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Fingerboard has been cut and frets installed.
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(11/30/11) We have glued the fingerboard onto the body. An important step because it aloows me as a builder to get a better feel for the thickness of the neck combined with the fngerboard. I can now start shaping the profile of the back of the neck so that it feels just right. Also, now that the board is on - we can establish precise locations for the bridge/tuners pieces and the cavities for the two pickups. |
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Fingerboard has been cut and frets installed.
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(11/22/11) We have machined the fingerboard and cut the angled fret slots and nut slot on the CNC, now we can make sure the fingerboard surface is carefully sanded smooth in preparation for the fret installation. The fretwire is pre-bent to match the raduis of the fingerboard and then cut slightly oversize. I install them with special tools which avoid any damage to the fretwire itself and the fret ends are then trimmed and dressed. |
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Lace Sensor pickups arrived.
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(11/15/11) We received shipment of the Lace Alumitone pickups. These are very unusual in that they have very little copper winding and therefore weigh very little. They are also not dependent on string spacing so for our fanned fret configuration they should work very well. On top of all thet - they look good and from reports I have heard have an excellent tone. I'm looking forward to hearing what these pickups can do!! |
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machining the compound radius of the fingerboard.
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(10/24/11) Time to get to work on the Birds-Eye Maple fingerboard. I attached the fingerboard blank to a block of MDF so that it remains flat through machining and subsequent handling after it's off the machine. We cut the exact shape of the board perimeter and are now cutting the compound radius using a ball-nosed carbide cutter. I'll do some sanding on the board to remove machining marks and we'll be ready to cut the fret slots and the slot for the nut. |
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Cavities on the back are machined.
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(10/15/11) We have glued the top onto the body of the bass and doen some of the initial shaping to establish the body contour. The next task is to machine the control cavity and battery caviti from the back of the bass. If we decide to go active we'll have an 18v power supply available. if we stay passive we have a handy compartment and the ability to add active features at any time. Next I will make covers for noth of these cavities. |
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Wiring channels have been machined.
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(9/28/11) I have now machined the top surface of the body to a consistent flat surface and in doing so have established the joint area where the neck and the top plate will meet. That done, I machined the channels into the top surface which will accommodate the wiring for the various electronic components and grounding necessary inside the instrument body. I can now focus on fitting the top plate and getting work started on the fingerboard. |
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Body halves are now part of the instrument.
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(9/14/11) The two halves of the body have now been veneered on the joint faces and glued to the center core section of the instrument. At this point in time you can start to appreciate how light the net weight of the woods are. The instrument now goes back onto the cnc where I will machine the end profile of the neck and the entire top surface of the instrument. This will give me a flat surface to cut wiring holes and we'll then glue the top plate on. |
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Body halves have been rough cut on the bandsaw.
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(8/28/11) We have established the final body profile with our customer and created our template. I used the template the mark out the upper and lower body halves. Next I rough cut them on the bandsaw and the photo on the left was taken just after I completed that operation. next I will clean up the two halves on the spindle sander and they will be almost ready to attach to the body of the instrument. Shape looks kinda cool. |
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White limba for back body halves..
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(8/20/11) We are getting ready to create the body of this bass. One of the requirements is to make the instrument as light as we possibly can. To this end I looked through my wood options in the shop and decided that White Limba would be lightweigh enough without compromising other qualities we are seeking in the bass. I'm going to use this material for the back wings and top off the body with a piece of Black Limba. Should be a nice combination. |
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Applying another pinstripe veneer.
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(8/13/11) We have just finished machining the two sides of the core of the instrument in preparation for attaching the body parts. Before we do that we are gluing on some more pinstriping veneer since we will be exposing the multi-laminate core section on the back of the instrument. This will result in a very impressive effect. We are also in the process of making the various body parts. I decided to use black and white Limba for the best weight/sound properties. |
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Slots for truss rod and carbon fiber rods are done.
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(8/6/11) All the initial work on the CNC has been completed. We cut the channel for the double-acting truss rod and also two slots for the carbon fiber reinforcing rods. The neck to body angle has also been machined. We will now saw off some of the excess material and get ready to clean up the joint faces for the two body halves. We'll start by drawing the body shape to scale and refining the match between the body and the neck. |
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Cutting the neck profile on the cnc.
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(8/2/11) The neck/body core section of the instrument is currently set up on the CNC machine. Here we establish the flat joint surface for the fingerboard, the entire finished perimeter of the core, the truss rod slot, carbon fiber slots, headstock angle and neck-to-body angle. The assembly doesn't come off the cnc until all these features have been established. Once that work is complete, we can start thinking about the body and fingerboard. |
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Neck/body core section complete.
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(7/20/11) This is the completed core of the instrument. It is comprised of five laminates. The trhee center laminates are tapered so that the combined tapers match the natural taper of the neck itself. Each laminate has a contrasting pinstripe veneer applied to it. When the entire neck is assembled this creates a very impressive effect between the light and dark woods. When this bass is finished, we want the neck to be a feature! |
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Gluing process underway.
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(7/10/11) The assembly process has been started. Here we have already glued the first set of laminates and are now gluing the first of the two outer pieces. All these neck laminates combine to create a much stronger and more rigid neck than a comparable one-piece construction. The multi laminate assembly not only looks impressive when complete but it much less susceptible to movement and humidity changes than a one-piece neck. |
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Ther two bubinga stringers are being veneered.
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(7/2/11) The two tapered Bubinga laminates are being veneered in the vacuum press. I glue Maple veneer onto these dark woods and I glue Lavoa veneer onto the lighter colored woods. When all the tapered laminates are combined it will look very impressive and will also result in a very strong and rigid neck assembly. Also, the colors will look great together. Next step will be cluing all these separat pieces together. |
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These are the inner and outer neck components - mow need stringers.
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(6/26/11) Here we see three of the pieces that I will be using to create the 5-piece laminated neck/core section. In order to bring out the best in the sycamore grain, the center piece was cut at 90 degrees. This will yield a very nice effect on the finished instrument. The two remaining laminates will be cut from curly bubinga which will balance the wood densities nicely to yield a good solid tone. Each laminate will have two contrasting pin-stripes. |
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First two laminates are cut - figured sycamore.
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(6/19/11) I made a template for the profile of this bass and cut the first couple of neck/core pieces from a very highly figured piece of sycamore. These two pieces will be the outer edges of the core and neck of the instrument. I am planning to cut other laminates to complete the assembly, possibly some bubinga and maple. This will create a very rigid neck for the bass and contribute to a very well rounded tone. |
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Customer gave us a rough concept of body style.
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(6/18/11) This bass was conceived by our customer so we are starting with a rough outline of the intended body shape and moving forward from there. We'll start with the core pieces for the instrument but at the same time we'll be making an accurate scale drawing of the instrument body so that we can make sure we're on the same page with the customer on the final shape and size. The immediate task is to create a template for the core section. |
