Page 6 of 18 FirstFirst ... 234567891016 ... LastLast
Results 76 to 90 of 260

Thread: Electric Bass Guitar Build

  1. #76
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
    Posts
    3,028
    I got the 1/8" router bits today and finished routing for the carbon fiber neck rods. That was a little tricky. There's been nothing that's been easy with this build. Then it was off to roughing out the back of the neck.



    After about 8 passes...

    I picked up some sheet metal to make a backing plate for the controls. I didn't trust the wood to hold the controls in place. I'll probably secure it permanently with construction adhesive.


    I'll probably cut the fret slots and radius the fretboard next. I've been procrastinating because I'm afraid I'll screw up and I only have one "perfect" piece of ebony.

  2. #77
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
    Posts
    3,028
    Some pics of the latest progress

    Routing out the back of the neck


    After about 8 passes, the back is roughed out.


    The fretboard is slotted by hand. The scale is 33-1/4" and there are no steel templates made for this scale. I drew up a scale in CADD, printed it, and adhered it to the ebony stock. Twenty-one (21) fret slots will be cut.


    Once all the slots are cut, it's time to remove the paper template.

    The fretboard radius will be 10" so I needed to make a router jig. First step is using a circle jig to make the 10" radius in 3/4" MDF.

    With both sides shaped, I made the top and drilled a hole for the router bit to fit through.

    The 10" radius jig completed.

    View from the bottom. The black on the curved sections is ebony dust.

    The radius jig at work. The jig slides back and forth along the base to shape the 10" radius

    Another shot of the jig at the end of the base.

    After the radius jig has done its thing, the fretboard is sanded smooth with a 10" radius sanding block.


  3. #78
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
    Posts
    3,028
    After about a week of doing very little, I got some work done yesterday but forgot to take picture until after much of it was done. I glued the fretboard on and later found the 12" radius sanding beam doesn't work so well on a 10" radius fretboard when used as a clamping caul. The outer edges toward the bottom didn't get glued tight to the neck. I had to fill the voids with ebony dust and CA glue. It worked well though. I can't see any gaps now.

    I routed the face of the headstock and profiled the head and then routed the edges of the fretboard flush to the neck. The whole thing was a bit tricky working with the angled head and shaped neck back. Almost nothing on this project is easy.

    Then it was on to shaping the neck. That's when I remembered I forgot to take pictures.

    I find the spokeshave my favorite tool for doing this work.



    We're leaving for Florida early tomorrow so no more work will be done on the bass for a little over a week. Everyone needs a vacation from retirement.

  4. #79
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Sorrento , Louisiana
    Posts
    5
    I started building Bass Guitars 5 years ago and the way I decide where to put my pickups is pretty simple and dead on beyond a shadow of a doubt . Once you get to the point where it's time to route the pickup cavity you wire up all the electronics outside of the instrument . Then you build a rail system . You need to be able to turn the pickups upside down over the strings on the rails you built . The rails should be wide enough to fit the strings between them and slide the pickups on the rails towards the neck or bridge . You'll hear all the differences in locations and you can then decide where to put them .

  5. #80
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Yorktown, VA
    Posts
    2,754
    What a great thread. Julie, I really appreciate the effort you put into sharing your builds with us....Thank you!

  6. #81
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
    Posts
    3,028
    I recently received the summer publication from GAL and in it there is an article covering the use of CA glue as a pore filler. There's another article in the same issue where the author mentions pore filling with epoxy. Both articles mention Hawaiian koa and both authors talk about their methods eliminating shrink back. Shrink back is new to me. Both the articles reference the use of these methods for acoustic guitars. There's no mention of solid body guitars. So I'm wondering if shrink back would even be an issue in solid body guitars.

    Still, it got me to thinking I may need to put a little more consideration into pore filling, at least for the koa parts on the bass. Initially I had planned to just use a sanding sealer. After reading some other articles about pore filling koa, I started thinking of maybe using some method that involves sanding with BLO or tung oil so the dust becomes part of the pore fill. (maybe the sanding sealer alone wouldn't be sufficient) I do remember experimenting with something like that but I don't remember exactly what I did nor do I remember the results.

    But now that I have read about CA or epoxy as pore fillers, and both authors swear by their methods, I'm rethinking my plans. Right now, I have no plans to tone the wood. I want a natural color. Is it worth investing the time to look into epoxy or CA as grain fillers or would standard methods do the job just as well?

  7. #82
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    Certainly shrink back will be a problem with ANY guitar. They are still made of wood,no matter if it is acoustic or solid.

    For many years now,I have filled the pores of wood with thinned out 5 minute epoxy. I do not AT ALL recommend use of CA for this,as it does not have a warm color. Epoxy does give a nice warmth to the color of wood.

    What I do is squirt a teaspoonful of 2 part epoxy into a metal lid. Then,I carefully add denatured alcohol and stir the mixture up thoroughly to completely dissolve the epoxy into the alcohol.

    The amount of alcohol is not really measured. I do it by eye,but I'd say I use about two or three times the volume of alcohol as the mass of epoxy. The epoxy will dry anyway regardless of the amount of alcohol. But,leave the mixture with enough epoxy to get into the pores and fill them.

    For filling rosewood,which is extra porous,I first fill the pores with paste wood filler. It is not necessary to use the wood filler on spruce,maple,or other non porous woods. These days,I'd use the newer water based wood fillers. The old oil based stuff is a lot more trouble to sand off. Be sure to add pigments that dissolve in water,to tint your water based filler to match your wood,or it will look very bad.

    This mixture of epoxy and alcohol will give you about 10 or more minutes of workability before the epoxy starts thickening up and dragging badly. This is why I do not mix any more that I do at one time. I am able to paint the back of a guitar with this much epoxy. Just use cheap,disposable BRISTLE brushes. They will not be good for a second use!!! Stay away from foam brushes. They might dissolve,and suck up too much of your epoxy mix in any case.

    I make another batch for the top,then the sides.

    The epoxy must be allowed about 2 hours to get "leather hard". At that stage,I use 220 garnet paper to sand it down to the pores. Then,on rosewood,or on koa,which have very long pores,I'd do a second operation.

    What you must NOT do is leave the epoxy on overnight,or it will be like sanding concrete!! LEAVE the surface sanded with 220 grit garnet paper. The tiny scratches help the lacquer get a good mechanical grip. I never use sand paper with stearates in it. I don't want anything om the surface that might keep the lacquer from adhereing.

    Also,do not sand the surface bare,down to the pores in places,and leave some epoxy on the surface in other areas. It will look very blotchy later on. On the 2nd. coat.leave some epoxy on the surface,but do make sure the pores are filled up. The epoxy will never shrink into the pores like most fillers will. Lacquer will continue to shrink for YEARS,believe me.

    I used to use sanding sealer(in the 50's and 60's,when I was less experienced),which is just lacquer with cellulose fibers in it too small to see. It is useless. I had made a classical guitar to keep from rosewood. After 6 months,I noticed the pores were showing. I rubbed it again,and 6 months later,the ores were back again. You won't have that happen with epoxy.

    I would also recommend trying the water based pore fillers. It is very easy to sand off. If you fill the grain with the water based filler and wait a few days,then apply a coat of epoxy,and sand it,I do not think you'll ever have a problem with the pores coming back. You will have to sand the surface down smooth with water based filler,as it will raise the grain. Leave it overnight as I mentioned.

    Be sure to wait overnight before spraying lacquer over the epoxy. I know from being too hasty on a rush job base for a presentation silver bell in Wmsbg.,that the epoxy will emit tiny bubbles into the top coat because it takes hours for the alcohol to get out of the already hardened epoxy.

    I have seen old timers use plaster of paris tinted with color for wood filler. You might want to experiment with scrap wood before trying this on your guitar. The old timers always had ways to get by with nearly nothing out of their pockets(which were meager). In the 18th. C.,cabinet makers actually rubbed red bricks together and used the fine dust to fill Cuban mahogany. They did this in the cabinet shop in the Historic Area,and the result was quite nice,and very colorful. People in the 18th. C. loved color when they could afford it. They were tired of the drab walnut and oak colors of locally grown English woods. Of course,only the rich could afford high style mahogany furniture.
    Last edited by george wilson; 07-10-2014 at 11:11 AM.

  8. #83
    Epoxy does make quite a good pore filler. I like ZPoxy finishing resin. It flows out smoothly and sands like butter. My favorite pore filler these days, though, is thinned Timbermate. Make a slurry, mush it on, let it dry for a bit, and rub it off with burlap. When it's fully dry, lightly sand to get rid of whatever's on the surface. If you're in a rush, you can even speed up the process with a hair dryer or heat gun.

    You will definitely want to seal any light wood with a coat of lacquer before using any sort of tinted pore filler. You could probably get away without sealing on things like rosewood and walnut, but mahogany and lighter woods could stain. Of course, that means you will want to stain the guitar first...and then seal...and then fill....and then after light sanding, another coat of sealer to prevent bleeding later on. THEN continue on with the finishing process as usual.

    Epoxy has gotten VERY popular with acoustics builders. Since they rarely take any dye or stain, you can actually use the pore filling step as a quick and easy leveling step too! Then if your spray gun technique is good, you can end up with a very thin and easy to level/buff finish.

    I think there's one water based pore filler that's pretty good. Crystalac, maybe? Jack Briggs recommends it. The stuff StewMac carries is garbage. You'll fill...and fill....and fill....and it will keep shrinking back and make a ton of work. It never takes more than 2 coats with epoxy, and I can usually fill most mahogany with just 1 coat of Timbermate.

  9. #84
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    Thanks,John. I forgot to mention putting on a light coat of lacquer before filling the pores. This also helps minor scratches to not show up from being filled with stain.

  10. #85
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
    Posts
    3,028
    Thanks guys. For some reason I'm finding myself reluctant to move forward on the build. I have the neck pretty much to where I want it and I think I'm ready to glue the body halves on but I'm not sure I've got the steps right. The bolt-on neck is pretty straightforward but this through neck thing is giving me paralysis. And trying to mix the Rickenbacker design with the customizing my SO wants has me redesigning and engineering far more than I ever expected.

    For the pore filling, I wasn't considering the CA method because it sounds like something out of an alchemy class but I was curious if anyone had tried it. I used the Timbermate method on the sapele Strat and it worked fine. I toned it with yellow to brighten up the wood. I was thinking the sanding with BLO might be the way to go because I like the natural color of the koa. But if I glue the sides on, I'll have the maple to contend with, and the BLO sanding could color the maple.

    On all the other guitars, I've used BLO to pop the grain then followed up with shellac. Three of the guitars have maple bodies so I've only had to deal with pore filling on one. I've got Timbermate in natural and brown colors. I haven't seen what untoned natural would look like after BLO, shellac and lacquer have been applied so I'll need to do that. I guess the biggest problem right now is overcoming the paralysis. I walk into the workshop, look at the parts, place them together and walk out. I can't seem to get past that.

  11. #86
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    Your paralysis is not an uncommon illness,Julie. Mine is just a manifestation of not being in the mood to work,which gets more pronounced as I get older and more tired.

  12. #87
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
    Posts
    3,028
    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    Your paralysis is not an uncommon illness,Julie. Mine is just a manifestation of not being in the mood to work,which gets more pronounced as I get older and more tired.
    Mine may have something to do with being on vacation for a week and coming back to the world of retirement, which isn't all it's cracked up to be. On the trip I was asked several times what I do and when I said I was retired the response I often got was, "It must be nice." "Boring" is a better description. Now, going into the shop is a reminder of how boring my life really is. I'd rather be sailing.

  13. #88
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
    Posts
    3,028
    I've been enjoying working outside too much to go back in to the basement but I haven't stopped thinking about completing the bass. Good thing I'm not making this for a customer.

    I bought a steam generator and on the next rainy day I'll give it a test run. My plan is to take a thin strip of quilted maple and glue it to the outside perimeter of the koa body, like a full depth binding. What I don't know is if wood movement will break it apart at some time in the future. That just dawned on me.

  14. #89
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Mandalay Shores, CA
    Posts
    2,690
    Blog Entries
    26
    You may (might) have problems at the heel of the body. The Koa wil want to move across the grain but the quilted maple will have long grain that wouldn't move. However binding runs like this and doesn't break, so it may not be a problem.
    Shawn

    "no trees were harmed in the creation of this message, however some electrons were temporarily inconvenienced."

    "I resent having to use my brain to do your thinking"

  15. #90
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Punta Gorda, FL
    Posts
    3,028
    Quote Originally Posted by Shawn Pixley View Post
    You may (might) have problems at the heel of the body. The Koa wil want to move across the grain but the quilted maple will have long grain that wouldn't move. However binding runs like this and doesn't break, so it may not be a problem.
    I was thinking the same thing. On one hand there's the opposing grain issue. On the other is the fact countless guitars have been made with binding that seems to move with the grain. Maybe that's why plastic is used for binding?

    I was all set to steam and shape the wood when this hit me. I'd hate to glue on the maple binding and go all the way through the finishing process only to have it later separate and ruin the guitar.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •