perfect, it's far from done and it looks kinda ugly at this point. But it's a rough shape that I can then work from. Mostly I just wanted to remove the bulk, and I did.

Then I decided I should rough in the volute while I'm in carving mode. So, clamp that sucker down so it ain't going anywhere, whip out the shinto and the half round and start chewing up wood. We now have this -

Yeah, that's a good place to start. I'm happy with that for now. I can see the shape and I'm pretty happy with it, so we'll work from there. We're making gains here.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Oh, for those interested, I did a bit more measuring using my angle-ometer (angle finder) and the compass and it appears I was right, 11 degrees on that headstock tilt back. I like it, it looks good to me.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

What flats do you have that cost more than the bass AND amp?

The Lidl is a 3/4 Upright (i.e. normal full size) - I sleuthed out the strings at some point by silk colors, I think they are Pirastro Flexocor (medium) - but pretty much any (decent) set of upright strings will meet that criterion - partly because my amp was $80 and my (Yamaha) bass was $125 including getting new tapewounds.

 

[Beej]

The Lidl is a 3/4 Upright (i.e. normal full size) - I sleuthed out the strings at some point by silk colors, I think they are Pirastro Flexocor (medium) - but pretty much any (decent) set of upright strings will meet that criterion - partly because my amp was $80 and my (Yamaha) bass was $125 including getting new tapewounds.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Google (or your search engine of choice) will demystify

Lidl 50/1 bass

PDQ, so it weren't much of a trick.

At $240-275 per set, the strings remain comfortably ahead of the entire electric setup, and they have gotten a lot more use in the past 5 years. I did not buy them, they were on the bass when I borrowed it, after it had been sitting for 10 years unused before I asked if I could borrow it.