Electric Bass Guitar Build

[Julie Moriarty]

On occasions that I use my machine instead of hand bending, I use kraft paper lightly spritzed with water. As George says, the steam needs somewhere to go! Aluminum foil seems like a bad idea. The water is really just there to keep stuff from scorching.

One of the videos I saw used kraft paper (see below). I was thinking the paper would stick to the wood like glue but it came off pretty easily. This whole concept is new to me. Prior to this, all I knew about bending wood was from the steam box method and that was all for furniture. This is a whole different world.

Kraft paper method with what looks like a shop made jig:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff_9n7-ejs8

[Julie Moriarty]

Since we're moving now, I decided to forget the binding and just finish the bass. I'll give that binding idea a try once we're settled into the new place. So yesterday I glued on the sides and today I sanded everything. I put some mineral spirits on to see how it would look natural.

I'd like some opinions on the natural look. I'm not really thrilled with it and think the koa needs some toning. Applying dye to just the koa would be pretty tricky. I was also thinking of coloring the filler with a black or dark brown dye. But I'm not sure how much will be absorbed by the maple. If the maple absorbs any dye, I'll probably have to dye the entire guitar.

Any thoughts?

[george wilson]

I don't think it looks bad. You could get yourself into a lot of trouble if you apply dye to the koa,and some gets onto the maple. It won't look good. If it were me,I'd tape the maple off and spray the color on with shading lacquer. But,as said,I think it looks alright as is.

[John Coloccia]

I think it's nice too. Yeah, you definitely don't want to touch that maple. There are ways to do it, such as masking it off, sealing the maple with lacquer (or a couple of coats of shellac), and then proceeding from there, but it's somewhat risky. I'm with George that I would shade with lacquer before considering a stain, but I'd personally just leave it natural.

[Shawn Pixley]

Like George and John, I like it. If you were going to fill the grain, darker would be better. Seal the maple with shellac and mask off before the grain filler? I might go with just straight lacquer but I can see toned or tinted working. 'Course I like the blue or black 4001 that Foxton uses. But covering the Koa would be a sin.

[Julie Moriarty]

I wish I could see it like you guys. But for some reason it just seems blah to me. Maybe it's the pain meds (had a tooth pulled yesterday). But I completely agree, the maple needs to stay natural. On the first strat, I had to dye the sapele on the headstock w/o letting it leech into the maple. I had to use an artist's brush to do it. Not sure I want to tackle that again. Okay. It stays natural.

From the back:

After the previous post, I went to the workshop and took another look. Then it dawned on me that the grain direction on the upper horn may not be the best for strength. I've been thinking of drilling where the strap button will be and inserting a dowel down the horn to give it strength. Good idea or am I nuts?

[george wilson]

How hard is the koa? How much is the bass player going to jump around while playing? I guess the last question can't be predicted as the instrument may change hands. Most instruments get broken by getting knocked off stands,breaking off their pegheads.

I'll let someone else who is familiar with how much these basses weigh chime in. I'm not sure that a dowel might not serve to weaken the horn. It depends upon how well it fits,and how thorough the glue envelopes the dowel. Next time,make your bass out of 1 1/2" plate brass.

This is the trouble with these extreme designs. Perhaps the thing to do next time is stack layers of wood with different grain orientations. It could be sort of like the neck,with thinner pieces. Actually,it could compliment the neck,and 1 layer,or 2 could be set to go up the horn.

[John Coloccia]

I was at a great builder's shop and I noticed that he'd left some traditional reinforcements out of his guitar. I asked him if it won't just split if someone drop it on the floor. He said something to the effect of, "Maybe, but until he does that it will sound better than these other designs. I build them to play, not abuse".

Anyhow, definitely don't insert a dowel. The grain is running the wrong way and it won't hold the strap button firmly in the long run. If you do the trick of hardening the threads with superglue and think that fixes it, I can tell you from bitter experience that it doesn't. There's a decent chance that the dowel will eventually just break around the threads, and you'll pull out a neat little plug of wood. Don't ask how I know this, but I do .

I think you'll be fine. No one else worries about this stuff. If it eventually ever breaks, you'll get some good repair experience and then you'll know for next time, but I would be very very surprised if that actually happens. I forgot who said this, but someone once described the process of building the lightest race car as, "Start taking away metal until it breaks...then add a little back." I think that applies to a lot of things.

[Julie Moriarty]

George, "hard" is one of the last words I'd use to describe koa. It scratches and dents fairly easily. But with its gnarly grain, the fibers could be enough to offer the strength a straighter grain wood might not have. The bass is staying in the family, probably even after my SO and I are gone. Brian will probably inherit it. Right now, he's a bit too careless to entrust this in his hands but I'm hoping when he's older he'll take good care of things of value. I'm not expecting abuse to be a factor.

John, I hadn't thought about the end grain issue with the strap button screw. Thank you for pointing that out. I really don't want to go through all that to reinforce the horn anyway. I guess if it ever breaks off, I'll get that repair experience you mentioned.

Late yesterday I took on the task of creating mountings for the pickups. Some Ric parts are impossible to find. I'm trying to figure out how to make the mountings and still allow as much of the koa to show as possible. I can only visualize some type of cover that will allow the pickups to be raised and lowered as needed. Here's what I have to work with now:

The purple sheet is micro-thin paua abalone shell fixed to PSA backing with a clear gloss sheet over it. It's meant for fishing rod decoration such as handles. To the right is an abalam-like material that flexes like plastic, is about .080" thick and you polish to a gloss. It has very nice depth. Sitting on the block of leopard wood is mother of pearl shell. The abalam sheet is strong enough to use it alone as a pickup support but I'm not sure about how that would work with the knobs.

I made a mounting block from UHMW for the bridge pickup.



I've marked holes that match the screw adjustment holes on the gold coverplate in the neck pickup. About all I can think of at the moment is taking a piece of black ebony and routing it for a shell insert that would surround the pickup. I can't find a second gold coverplate. It looks like Ric stopped making them. I can only get them in black and chrome. The neck coverplate has a backing plate that holds the pickup and gives you the ability to raise and lower the pickup as needed. If I didn't use the neck coverplate, I'd have to epoxy something to the back of the pickup and mount it like I did the bridge pickup.



If I found another gold coverplate, I couldn't use the backing plate because the bridge pickup is deeper than the neck pickup. But I could make something that works. Problem is I've looked everywhere and I'm convinced Rickenbacker stopped making them and every supplier is sold out. So if the two pickups are going to look the same from the front, I'll have to abandon the gold coverplate. Otherwise I can make something very different for the bridge pickup, like Ric does with that massive bridge pickup plate they use.

Where would you go with this? I'm open to anything.

[george wilson]

I can do gold plating IF my gold plating solution is still any good. I haven't used it since 2009. The solution cost about $150.00 last time I checked several years ago. The trouble is,I don't think you can gold plate over chrome. I'm wondering if the chrome could be removed by electro stripping. Or,if I could possibly copper plate over it. Then,I could nickel plate,then gold plate over the nickel.

Chrome is tarnish free because it immediately forms a transparent film over itself as does aluminum. That film makes it impossible to plate over,I think. I'll ask a jeweler friend about this. He's done more plating than I have. There are plating services you can send things to to have them plated,you know. They might be better equipped to deal with the chrome than I am.

Just checked. Gold plating solution is now $190.00. Plus shipping,I suppose.

There are ways to plate gold over chrome. You should Google plating gold over chrome and check options out. But,I think the best thing to do is to find a plater who can do the job for you.

[Shawn Pixley]

I think you'd need to remove the chrome and prep the metal. But using the bass you're going to wear the gold plating pretty rapidly. It would take lots of passes with the plating pen. Most of the pick-up covers on my guitars show wear very quickly.

[george wilson]

Obviously,you have to keep your pea picking fingers off of the pickup!

[John Coloccia]

I think you'd need to remove the chrome and prep the metal. But using the bass you're going to wear the gold plating pretty rapidly. It would take lots of passes with the plating pen. Most of the pick-up covers on my guitars show wear very quickly.

Same happens to me. I've actually never seen gold hardware over 10 years old that wasn't all pitted and ugly. I'm sure it exists. I've just never seen it.

[Julie Moriarty]

We've looked into the plating option. Every place we called said the order was too small and the price would be prohibitive. And the wear factor worried me too. So we abandoned that idea.

Yesterday I took a piece of maple and fashioned it into something close to the size of the Ric bridge pickup.

I think putting the purple paua abalone film on the whole thing would be overkill and just wouldn't look right. I'm thinking about some type of border or some design that would break up all that purple. Or to maybe cut it down to halfway point between the pickup and edge. I still plan on using Gaboon ebony (solid black) and doing a roundover or bevel on the edges. But something is telling me I need to line the perimeter of the pickup with something to clean up the inside edges a bit. Maybe a sheet of brass cut to the thickness of the plate and inserted between the pickup and plate? But this may also be an opportunity to use the MOP to make a logo on the oversized ebony bridge cover.

I'll stop at Woodcraft today to see if they have any black ebony. If not, I'll have to head to the hardwood store.

[george wilson]

I would not use brass. It will of course just tarnish. And,if any sweat from fingers gets on it,it will turn green. A piece of polished aluminum would stay bright longer. But then,It isn't gold colored. Actually,your pole pieces aren't gold either. Best stop using gold appointments.

The gold plating on my Gretsch copy is fine,but my fingers do not make corrosion. I made it in the late 80's or early 90's. Anyway,it was before the new Japanese Gretsches came out. Their necks are too small anyway.

I think they are a very sneaky company. When I found out about them,I somehow got a telephone number for their so called "Factory" in South Carolina. I called there,and during a brief conversation,said,"so,they really are made here"? I was greeted with dead silence.

A friend,who has a music store with about 8 new Gretsch guitars hanging in it,went to a big musical instrument convention. He approached the president of Gretsch to say hello. The guy refused to speak to him,and told him to go speak to a salesman.

Well,what can you expect from a guy who calls himself a "Young Captain of Industry",and even uses a picture of his wife and kids as a device on their brochure.

I like the OLD guitars.