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Thread: Electric Bass Guitar Build

  1. #31
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    Okay, I see what you were talking about. The picture in my mind had the laminates running at the same orientation as the fretboard. Putting them 90 degrees from that makes more sense, and makes it easier. Thanks Shawn!

  2. #32
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    After much consternation, or should I say inability to make up one's mind , I made an executive decision. I removed the sapele from the neck and ripped it into thirds. The remaining koa was just long enough to make it past the nut so I ripped two pieces to fit in between the maple laminates.


    It's just clamped together and still pretty rough (I still have to dimension the laminates) but I wanted to show the boss her bass will be beautiful. Shawn, your suggestion was perfect! I'm thinking I'll cut the 4 degree cut into the koa strips before glue-up and then use that for a finger joint when gluing in the headstock. Another first.




    Everything has a coat of mineral spirits on it. I'm sure when it's all finished the koa stripes will match the body halves in color. I'm kind of loving the Macassar ebony piece we found. We're thinking of using an amber dye or maybe amber-dyed shellac to bring out the grain in the body and neck better. The rough stock was 8/4 so I have some thin pieces to do color tests on.
    I want to thank all you guys for being so patient with me and helping me find something I really love doing. Thank you so very much!

  3. #33
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    Julie,

    Looking good! I think the lamination will work well for you. I am glad my suggestion worked out.

    Shawn
    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"

  4. #34
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    This was one of the trickier glue-ups I've done.


    Time for lunch!

  5. #35
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    Looks good! You can never have too many clamps.

    BTW that's a nice bench. I am glad to see you use the waxed paper trick.
    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"

  6. #36
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    I always have liked that style laminated thru neck!

  7. #37
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    Trying to save money, I eeked out everything I could from the stock on hand to make the neck glue-up. Once I removed all the clamps and did a little sanding, it became obvious that wasn't going to work. So yesterday I started from scratch. I tried to get some strips of the koa from what I had left but that was part of the problem the first time. The piece I have just isn't long enough.

    I looked at the woods I have to see if I could find something that closely matched finished koa. I had some sapele left over from the cabinet job that had a very straight grain. When I applied mineral spirits to it, it matched up pretty well with the koa. I also decided not to try to save as much wood as possible by shaping the glue-up pieces before gluing and just ripped them full length.

    I started with 4/4 curly maple and ripped it to 1-1/2" widths. The center piece I planed to 7/16" thickness. The piece of sapele was a bit over 3/8" so I planed that to 1/4" and ripped it to 1-1/2" I then stacked all the pieces to create a 1-1/2" x 2-1/2" x 48" laminate. Overall, the guitar measures a bit over 44" so I'll have plenty to work with. The neck is 2.29" at the base and 1.69" at the nut. The advantage to making the laminate was I got to change the grain orientation on the maple. That put those "flames" guitarists love so much on the top and bottom instead of on the sides.



    I've been doing some research about where to make the scarf joint cut. I've read newer Rics have a 4 degree break at the head. I'll want to bury the top joint under the fretboard. Just have to figure out where to make the cut. Is that joint going to show?

  8. #38
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    I was looking into how Ric does their heads. I haven't been able to find any pictures that show a scarf joint. I'm wondering with the slight angle the heads are set at, would a scarf joint even be necessary?

    I took the laminate and drew in a 4 degree set on the side.

    It looks like the grain from the neck will continue out to the end of the head. I still have to glue up some wings on the sides of the head and I could orientate them so they run at 4 degrees. That should help strengthen the joint.

    Any comments on doing this?

    EDIT:
    I found a pretty good photo of the head-neck area and it looks like Ric does not use a scarf joint. Not sure if you can see it but, on this particular neck, they used two pieces of maple to make up the neck. Mine has five pieces and with the headstock wings it will make seven pieces total. Unless I'm convinced otherwise, I'll skip cutting a scarf joint.

    Last edited by Julie Moriarty; 04-18-2014 at 1:21 PM.

  9. #39
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    If the headstock is only angled at 4 degrees, you have a lot of wood at the shear force. I don't think it will be a problem and as you say, the "wings" will help it. Gibson started with a 17 degree headstock angle. When the went to the 60's slim taper profile, there were alot of headstocks broken when knocked over leaning on an amp or with the strap slipping from the button. Later they lessened the break angle to 14 degrees and added the volute around '68 or so. You can get custom shop models and reissues with the 17 degree pitch and no volute again.

    I used to have a Ricky 360-12 but I traded it in on a Les Paul Black Beauty with P-90's. I can't recall if the Ricky had the headstock at a 4 degree pitch or not. But the forces in a 25.5" scale twelve string are substantial. I just didn't play twelve string enough to warrant keeping it. Though I bet it would sound great through George's amp.
    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"

  10. #40
    The wings won't help because they'll be cut away from the angle anyway. Line them up straight...it will make sanding easier if everything's lined up. I wouldn't worry about the scarf. The main problem with the old Gibson headstock was, as Shawn points out, the excessive break angle combined with the huge route for the truss rod nut. You'll no doubt use a double action rod...just guessing based on your last build. That eliminates the need for any additional routing at the headstock other than the 1/4" for the rod. You'll also have a more reasonable headstock angle and bob's your uncle.

  11. #41
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    Now that the Tele is in the final stages, I got back to the bass. I've got all the parts ordered (thank you John for your help on that) so I'll wait until things are here before making any cavity cuts. I did however do a little work.




    Rather then rout channels in the face, I decided to drill holes through the side into where the control cavity will be. I'm thinking I'll make the access for the controls on the back so as not to bury the koa. I did some fine tuning on the neck blank and marked it up for the bandsaw. But my blades are shot so I ordered some Lenox Flex Back blades in 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" and one 1/4" Diemaster blade. I'm curious to see if it can make fine cuts in wood.

  12. #42
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    Julie,I have used nothing but 1/4" blades for 50 years. I have cut perfect 1/16" veneer in hard Cuban mahogany 12" thick with a good 1/4" blade.

    If a person can learn how to judge how fast (or slow) the bandsaw wants to cut,and not force it,you can do great things with a 1/4" 6 tpi,skip tooth Lennox blade. Then,you never have to mess around changing blades.

    But,I have said before,I often do not do things the "right" way. But,if you can master using the bandsaw,you can get away with a lot of stuff. It's all feel and judgement with the bandsaw. This,provided a person has a very good saw. Mine at work(and at home soon),is the 20" 1950's Delta. I've used a 14" delta at home,with the height attachment,since 1963. It has done everything I needed,but I'm SLOWLY(with my disabilities),a fully intact 20" saw,just like the one at work. I need to drag it out of the shop and finish painting the base.

  13. #43
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    I have a Jet JWBS-18. It's probably close to 15 years old. It can resaw to about 10". (I think they should include both the throat and resaw numbers in the model - like JWBS-1018 ) For the longest time I wondered why I bought it. Once I bought some decent blades and did some resawing on it we became good friends. Now I use it all the time.

    What I have to do with the neck blank is make straight cuts from the top to just short of the nut and then make a long straight taper cut down to where the neck meets the body halves. But first I'll have to flip it on its side and make the angle cut at the head and cut the waste on the back of the neck down to the body. I wanted a good blade so I won't have a lot of clean up work. The thru-body neck will be another first for me.

  14. #44
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    I leave a maximum of 1/32" to clean up when I saw out something. Just enough that any roughness in the saw kerf can be gotten rid of. That might be working a bit close to the edge of disaster,but that's what I do because I can saw very accurately.

    Your mileage may vary!!

    I had a Taiwan made 14" clone. The last of the round top saws,actually(Delta sued them over patent rights. The newer saws had flattened tops after that). I was using it for a metal cutting saw as I had the Delta for wood.

    The top of the saw bobbed up and down some when it was running. At the slow speed I was running it,it didn't matter. But,if I had been using it for wood,I'd have had to take the wheels out and machine the blasted things round,or grind the rubber tires round. It would have vibrated like crazy at wood cutting speeds. This was back in the late 80's,when everything was still made in Taiwan.
    Last edited by george wilson; 05-26-2014 at 8:13 AM.

  15. #45
    the bass is looking great, Julie!
    I love the way the ebony looks with the koa wings.

    "Active pickups" usually just means that an active preamp has been installed in the control cavity of the bass providing 2 or 3 band EQ on the instrument. If you install a set of Nordstrand or Fralin jazz pickups you can wire them passive with just volume and tone knobs, and you will have passive setup. Some premium basses have a defeatable preamp, providing an active mode and passive mode. a switch just pulls the preamp out of the circuit and leaves you with one knob wired for passive tone. great spot to shop for high quality bass electronics and hardware
    http://www.bestbassgear.com/
    I have a seymour duncan basslines SCPB-2 in my '51 style P bass and it sounds great. I also use nordstrand and delano which are very nice but you don't necessarily have to spend that kind of money to get good sound.
    if you don't mind hunting for used gear you may get lucky on the talkbass classifieds with pickups and hardware
    http://www.talkbass.com/forums/for-s...cessories.129/

    don't feel boxed in by pickguards- personal preference again but I omit the pickguard unless it is really required by design such as on the P bass where the control cavity is under the pickguard.
    here is my first instrument, built in a class at woodcraft ( hi John ) I have a black pickguard but never could bring myself to install it because I love that ash figure.
    033_zps2f211c67.jpg

    as for pickup spacing, I would recommend following the industry standard for the given pickup choice. not to inhibit creativity but to ensure that the bass will sound right. like you said the fender basses have been the world standard for 60+ years I think they did it right. The jazz bass did change bridge pickup location slightly in the 70s but thats about it.
    Last edited by Pat Pollin; 05-26-2014 at 9:57 AM.

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