Lightweight fretless bass build 30" scale

JGTay

The plan is for a laminated through neck of beech & mahogany (what I had to hand) which was started yesterday and the body wings will hopefully be a poplar core with walnut top and bottom. I already have the poplar left over from the dismantled piano and need to source some walnut. This will hopefully end up being the thinnest build I have done, looking at between 24-28mm, should help keep the weight down and it will have one pickup with volume & tone control.

This may take a while compared to my usual builds (average time has been 6 weeks start to finish). Funds are non existent, so parts will be as and when money comes in, and in the meantime it is a case of using what I have to hand. I am planning on making a pickup for this, already done a test pickup with thicker wire stock taken from an old extractor fan which only had enough for 2000 winds (completely hand wound...), it worked well but had a very low output and would require a preamp to boost it. I may well use the test pickup in a future build with a preamp, but will need to buy some wire for this one. I may even try making a humbucker.

The through neck pieces were cut to size, squared and glued together yesterday. Then this morning I glued on the 'ears' for the headstock (lots of squeeze out), did a quick sketch of the body shape and after removing the clamps I tried it in position with the rough body shape cut out of cardboard. The shape may change, but the main purpose was to work out the upper horn positioning to end above the 12th fret location for balance. 

After giving the 'ears' enough time to dry I set about cutting the headstock angle at 9 degrees.

After that I glued the cut-off to the back of the headstock to provide enough thickness across the length and then set about working out string positions based on 17mm string spacing at the bridge and a 38mm nut so that I could do the positions of the tuners and get a basic shape sketched in for the headstock.

Will get the basic headstock shape cut tomorrow morning and see what else I can do after that.

JGTay

Headstock shape and body wings poplar cores roughly cut. 



Will shape the wings a bit more once I have the walnut, planning on having the poplar show through on the edges similar to the mockingbird build.

Andyjr1515

Great stuff! 

JGTay

Andyjr1515 said:

Great stuff! 

Thanks Andy. 

JGTay

Few updates.

The 42 AWG wire arrived on Saturday, had a couple of hours free over the weekend so made the first pickup bobbin and then this afternoon started the wind by hand... got to 40 winds and snap... start again... managed just over 100 winds and snap again. Realised that my skin was too rough and the wire kept snagging on it, so asked the wife for some moisturiser and started over. Success  

Managed to do 4000 winds before having to stop for the day, but the moisturiser is working great, getting the right amount of tension in the wire and it flows through the fingers easily. I have also been varnishing the winds at certain intervals, getting plenty on and letting it soak in and then turning the bobbin and doing the same from the other side before continuing the winds, shouldn't be any need for wax potting at the end.





Had a few deliveries today as well - Fretboard, double action truss rod and some walnut boards.

The walnut boards are only 100mm wide, so there will be a bit of work getting a seamless join on the wings, but I like a challenge... which is why I decided to go with Leadwood for the Fretboard. Harder than Ebony and apparently very difficult to work, sharp tools are essential

Pretty sure I planned on this build being lightweight, I was told Leadwood was on the heavy side... too damn right it is!!!!

 

Looking forward to this.   

BigMonka

I've not seen someone literally wire a pickup by hand (with no winding machine!), that's amazing!

WezV

BigMonka said:

I've not seen someone literally wire a pickup by hand (with no winding machine!), that's amazing!

I tried it once.  I didn't get far, but never thought to smooth out the travel of wire between my fingers.

Obviously "hand wound" doesn't normally mean that at all, usually its closer to hand guided.  Zhangbucker offers a "Pure Handwound" option, along with some claims on why this is so much better than a machine wound pickup.

Hats of to @JGTay , takes a lot of patience to get this far!

PhilKing

WezV said:

BigMonka said:

I've not seen someone literally wire a pickup by hand (with no winding machine!), that's amazing!

Zhangbucker offers a "Pure Handwound" option, along with some claims on why this is so much better than a machine wound pickup.

I have a set of the Zhangbucker Handwound Strat pickups and they have a very clear piano like tone.   Not sure if they were really worth the effort and money, but they are very nice (though they are not the most expensive Strat pickups).   They are really nice for ballads and blues, and things where you want a really clean sound.

JGTay

WezV said:

Hats of to @JGTay , takes a lot of patience to get this far!

Thanks Wez. Very much appreciated.  

JGTay

Finished the first coil of the humbucker this afternoon, did 7000 winds in total and then wired it up to test the output. Works well.  

Managed to keep it looking quite neat, very pleased.







Will make the bobbin for the second coil tomorrow and possibly get started on the winds if I have time. Managed to get a good technique going clockwise, will be strange doing a counter clockwise wind now. 

JGTay

BigMonka said:

I've not seen someone literally wire a pickup by hand (with no winding machine!), that's amazing!

Thanks @BigMonka. I like to try and have a go at new things, nothing lost if it doesn't work out. 

PeteC

Kudos to you - ive never wound any pickups for fear of breaking the wire every attempt.   Always fancied making a winder but like many things never got round to it.  

JGTay

Thanks @PeteC. On my practice pickup the wire was around double the thickness of the 42 AWG wire I am using now, so it was much easier and didn't get any breaks. When this wire arrived I tested the breaking point and knew it was going to be difficult getting a rhythm going without breaking it, but using moisturiser has worked perfectly, no breaks since and a good tension on the winds. 

PhilKing

JGTay said:

Will make the bobbin for the second coil tomorrow and possibly get started on the winds if I have time. Managed to get a good technique going clockwise, will be strange doing a counter clockwise wind now. 

I think this is amazing and and incredible build from scratch.  On the winding, wouldn't you just need to put the bobbin in the clap the other way, and then you could still wind in a clockwise direction?  I think that's how you do it with a winding machine (though I've only seen it being done, I've never actually done it).

JGTay

Thanks @PhilKing. I persevered and have finished it this afternoon, after the first couple of hundred winds counter clockwise it got easier and I manged to get a good rhythm going, not quite as fast, but good enough and with the same tension.
Will post a pic in a bit of the finished humbucker. 

JGTay

As mentioned, I finished the pickup this afternoon. Did 8000 winds on the second coil, joined the bobbins together and wired it up for testing. Very happy with the sound and output.  

North coil clockwise, south coil counter clockwise and the magnets in reverse polarity on each coil to enable the hum cancellation.



Not too worried about how it looks as I will be making a cover/surround out of the walnut. The magnets aren't glued in place as I want to get some slightly bigger ones, either 8mm or 10mm. The main thing was getting it made so that I could pre-cut the cavity to size before gluing on the body wings.

JGTay

Started on the truss rod channel this afternoon. First job was getting it in the correct position and drawing round it.



Then with a straight edge clamped in place along the lines, scored it with a Stanley knife.



Then followed up with a chisel pressed in all the way around.



And out with the freshly sharpened 6mm chisel to remove the wood.



Tested the rod in place. Managed to get most of the way there, only a couple of mm to go, but had to down tools for the evening.



Should be able to get it finished tomorrow and then I can look at getting the fretboard in place.  

JGTay

When I woke up this morning and went out to the workshop/shed for my first coffee and cigarette, I sat looking at the truss rod raised out of the channel in the neck and made a mad spur of the moment decision to take a channel out of the bottom of the extremely hard fretboard.

Measured up, 3mm channel needed and this will allow a bit more scope for neck thickness when it comes to shaping.

I then decided to roughly cut the top edge of the fretboard close to size, leaving a few mm to be on the safe side. Then marked out for fret position markers along the top edge, cut them with the fret saw and then filled them with a beech sawdust and wood glue filler. Will see how they look after I start sanding the radius and if I am not happy with the result it will be the second option of using thin aluminium sheet. I have also decided to do the fretboard longer onto the body (28 frets)

Leadwood is hard going, even with a freshly sharpened chisel... got there in the end, not the neatest job, but level all the way along and a nice tight fit on the truss rod, no gaps between the fretboard and neck.



Next up was masking tape over the top of the truss rod and then trimmed to stop glue going in the channel.



And then glued and clamped the fretboard in place.

Really need to replace those smaller clamps, they are all bent out of shape after being over tightened too many times.

I am going to make some adjustments to the body shape, bring the lower horn further back to allow for the extra fret positions and may adjust the top horn joining position for the aesthetics. 

JGTay

A quick update of todays progress so far...

Removed the clamps this morning and then got started with the Shinto rasp on the sides.



Can see the fret position markers starting to show along the top edge.



Still need to sand level on the sides, slowly getting there, but I wanted to get the new body shape sketched in to give an idea of how it would look and also get the pickup position somewhere close to final location.



Hopefully you can make out the roughly shaped position of the pencil marks. Think it works... 

JGTay

Couple of updates. Yesterday (before the football! ) I decided to get on with the fretboard radius so that I could see how the fret position markers looked, they didn't really work as I had hoped, they were kind of camouflaged against the grain of the fretboard unless you were directly in front of them. Good decision to do the radius before working on getting the sides levelled off, I have moved on to the second fret marker option of using aluminium sheet. 

This morning I measured up and found the best saw with the closest kerf to the sheet, did a test piece first, which worked really well and then set to work marking out then re-cutting the edge slots. Once they were all cut I then did the aluminium pieces to shape, flattened them out and then glued them in the slots. Once the glue had dried it was just a matter of levelling off the aluminium with the top and edge of the fretboard using a file and a quick sand and clean.

Still need to level off both edges of the fretboard.





Need to go over the radius again and take it up through the grades, but very pleased with how well the aluminium is looking. 

JGTay

Got on with sanding up through the grades on the radius this morning. Didn't take any pics at the time, but took some when I finished for the evening.

The pics don't really do it justice, sanded up to 10,000 grit and it shines! The grain is fantastic.

This afternoon I moved on to the neck profile and thinning out the back to the required thickness. Looking at around 18mm at the nut and 20mm at the heel... thin neck!  

Marked out and then on with the Shinto.







Almost to the line. Just need to level it off and then I can start doing the rounding of the profile.