A Slightly Different Bass Build

[Nick JD]

There's a big old Eucalyptus tree down these parts that apart from being the tallest hardwood tree in the world, and having wood that looks and weighs the same as mahogany, is also very well priced and highly available.

I went and rummaged though the entire stock at the store until I found 18 feet of 12mm x 42mm (1/2" x 1 1/2") that was arrow-straight.



It's called by two names, both of them given foolishly by homesick British folk with big saws way back when. Down south (and in catalogs full of stylish furniture) it's called Victorian Ash; up here it's called Tasmanian Oak.

It's nothing like ash or oak.

Here's my template before the curves were cleaned up. All the straight lines were cut with a top bearing router bit following a straight piece of 12mm MDF.



As you can see this one's going to have continuous grain from the tip of the headstock to the rear strap button. That might be good for a number of reasons like stability, sustain, mojo, and generally raising the dead - or something, depending on who you talk to. I'm doing it here because it suits this build's wackiness. At the moment is looks more like I'm making a rifle with a very blunt bayonet or a cross-bow. I assure you, it's going to be a Telecaster(ish) Bass.

Here's another angle looking back from the headstock.

[Nick JD]

Here's the template looking down towards the headstock, complete with it's first offspring, a clone of itself.



The neck is 23.5mm (0.92") at the nut end and 25.5mm (1.00") at the point where it goes into the body. The reason I'm not giving thickness at fret positions is because it ain't gonna have frets. Nope. It's for my girlfriend, who's a lot more of a musician than I. She's a singing and piano teacher who also plays violin - so she's used to no frets and wanted it that way (still have side dots though ... I wanna play it too) which suits me fine because frets are fiddly at the best of times and I reckon fret-less basses sound better.

So, it's just a matter of sticking the template to another piece that's cut to "the line" and routing away. The "template" is one of the five pieces.

Two done, three to go (I use the same one as a template for all routings, so there's no drift in variation).



After doing it four times we get this.



The truss rod housing just so happens to be 12mm, the same width as the wood - so all that's to be done is to bandsaw the truss rod slot out of the middle (the third one) before the glue up. Easy. The middle piece sort of chose itself due to a tear out on the fingerboard because the well-trained monkey I have doing my routing forgot to go downstairs on the grain.

Straight flush:



Tomorrow, I need to route two little bits to go on the headstock like the Rickenbacker ears so I can cut the shape (traditional Tele guitar headstock shape).

[fletch]

Ok, you have me intested

Just trying to visualize what you have in mind - so its a laminated tassie oak bass with thru neck ? Sounds very cool and unusual !

Thats a lot of glueing up if the individual pieces are 12mm across

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by fletch

Ok, you have me intested

Just trying to visualize what you have in mind - so its a laminated tassie oak bass with thru neck ? Sounds very cool and unusual !

Thats a lot of glueing up if the individual pieces are 12mm across

They say the glue joint is stronger than the surrounding wood ... so I say THE MORE GLUE THE BETTER! These posts below show it taking a bit more shape.

[fletch]

I went back and had another look - I'm seeing it now , call me slow but I get there eventually

Looking forward to seeing the "ears" are in place.

Is this the project you had in mind when you asked me about the tru-oil in my strat thread ?

[Nick JD]

Here are the "ears" being glued and clamped. Only a little bit is needed for the bump by the first machine head, but quite a bit is needed down the other side because the neck is angled so the string paths are straight.



Then the truss rod slot is cut and routed straight. It's a martin-style single action truss, and it'll adjust at the headstock under a little removable cover that I'll make (like a Gibson cover but curved). The aluminum U-section adds a lot of stiffness with these truss rods.



And here's the whole thing waiting for some glue and clamps. Someone wise said that a man can never have enough clamps - this is very true with guitar building. I'd like to add a bit to that and say that not only can you never have enough clamps, but you need variety in your clamps too. I have tons of monster clamps and baby clamps, now I must travel into the city to get more medium clamps!



Then I can cut and route the neck taper, the truss rod plug and route the headstock. It'll have a 42mm nut (1.65") and a 30" Mustang bass last fret width, which I think is 2 1/16". EDIT: 2 3/16"

The scale should be about 30 inches depending on where I put the bridge. No frets = no set scale length!

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by fletch

Is this the project you had in mind when you asked me about the tru-oil in my strat thread ?

Yeah, it was. But now it's going to be black ... everything except the strings will be black. More will reveal itself as it's built, but it looks like it'll be slightly iridescent black pearl or black sparkle ... everywhere.

I'm thinking ebony fingerboard, but might try something else.

[Tim Armstrong]

VERY cool thread!!!!

Tim

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

VERY cool thread!!!!

Tim

Cheers Tim. Hold on - it's gonna get weirder and weirder!

[Nick JD]

Now I'm not saying this to rub it into the faces of those of you up there where the rain comes down crystallized and white for six months, but I couldn't do the glue up in one go.

Here's why.



So I put my little fish tank thermometer outside.



99 in the shade. I could do with some snow to roll in right now.

So the two outside pairs are glued and clamped.

[Nick JD]

Then the center piece (there's five 12mm pieces) is glued to one side.



And then the whole shebang is glued and clamped together (forgot to turn the flash off).



Then after an hour or two of swimming at the local waterhole waiting for glue to set ... it got dealt with by a sander and a planer.

Where fingerboard will go once the truss rod is plugged. I'm thinking I might do the fingerboard after the radius - and only have it about 1/8" thick.



Headstock looking back. The curves will be cleaned up when the neck and headstock is cut. No point cleaning them up when half of it is about to be removed.

[Nick JD]

Here's a view of the back of the headstock looking down the rear of the neck with a close up of the grain. It's difficult to find the joins with a grainy wood like Tassie Oak.



I bet you those "Mahogany" Epiphones made from a "secret source timber" are this wood - it's not in short supply.

The neck rings like a bell when rapped with the knuckles.

It's straight! The steel rule balances on its edge.

[Nick JD]

So now it's a simple matter of finding the middle of the neck, deciding on where the nut's face will be, and placing two dots 21mm from the center on this line.

This is the nut width.



For those who prefer the archaic system of measuring using the King's feet:



So the number it set to this.



And two lines are drawn up the neck from the nut width of 42mm, to the 19th fret width of 57.5mm. Even though I have 5 x 12mm pieces, the total width is 61.5mm, not 60mm - probably due to glue and board thickness variation.

This is what it looks like with a Telecaster neck Template sitting on it.



Those lines are very close ... I'm sure we can fit 4 strings in there!

[Nick JD]

And of course, we have to get the router busy on this tomorrow.



The template's not positioned properly in this photo. That line isn't the nut - it's the start of the headstock curve. I might have cut it too close where the extra "ear" is glued to the top of the headstock. It might be a case for SUPER KNEADABLE EPOXY PUTTY!

Mental note: draw the nut line on that template before drinking another beer.

The whole thing weighs 1300g (2.8 pounds) so far, so with the truss rod it'll be about 3 pounds - but then there's a lot to come off yet. So I'm thinking about 2 1/2 pounds for the through-neck.

The tuners will weigh 1/2 pound, and the bridge will weigh an ounce or two (when I build it). Frets will weigh 0.00g. Pups will weigh a ton! Nice and FAT. I'm thinking low-riding wide coils over AlNiCo V poles. P90-ish. I'm going to try something weird with the pickups.

We're aiming for well under 6 pounds. There's a hint at the body type.

[Shoved BassVIII]

ok ya got my attention...

[Nick JD]

Got the neck and the headstock done today. It's basically a matter of double taping a straight edge from the nut to the "heel" and routing the straight line.



Then, using a Telecaster neck template upside down stuck to the back of the headstock - the shape can be routed.





As you can see, words like ****, **** and worst of all *************** came streaming from my mouth when I saw that the ******* double sided tape had slipped.

Luckily this whole guitar is to be finished opaque (part of the reason was to hide the five 12mm pieces) so it'll be out with the 10 minute kneadable epoxy and that router boo boo will be long forgotten.

Next: glue two more 12mm pieces to the body end of the guitar and continue the neck lines all the way to the end - so the sides are straight from top to toe. Then: start on the "body" and shape the back of the neck.

[fletch]

Its coming together nicely ( and quickly too ) Nick, what do you have in mind for a fretboard ?

[Tim Armstrong]

Keep it comin', Nick!

Tim

[Shoved BassVIII]

I'm really liking this....MORE!

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by fletch

...what do you have in mind for a fretboard ?

Cheers guys. I'm having fun with this.

Not sure about the fingerboard yet (no frets!). I'll probably vacuum down a sandwich of a couple of layers of 1mm maple with some carbon or kevlar in between after it's radiused. That oughta hold it all in!

The entire guitar is to be finished including the fingerboard so it can be as ugly as sin before it's covered up.

That'll have to be done last though because other stuff will be difficult if the guitar "rocks" on the radius.

I've got some 0.1mm black flake (sparkle) for the finish. Bucko's got me tempted to throw in just a sprinkling of holographic in there too - but I saw a surfboard a few weeks back with a simply stunning finish that I'm trying to replicate.

Experiments will have to be done (might do one today) to try to replicate it.

[Nick JD]

It's always a good idea to give the truss rod nut a turn so the rod is not placed in upside down by accident. It happens!



Squeezed the truss rod in and run a line of glue each side of the slot. Then the plug is coaxed in - by coaxed, I mean rammed because that bugger is tight - and that's a good thing.



And the clamps are tightened very tightly so any natural bow in rod's aluminium sleeve is flattened.



Now we need to address that big nasty router goof where the template slipped. First, the surface is hacked at with the world's rustiest razor blade so it's keyed in for the epoxy to bite. This stuff is pretty good at bonding to rough, porous things like wood, but it never hurts to over-engineer.

[Nick JD]

As far as polymers stand, epoxy is not the worst for getting on the skin - but it's not the best. It's not very bad for fumes compared to polymers with styrene in them ... polyester can make your eyes water, and two-part polyurethane contains a proven carcinogen called isocyanate. Nasty stuff.

Hence the gloves for kneading the epoxy.



A little bit is cut off. The stuff in the middle is the hardener, or it might be the stuff on the outside - the one that smalls of cat piss is the hardener - I'm sure it's the darker stuff.



So it's kneaded until a uniform colour and then smudged in. It can be routed but I'll just hit it with the dremel's sanding drum.

[Nick JD]

After half an hour the epoxy has cured. It's then carved back to flush and given a quick sand with some 120.



Back to where it should have been.



And here's a close up of the truss rod hiding in there like a lobster in a cave. I've got lots of sanding to do .



Time to start on the "body"...

[Shoved BassVIII]

Thats the fun part man....Cant wait....
I assume your finish will be something like the strat I plan to finish this winter...

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by Shoved BassVIII

Thats the fun part man....Cant wait....
I assume your finish will be something like the strat I plan to finish this winter...

Very similar finish - but I'm trying to get a finish with just black sparkle, but it isn't very sparkley; looks more like a metallic. The black sparkle is much more subtle.

This piece of tas oak was covered in a thin layer of epoxy.



A very slight purple tint is added to the resin.



Then the sparkles were bucketed on. Then it was finished with a layer of super clear 2oz (thin like silk) glass. It's a bit of a "cheat" way to do a sparkle because the glass contains all the resin and "floats" on the surface ... so there's no need to do a million successive sprays of clear paint. It's a three-step then sand and polish process.



It's very hard to photograph, but you can see there are only a handful of sparkles reflecting - the sparkles have laid flat.

Next time I'll wait for the first layer to dry and then finish it with the glass.

These sparkles are soooo small that they would be better called "metal flake". So really I'm doing a metallic, not a sparkle.

[Nick JD]

Deep blue-black tinted resin over the top of super-fine silver sparkle? Me needs a shopping list.

[Nick JD]

Here's some finish testing.

In the photo below from left to right we have:

1) Blue holo flake on black base, needs black tint finish.

2) Black flake under glass and black flake over glass, clear finish. Sparkle go byebye.

3) Black tint on Tas Oak.

4) Black/Blue holo burst trial with clear finish. Feathering the burst will need a super, super fine mesh (flake is 0.08mm).



Here's Blue holo suspended in resin... Don't look into it for too long or you'll see the creepy screaming face.



...on carbon.

[Nick JD]

I'm liking this flake. Like Bucko says, it's very hard to photograph.





This photo totally changes the burst. The colour in the middle is what I'm aiming for ... not a sparkle finish, but an almost-black iridescent finish.



BTW - this is ready to sand and polish in two steps, and it's resilient as rock.

Next experiment is to mix the black and blue holo together.

[Nick JD]

This is what I was after with the finish. It's equal parts black and blue holo flake with clear on top.



And without the camera flash.

[Nick JD]

So now the body.



Here's one I prepared earlier! Nah - this is going to be a "male" mold for the sides. I stuck an MDF neck template in there to smooth the neck pocket area...



...with a bit of plastercine.



Then a big piece of telecaster-shaped fiberglass is stuck behind (relics of weird and wacky tinkering) to hold it all in.

[Nick JD]

(I forgot to take a photo of the gelcoat - the first coat of clear epoxy ).

A strip of this stuff is cut out.



So here is the "inside" layer of carbon. I cut it a bit wide ... shouldn't waste this stuff at $50 a square meter .



Now it's a matter of adding lots more layers, probably eight, or ten should be strong enough - about 2mm, maybe 3mm. I've got some ugly 400g (that stuff is 200g twill weave) carbon that's better structurally and builds faster.

Then I can pop it off and do the other side.

[Scott S]

Neat stuff, Nick! Does the eucalyptus wood have "that" smell to it?

- Scott

[jefrs]

That's looking nice.

You obviously know what you are doing...
If I may, a couple of tips for epoxy, it's a thermo-setting polymer:-
If you can bake at 50°C then '24 hour' epoxy will go off in 30 minutes and set in a couple of hours, but leave for over 24h for strength to develop.
It will come off if you can heat it to over 120°C (hot air gun).
Epoxy putty is not very sticky. To encourage the putty to adhere well to the job, very lightly smear the job surface with normal 24 hour epoxy adhesive.
Mix epoxies untill well mixed, then mix for as long again.

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by Scott S

Neat stuff, Nick! Does the eucalyptus wood have "that" smell to it?

- Scott

Strangely enough, no. I think most of the eucalyptus oils are in the leaves. If you've seen an Aussie bush-fire it's easy to see what the oil is there for - the trees (and I'm not joking) literally explode. Fire fronts can move at insane speeds all hopped up on eucalyptus leaves. But this means that the tree lives because the oxygen is depleted and the fire moves on before the bark is too damaged. The leaves then sprout from the trunk ... looks strange - all these bright green fluffy trunks in a field that looks like it's been napalmed.

Camphor, on the other hand smells great. I think they steam distill those oils from the wood and the roots.

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by jefrs

That's looking nice.

You obviously know what you are doing...
If I may, a couple of tips for epoxy, it's a thermo-setting polymer:-
If you can bake at 50°C then '24 hour' epoxy will go off in 30 minutes and set in a couple of hours, but leave for over 24h for strength to develop.
It will come off if you can heat it to over 120°C (hot air gun).
Epoxy putty is not very sticky. To encourage the putty to adhere well to the job, very lightly smear the job surface with normal 24 hour epoxy adhesive.
Mix epoxies untill well mixed, then mix for as long again.

Great points!

That putty I use is formulated to bond really well if you give it a good squeeze! It also comes in a metal and an underwater version for fixing water pumps and swimming pools! Awesome stuff.



I've got access to an autoclave for my vacuum work, but with guitars, strength isn't really that much of a priority - it's not like I'm making rear wings for Indy Cars . Carbon (vacuum laminated with a good resin/cloth ratio) is between 6 and 9 times stronger that steel for the same weight depending on how much you pay for your carbon and how you've arranged the fibers. It makes wood seem like rubber.

However, this bass is going to be too light. That's where one of these comes in.



At the moment the wooden part of the bass weighs 3 pounds. The carbon "body" will probably weigh less than the tuners ... so I'm going to put a pound of lead behind the bridge (or whatever weight is needed to balance it so it's "neutrally buoyant" - might only be 1/2 lb).

Should come in at about 5 1/2 pounds with no neck dive because 1/5th of its weight will be inside the rear strap button.

Remember (like Bucko says), I'm making this up as I go along.

[Nick JD]

Some of these tuners are on their way.



I'll make the bridge, nut and tail piece.

Tail piece will be bowed-instrument like.



And bridge will be like this ... but I'm not sure if it'll be screw-adjustable; probably shim adjustable.

[fletch]

so whats the latest nick ?

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by fletch

so whats the latest nick ?

I just finished the neck shaping and thought it might be good to make it a separate thread for people who are building necks and might be unsure of a procedure to shape the back.

So all the neck stuff is here.

Now it looks like this.



I've got to pop into a dive shop to grab a 500g (1.1 pound) rectangular lead weight for the arse-end of it. Lead's heavy: 100mm x 50mm x 8mm weighs over a pound .

The whole through-neck weighs 1230g (2.7 pounds) and the "body" weighs a couple hundred grams... it really needs that lead!

Not sure where I'm going to fit the pickup - I'm sure it'll materialize when the time comes. The pickup will have to be wound super flat so that rules out the stacked HB I was thinking. Might have to go for a regular HB or even something that hummmmmmms.

[Quintin]

Very cool. I love these build threads...keep em coming mate!

[Nick JD]

One of the sides (the upper) of the body is done, just needs cutting out.



I need the middle 36mm, where the fibers and finish is all nice. This looks like a job for the industrial diamond-bladed CUTTER-OUTER-ER - but the thing that drives it (a dremel) is in the shop because it done blowed up - luckily within the warranty.