Finished Pics! 4 string electric? Piccolo bass? Pete's next build

Andyjr1515

paulnb57 said:

Looks great so far Andy! Another epic!

Might well be another epic failure    Going to try to cut multiscale fret slots this evening....

paulnb57

Piece o cake, I bet you will have it done and fretted in time to watch Taboo.....

Andyjr1515

Well, with the normal warning that these threads are always simply about how I personally go about things and never that this is the way you should go about things, I'm into totally new territory: multi-scale and hand-cut fret slots

In the end I thought it was better to wait for daylight so I could get everything out into good light!

I then clamped a ruler to the fretboard to the workbench, at the angle that the strings will run at and starting at the angled nut position:

Then a double-check, triple-check, quadruple-check measure against the treble scale and a sharp tap with a hardened metal point:

Then ditto for the bass string run. Then clamping with a squared piece of wood, that has been cut at a height to allow 3mm blade exposure, using the saw's blade clamp strip to prevent the blade cutting too deep:

Then gentle sawing against the wood block until the slot was formed, then hard sawing to depth. Snakewood is VERY hard...this is my exercise for the week sorted!

And, if I've got everything correct...this should be a 26" to 25" fanned set of slots!:

Only time will tell...

Andyjr1515

Basically I've done all of the machining I need to do before gluing the wings and top onto the neck, excepting one thing I'm going to do next:

As you can see, done is: the control chamber and cable run to it from the pickup position; the pickup cutout in the walnut top; the 'semi' chamber under the teardrop f-hole; the truss-rod slot.

Final thing I have to do before anything gets glued is cut the neck plan-view shape. I'll do that once I've checked the positioning of everything...again....!

paulnb57

Excellent job!

Andyjr1515

paulnb57 said:

Excellent job!

Thanks, Paul 

With the internal routing done, it was ready for the top and sides to be glued on.  First I stained the inside of the 'f'hole chamber, then glued the top, then the wings:





Note that the wings are deeper than the through part of the neck.  That's because I'm going to scoop the back to match the curve of a convex-curved top.  This is where one of my favourite hand-tool acquisitions comes in - the Veritas pullshave:


Then a round-over around the edges with an appropriate router bit and it's starting to look the part:

Ravenous

Very nice.

I like the look of that shaver... what a weird thing.  I don't need one but I think I'll be googling for one later on...

paulnb57

That bookmarked top is really nice, another top job Andy...

Andyjr1515

paulnb57 said:

That bookmarked top is really nice, another top job Andy...

I've just shaped it, Paul.  It looks great.  I'll post a shot in the morning.  Silly thing is that I can't remember where I bought the wood!

paulnb57

Bet it will look great when the finish goes on, will it be natural or will the ink come out of the cupboard?

Andyjr1515

paulnb57 said:

Bet it will look great when the finish goes on, will it be natural or will the ink come out of the cupboard?

No - this one is going to be the @WezV tru-oil slurry-and-buff and not a drop of Quink in sight

Andyjr1515

Still got to round off the edges of the 'f' hole, but this is starting to get close to the finished shape.  With the figuring you don't see it as much but the top has a radius curve at about 1/2 of the curve of the back:

PVO_Dave

Wow! - Fantastic work Andy

paulnb57

Another corker, when do you give up your day job?

BigMonka

That's looking stunning Andy, top job.

Andyjr1515

Thanks, folks

paulnb57 said:

Another corker, when do you give up your day job?

Actually, I have given it up  However, that was based on retirement rather than any misguided notion that there is any money in occasional one-off builds!

The sobering reality is that you can buy new a perfectly fine guitar or bass cheaper than the cost of just the wood...for just the neck!!!

 No - this is firmly a hobby...even the fancy custom jobs don't do a great deal more than cover the costs...but the level of personal satisfaction is immense, which is priceless

Andyjr1515

We had visitors this weekend but every hour or so, I sneaked down to the cellar and fitted a couple of frets to the loose fretboard.  By this morning I'd done all 24.  This is with the fretboard loosely placed on the un-shaped neck:



The snakewood up close is so fancy, I'm just going to put side dots on and nothing on the face.

The fan angle is quite modest as far as these things go and is deliberately less at the nut end to reduce the impact over the first octave. 

fretmeister

Zander Zon on piccolo bass

Andyjr1515

fretmeister said:

Zander Zon on piccolo bass

Now, I can't be sure, but I reckon that is the more 'normal' piccolo - bass scale length but tuned up to guitar pitch.  My build is diddy in comparison...

fretmeister

That's true. It's a Zon VB4 bass. 34 scale.

Now this is a diddy bass

http://www.marleaux-bass.com/marleaux-bass_consat_sopran.html