It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
I used the last of my 2mm wenge constructional veneer on Tim's, so am using a slightly thicker 2.5mm version:
Glued and clamped between two flat, substantial sets of cauls:
A small but important step...because after a tiny bit of routing, I can glue the top to the body
Finished the prep-work for gluing the top to this. Basically, routing the cable run, routing the back of the 'f-hole' chamber, darkening the inside of the chamber:
And glued, ready for bearing flush-bit trimming. Again, I'm a bit weird in that I will use the top as my routing template. Generally NOT recommended but (usually) works for me:
And no, not at all, as far as I'm concerned. I learnt a lot about what matters and what doesn't with a build called 'Tom's African Bass'. When I get back to the desktop I'll try to summarise the conclusions and explain why I think what I think.
- and started the curvature of the top. All still just roughing out at the moment:
Next job on this one is slotting the snakewood fretboard blank. I'm going for a PRS-style 25" scale...
Having finished @impmann 's Alembic-esque build, I'm heading back to the sister build above, which will be for my own use.
Other than the lack of the carve through arm relief forming the 'sucked lozenge' on , the woods are the same, so the overall look should be similar - I hope so, anyway, because Tim's looked sooo good...This is the start of the convex/concave carve:
There's a bit further to go but hopefully you get the idea.
Now one thing I'm really, really bad at is spending the time to build jigs. BUT, I've come to the conclusion that life is too short for hand radiusing fretboards! Hand radiusing is problematic too. Even on Tim's - radius was fine, straight all the way down at all points of the radius, no dips at either end...but treble to bass ended up with an angle! Doesn't affect the feel or the playability one jot, but heck!
So, I've cribbed a design from LedBelliBass on HomemadeTools.net and modded it a bit and here it is in progress:
I'm undecided whether or not to put roller bearings on the lengthways slide or just use guide strips (the whole thing will be mounted on a flat, smooth box-plank.
For indexing, I will use a simple peg and hole system.
I'm hoping I can finish it tomorrow and so kick off re-commencement of this build later next week.I'll do a separate thread about the radiusing jig, but it was a decent success in the end. The snakewood fretboard was accurately radiused in around 1.5 hours, including set up and final sanding:
And after that short time, it is straight, un-dipped at the ends, accurately radiussed and square. This compares with @impmann Tim's Alembicesque which took 3 days, after which it was straight, un-dipped at the ends, accurately radiussed and not quite square! (the whole thing was thicker one side than the other. Didn't affect the playing at all, but after all that time and care and effort!!!!)
So "I declare the radius rig as fit for purpose."
And that meant I could slot the fretboard with my G&W mitre box. I've gone for a PRS-type 25" scale
On Tim's build, I was pleased how the retro-fit binding worked so on this one I've decided to go radical and fit the binding BEFORE fitting and fretting the fretboard
The binding on this is actually acoustic guitar body binding with a b/w/b feature - easier than laying down veneer sheets on top of the neck!
Similar to my last two or three builds, I've gone for swifts at the twelveth fret. Here they are cut out before routing and fitting - and yes, it's an optical illusion - the dots are straight and even :
And this - inlays set in with epoxy mixed with some snakewood sanding dust - brings you up to date
Note the router base rub mark on the 13th fret in the shape of a swift! This, and the MoP and the binding will all sand smooth once it's all fully set.
So next question is do I fit it then fret (as I normally do but sometimes with mixed results) or should I try a change and fret it then fit?
Nowadays, with a tiny bead of titebond along the tangs, I lightly hammer just to get it in the seating slot but then then clamp a radius block very tightly to fully bottom it...that bit would certainly be easier with the fretboard off..
What do you reckon?