Bass, completed enough

It’s as done as any mass-market instrument you’d buy in a store, only more expensive and lower quality. Materials info after the jump.

front view

the side no one looks at

What I’ve been doing, sort of

Here’s one of the reasons I haven’t done anything much lately.

Well, also I’ve been putting baseboards in a closet, but this is more interesting.
Dark wood is bocote, the light is cherry. Spray lacquer finish. The dinosaur is about six inches long, to give you an idea of size. The others are a bit smaller, but perspective and junk.

Carousel repair

Not much on the bass recently, but I finally got this thing rebuilt.

(Original post about it is here.)

Those are 10″ candles.

It’s really rather bulky. Here’s a closeup of one of the snowmen – their hats needed touchup, and this guy got new buttons.

Will it go round in circles?

I replaced the hub at the top with a thinner piece, built a new spinning deck, and added a bearing to the top of the shaft. It still doesn’t work as well as I’d like, but at least it’s functional.

Calling it Done

Well, I need to adjust the action at the nut a bit, but otherwise I’m calling this one complete.

Ignore the foot.

Yeah, it has some flaws. But you can’t really see them in these photos.

The saddle is compensated. It’s supposed to look like that.

First sound sample is available here. Pay no attention to the crummy playing; I was tired. Recorded straight into the computer via dynamic microphone; no filtering, reverb, or anything.

Enough with the shellac, already

I am not 100% happy with this (I never am) but I’m not going to do more on it.

The back isn’t too bad, for the most part. There are a couple of dull patches and lumpy areas, but if I mess with it more, it’ll just get worse.

I finally got the spot on this side to take shellac. I ended up just wiping it on with a very small bit of cloth, instead of the traditional muneca, which was taking off as much as it was laying down. Need more practice, obviously.

I removed the tape from the fretboard and as expected, there is residue all over it. I’ve cleaned the first three frets here, but not the rest.

The top has one area I’m not at all happy with, but I can’t fix it without sanding everything down to bare wood and starting over. And I’m not about to do that. I don’t much like working with spruce tops, so it may be a while before I use the rest of the ones I already have.

 

Out, out damned spot!

or smudge, or smear, or whatever you are. And the rest of your family, who are living in various parts of my finish.

More polishing

Progress, but slow.

Headstock is looking okay.

The neck is not bad at all.

Sides are building a bit of a shine.

Still some leveling needed on the back.

Color not yet evened out on the top.

French polish in progress

Not much to show recently, because I’ve been working on finishing. Not much to look at.

Looks like some more pore filling will be needed also.

Bridge

I thought I’d have to make some kind of a jig to cut the bridge slots, but turns out I can do it with some MDF and the Dremel router base with edge guide that I already have.

Ad-hoc bridge slotting jig

Turned out pretty good, although it would have been slightly easier with a small handheld router. But that would mean additional bits, edge guide, and other stuff that I don’t really need.

Bridge, slotted and polished but not quite complete

Next step is to drill the string holes.

Glue it together

I’ve actually done some work, but hadn’t had much to show for it. So here it is.

Neck gluing

Here’s another view. It’s just a strap to hold the neck to the body, and a clamp to keep the fretboard down.

Neck end view of glue-up

The fretboard was already glued to the neck. You can’t see it very well but there is a shim to keep the strap taut. (It’s a contour sanding block; it was handy and works well.)

Fret ends

Here’s a view of the fret ends. Not beautiful but not terrible either. And they don’t catch your fingers.