Brushed gold, short scale offset bass [finished! pix p.3]

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epizootics
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by epizootics » Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:16 pm

Woke up this morning to my first true 'oopsie' moment in this build...

I did some pickguard material tests yesterday - sprayed some turquoise to the back of some scrap acrylic, which seems to work nicely. If you have access to MTN products 'round your parts, giv'em a try, those 94 spray cans are by far the best I have ever used and they come in so many cool colors my head spins every time I go to the store. They are low pressure and go on super easy. Plus they only cost 3.50€ a pop.

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Now, what could go wrong in gluing the ears onto that headstock? That's an easy glue-up, right? Unless...

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...yeah, I glued'em up the wrong way. Definitely not a biggie but (1) I should have cut the two extra pieces the same width but thought 'it would be nice to have some extra space at the bottom just in case' and (2) it makes me question my ability to survive day to day life when I mess up a simple mental operation like that ::)
I'm tempted to 'honor my mistake as a hidden intention', as Eno has it, and make a reverse headstock.


I'm having a hard time deciding on a pickup. Bass pu's aren't my field of expertise, I have made quite a few for customers but they tended to be the JB or P-bass types. I like the looks of the no-hole strat cover with the ring, though. There are a few things that come to my mind - (1) a simple 4-pole Tele Bass-type pickup with 1/4" rod magnets; (2) A blade P90 à la Charlie Christian but with a narrower, taller bobbin and finer gauge wire; (3) a Kay Speed Bump-type thing with the coil wound around a bar magnet with a ferromagnetic base plate. I am after a thumpy attack and a thick, warm tone. What do you 4-string experts think?

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epizootics
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by epizootics » Fri Sep 13, 2019 10:53 pm

OK...This definitely looks weird...but...

Image

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by epizootics » Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:24 am

...'normality' won in the end.

Image

By the way, I have no idea how I survived without a router table until now. Routing necks was a perilous endeavour before that.

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epizootics
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by epizootics » Mon Oct 07, 2019 8:39 am

Some progress after a few weeks of that old 'life calls me elsewhere' (ie. doing things that actually pay the bills)...

Image

Image

Neck has a radius, frets, a profile, tuner holes & tuners, and a heel. Said neck fits a nice & snug neck pocket.

Now, I knew this from the beginning when my wife asked me for that heastock shape, but it kinda bugs me - this thing is starting to look a bit too much like something from Harvester Guitars. I hope AP won't mind too much. Not that I don't like the looks (I freakin' lov'em) but I don't want to step on anybody's toes...

I also wound the pickup. I ended up going for something relatively conservative in the end - four 20mm alnico V poles, 10000 turns of 42 AWG single build wire, in a Strat format. But playing more bass with one of my bands recently put the 'OMFG I only have one pickup to rely on' in me and I am starting to think having a bridge pickup here wouldn't hurt.

The rough part of the bridge is done, I'll post pictures once I have made the saddles (it'll be a top-loading, two brass saddle affair). More soon...

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by epizootics » Thu Oct 10, 2019 4:16 am

...and now we have a bridge...

Image

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by Steadyriot. » Thu Oct 10, 2019 5:52 am

Oh man so much cool stuff going on in this thread!
First off: I'd consider a black lipstick pickup too. Really popular with the Bronco-bass guys, a lot of SS players seem to like 'em.
Second: MTN (and Montana) paint is really nice! Cheap, low pressure and it really covers. Good opaque colors.
I'd not sweat the Harvester feeling. The bass looks great and I'd bet Anthony won't take any offence on your design. It's not as if you are photocopying one of his designs (plus, a lot of Harvester's designs are based on old and obscure Wandre and Kay designs etc. so pot blaming the kettle in that case).

I love the bridge! How did you make it?!
"If someone duetted with a Bald Eagle, they could rule the Country charts from here to eternity." ~shadowplay

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by epizootics » Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:54 am

Steadyriot. wrote:
Thu Oct 10, 2019 5:52 am
Oh man so much cool stuff going on in this thread!
First off: I'd consider a black lipstick pickup too. Really popular with the Bronco-bass guys, a lot of SS players seem to like 'em.
Second: MTN (and Montana) paint is really nice! Cheap, low pressure and it really covers. Good opaque colors.
I'd not sweat the Harvester feeling. The bass looks great and I'd bet Anthony won't take any offence on your design. It's not as if you are photocopying one of his designs (plus, a lot of Harvester's designs are based on old and obscure Wandre and Kay designs etc. so pot blaming the kettle in that case).

I love the bridge! How did you make it?!
Cheers!
I thought of going the lipstick route, but I like them better with flatter radii - this neck has a 7.25" radius, and I don't like what this does to the middle strings that end up being farther away from the pickup. Those bar magnet designs want to be real close to the strings, and they are more sensitive to minute height differences. That is, to my anal pickup-making ears :)

The bridge was a simple piece of stainless steel 'L' that I shaped with my angle grinder and belt sander (the latter being a 3€-score from a car boot sale). I described the process I use to make the saddles on Tdpri: https://www.tdpri.com/threads/threaded- ... ss.981589/

Once your jig is up and running, you can churn out saddles real quick, about 15 minutes for a set, in any spacing and dimensions you like. Just pop some more rod in, drill, pot it out, tap, cut, sand down...

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by epizootics » Fri Oct 25, 2019 7:23 am

At long last...I was able to remove that *ù^m$=p'"* protective film from the top...

Image

It just received a few coats of acrylic varnish. I got a can of clear gloss acrylic by MTN Colors, and I can report it was a much nicer experience than what I've had with any other rattle can varnishes so far. The flow is smooth, no spitting. I won't go any further with the top coat - I just want a bit of protection, but no hiding of the grain.

PHEW. This laminate nearly gave me fits. It is composed of three layers - brushed gold on top, a thin slice of silver colored metal underneath, and the black cellulose base at the bottom. I decided not to bind it in the end to keep the roundish aesthetics of the bass going, but the roundover revealed just a bit of that silver layer. At that angle (ie. the top of the roundover), any imperfection in the sides is magnified tenfold. Basically, it was impossible to get a straight line from the routing itself. I ended up routing it further in (ie. lowering the roundover bit), which gave me a straight cut that went all the way down to the wood, before finishing the process with my dremel. Long story short, it took me three hours of sanding to get it to look alright.

It seems spraying paint is a superior alternative to alternatives meant to save one the trouble of spraying paint. :ph34r:

I also decided to recess the pickguard into the body. which wasn't as bad as I expected but required a lot of precision in the shaping of the pickguard. I thought I'd gain time by getting the corners to match the radius of my template bit and simply using straight bits of MDF secured around the PG to get my recess template. Well...I didn't. The pickguard itself was cut out of sheet aluminum found in a worksite bin. Possibly the worst aluminum alloy I have ever seen. No way to polish it or anything, so I ended up painting it duck egg green.

That thing is almost there! I'll be finishing the neck this week-end, and hopefully I can borrow it from my wife and take it to my band practice on Tuesday :)

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by Rgand » Fri Oct 25, 2019 7:55 am

All that effort was definitely worth it. It looks fantastic!

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by beauzooka » Fri Oct 25, 2019 12:03 pm

Amazing work! I love the bridge and can't wait to see it completed.

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by solfege » Fri Oct 25, 2019 1:28 pm

That is just beautiful. If I were her, I'd be having a hard time being patient until it was finished now.

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by epizootics » Mon Oct 28, 2019 12:57 am

Cheers guys!
Almost there...It just needs a bit of a fret job and a nut...

Image11 by seb ferrin, on Flickr

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by Steadyriot. » Mon Oct 28, 2019 2:53 am

I love it! Great shape. I'd play it in a heartbeat.
Is the headstock matching?
"If someone duetted with a Bald Eagle, they could rule the Country charts from here to eternity." ~shadowplay

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by Zork » Mon Oct 28, 2019 10:35 am

The 12th fret inlay is a particularly sweet detail.

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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass

Post by Embenny » Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:02 am

Wow, fantastic work. It's awesome to see something unique come together like that.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

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