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Zoov 4 and 5 String Builds

headlikeahole

headlikeahole

Commercial User
Oct 31, 2009
348
10
Manchester, NH
Disclosures
Owner: Zoov Custom Guitars
#1
Began work on two new basses today. Nothing too complicated mahogany wings with maple tops. Neck through construction. I'm still not positive what type of wood to use for the neck. I may end up going with Oak. It isn't widely used but I'm ok with trying something different.

Specs

4 String 34" Scale
3/8" Spacing @ nut
3/4" Spacing @ bridge
Neck Through
Nordstrand Big Singles
Nordstrand 3B-5b preamp
Neutrik Jack
Black Sperzel Tuners
Zoov Bridge

5 String 35" Scale
3/8" spacing @ nut
3/4" spacing @ bridge
Neck Through
John Worrell Pickups
Nordstrand 3B-5b preamp
Neutrik jack
Black Sperzel Tuners
Zoov Bridge

I have a new design for my bridges that don't require the weight of the strings to hold the saddles down. I will go through the machining of the bridge if people want to see some of that process. I'll post pics of the drawings tomorrow.

So far I have the body wings glued up. 11/4" African Mahogany with 1/2" Maple top. Getting to this point is fairly simple. I use my templates to trace out the shapes and cut out my pieces on the band saw. I cut close to the line not on it. Once the maple is glued onto the mahogany I'll use the spindle sander to clean everything up. I could also use my templates and a router to do that. Today I just feel like using the spindle sander.

This is the 4 string body wings fresh out of clamps
TqswZ.png


This is the same body with a piece of Oak to get an idea of what an oak neck might look like on this bass.
MTkAc.png


These are some of my templates with the 4 string body wings
3xtvm.png


This is a pic of the nordstrand pickups and a preamp. I will post some pics of the Worrell pickups shortly.
45eAI.png


Tomorrow I will post some pics of the 5 string body and hopefully I'll have made some progress on the necks.
 
#6
These are the first oak necks I've done but I built an oak body with a redheart top not that long ago. It sounds fantastic.

I got an early start this morning. Normally when I start new builds the first few days I can barely contain the excitement. I was here till almost midnight last night and back in at around 6am this morning.

This is the 5 string body
C0NRc.png


I cut up the oak for the necks as well as a 1/2" slice of maple for the center. Here's both bodies with the neck pieces to give you an idea of where this is headed.
Uv9YL.png


This is a picture of the neck gluing up. I the purple on the right side is just sandpaper double sided taped to an aluminum bar.
UthKv.png


While I'm waiting for the necks to dry I'll start in on the control cavities. I'll also work on carving the inside of the horns. It's much easier to do all the rough carving on the inside of the horns before they get glued to the neck.

Enjoy
 
#11
I used oak and poplar for my first (only so far) bass build. So far no troubles. Was easy to work with and sounds good to me. The oak takes a dye well, the poplar not so much. I used oak for the fingerboard as well and so far it's holding up. Red oak, from the Home Depot. Nothing but the best for me.

I'm looking forward to seeing the bridges!
 
#12
grisezd said:
I used oak and poplar for my first (only so far) bass build. So far no troubles. Was easy to work with and sounds good to me. The oak takes a dye well, the poplar not so much. I used oak for the fingerboard as well and so far it's holding up. Red oak, from the Home Depot. Nothing but the best for me!
Click to expand...

im going the HD route myself. My local store has maple, oak, and poplar in stock. Its pretty cheap too.
 
#13
Yeah its my design. It's nothing earth shattering or anything just a new design. I've normally used the weight of the strings to hold the saddles down but I get a lot of people skeptical that they aren't locked into place.

This is one of my bridges. Bocote base, brass saddles with ebony pieces. I documented this build here.
zir5s.jpg

ZKzG3.jpg
 
#15
Wow. That's a cool bridge. I've used simple floating "unibrow" saddles on a few projects, but it never dawned on me that individual saddles wouldn't be that much more work. Thanks for the inspiration!

By the way, I love the look of that bass. It looks like it was built with a huge amount of care and skill without looking over the top coffeetablish!
 
#17
Love the bridge saddles , they're in the vein of ETS or Jerzy Drozd. I imagine that you're making these yourself as I haven't been able to find anything like them from suppliers and figured if I wanted something like that I have't to either make them or shell out the bucks to get them from ETS.

I know that the string tension will hold the saddles down but I imagine that you have to do a bit of intonation with string changes if the saddles move freely without the force of the strings to hold them in place. I think a diagonal set screw would be a good addition to the saddles. You don't need to apply much force , just enough to keep the saddle in place. I've seen Jerzy use them with a wood baseplate too, so I dont think you'll have any issues with the saddle routes wearing out.

As we are in the same neck of the woods where are you getting your wood from? Always looking for more places to loose my money in.

Looking great so far.

Rob
 
#19
I think I may be trying multi-laminate oak for my first bass build. :)

I'm going to do a salvage build, I think. Where all my wood comes from reused materials. I have some oak boards from pallets I wanted to use for neck and fretboard woods and some 2x scraps I was thinking of using for body wood.

Can't wait to see how this comes out!
 
#20
Made quite a bit of progress today. Routed out the control cavities on the milling machine. Also routed the truss rod slots and the 13 degree neck angles.

Both control cavities routed. This is fairly painless on the milling machine. I get most of the excess out on the drill press then clean it up on the mill.
LFmR1.png


Two Granadillo fingerboards.
3JvDN.jpg


This is the rest of the board. This will be a decent top someday.
1HXfO.jpg


This is about as simple as it gets. I trim off some of the gross excess on the band saw before routeing
U7741.png


I'll have more pics soon
 

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