Teaser - next project

[joppo]

After building a uke and an acoustic guitar from kitsets with my son, the time has come to:
1) build a bass
2) make it from scratch

Sooooo... went digging around in my Dad's shed and have found an old church pew seat (kauri) for the body, and the following for the neck (old veranda post - don't know what it is yet, but it isn't kauri, rimu or totara)

Have my plans about 80% sorted, but won't reveal them yet (otherwise it wouldn't be a teaser, right?). Will just say for now that I'm trying to use as many recycled old natives as I can find. But will post more details soon so you can give some feedback.

[john]

Awesome. I will follow this thread closely.

[pins]

cool I'm in too.

[Fenderfan]

Ditto.

[Antz]

Show me the axe !

[john]

Any progress?

[Harley]

download/file.php?id=587&t=1

Aha! a post about a post.

[joppo]

So here is the concept. I want to build something that is a bit different, and came across a some really nice looking basses by Veillette. Here is an example.

I like the simple single-cutaway shape, so thought I would try to build one of these. The body will be fully chambered and the top will be carved to give it some nice shape. I am trying to decide on a few things:

Fretless or fretted (I'm thinking fretless at the moment)
Whether to have just an under-bridge piezo, or both the under bridge and a magnetic pickup like the one pictured (leaning toward just the piezo at the moment)
Flat or angled headstock (I'm thinking flat with 3 tuners on top and 1 below, but haven't settled on a headstock design I like yet)

I have some nice kauri for the body to hollow out, and I'm looking for something that is nicely patterned/grained to carve the top out of. I'm building the neck first - just ordered the truss rod and carbon beams to strengthen the neck today.

[joppo]

Truss rod, carbon rods for the neck, and the cutest tool EVER(!!!) have arrived

IMG_3494.JPG (50.61 KiB) Viewed 58631 times

That is a plane for carving the top. When I opened the box, everyone went "Awwwwww - cute!". Time to start building the neck!

[john]

More pics!!!! I want to see the truss rod

[pins]

Give me wood ! shaped with aforementioned new cute tool,it reminds me of a "roller rocker" from an OHC engine

[Tim1]

Are you going to make it neck through?

[joppo]

Long weekend so have some time to start working on the neck. I'm making it a bolt on neck Tim for a couple of reasons. The body is going to be mostly hollow so not sure how you would do a neck through with that. Plus, I'm thinking fretless at the moment, but have enough wood to build a second neck, so toying with the idea of having two necks - one fretted and one fretless. Will see how keen I am to build a second neck after I get this into working order.

Anyhow... Routed the slots for the truss rod and two carbon fibre rods this morning. This shows the three empty slots.

And here are the truss rod and carbon rods in place. The carbon supports need a very fine sanding before they will fit perfectly, but won't do that until a little further down the track. Once they are in they will be hard to get out, so just want to do that when I'm ready to glue them in. I've gone for a spoke truss rod. I remember Steve (Beagle) saying how easy it is to adjust the truss rod on his Musicman Sterling because it had one of these, so I've gone that way. Pins - I hope there is enough wood there to keep you happy for a while. The grain is nice, and I have put a little finish of a spare corner to see what it will end up looking like.

Ready to saw the neck to thickness now, but I don't have a table saw so that might be a job at a friend place on Monday.

[john]

This is very exciting! Carbon rods should make for a stable neck, what a flash guy

[Fenderfan]

This is awesome..... On the other hand, the wife won't like the fact that this is gonna give me ideas