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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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Also pictured, my ragged looking nut slot and ramshackle dot markers - the perils of a hard wood and a not so sharp bit.
I've also routed the pickup cavity and have been preparing for the next big thing - the neck pocket. When planning it all, I'd got the radius on the corners to match that of my router bit. Unfortunately when making the neck, the template shifted slightly on one of the corners, so they are now some more arbitrary shape. This means I'll have to route the pocket leaving the corners and then sort them out slowly by hand.
I managed to get the neck pocket routed without any major issues. The neck fits ok and I've drilled the holes for the neck plate. Not tackled actually fitting the neck yet.
With that done I rounded over the outside. 1/4" except for by the neck plate which is 1/8".
Next I did the control cavity. Again no major issues, just a bit of blowout on one hole which be mainly covered by the knob. Then the three holes going into it, done in order of scariness. First the output jack hole, ready for an Electrosocket. Then the bridge ground wire. Finally, the pickup wire. For that, I managed to avoid the classic "going through the back of the guitar" and instead blasted all the way through and hit the lip of the control cavity on the other side. It should get cleaned up by the rebate for the cover. That's up next, followed by a whole stack of sanding.
A quick mockup with the bridge, controls and pickup. For now I've just knocked the sharp edges of the f holes. I think I might leave it like that - I quite like the sharp punch out in contrast to the rounded body outline.
I've always wanted to do one of these since starting to build guitars, but the closest I've got is painted on F-holes
Do you know roughly how much weight the f-holes removed?
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The fretless thing was my justification for building it. I have plenty of guitars, but just a single fretted Jazz bass. So that lead me to think of a fretless, which also has the benefit of skipping a load of steps with fret installation and setup. I played Bridgehouse's Shuker at a jam and didn't struggle too badly - though it may be different playing on my own without drums and a phalanx of guitars covering up all the tuning issues.
Here's Rick playing his:
All relatively drama free. Hit one snag where a magnet in the body was a bit proud, so had to be removed. This put a minor ding in the edge, so I put the little finger pull there. Also the light coloured sapwood is only a very thin layer on the surface, so sanding it flush was rapidly shrinking it and I had to try and juggle taking more off the back with getting it flush on top. Also the whole thing is about 5mm too close to the f hole, but it seems solid enough. It's all passive electronics anyway, so I can't say I'm planning on ever really opening it up anyway.
I'll probably get the wiring harness done next as I'm putting off the bit that's worrying me - drilling the screw holes in the neck. Then sand/oil/wax the body and I'm pretty much there.
Then on with some finish. I sanded the body up to 600, then used the 600 to apply some Tru Oil. Repeated this at 800 and 1200, then on with 2 coats of Briwax.
I've fitted in the harness, just need to attach the pickups and jack, then on with the neck.
Got the pickups and jack wired up and everything works with a screwdriver tap test. Neck attached, tuners fitted. Now, just need to actually get some strings bought... Or I might be able to get away with swapping my Jazz back to its original rounds and using the flats off that.
It's certainly not one for people who don't like brown guitars. The original plan of ebony may have worked better, but I just loved that ziricote.
What is the final weight?
That will be a joy to play
In the end I took the strings off my other bass to put on this one. Everything seems alright as a first attempt, it's playable at least. I need to bring the saddles down a little and haven't touched the intonation - that's the sort of stuff I'm least familiar with. I can cut up the wood, work the router etc but I've never tweaked a truss rod in 25+ years of guitar playing.
Pickup sounds good, and the treble bypass seems to work well.