Finished Pics! Ultra Modern Bass

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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    Sporky said:



     

    That's amazing - it looks like a space-ship!

    Stunning work.
    Thanks, @Sporky   I'm pleased with it so far :)
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  • BorkBork Frets: 252
    edited May 2017
    This is a rear view of my bass. 

    [This space for rent]

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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    That's very neat indeed, @Bork :)     Do you hook up the strings into the block from the top?
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  • BorkBork Frets: 252
    edited May 2017
    Yes, the jaws extend enough that this is possible. It was a total pain in the arse to make though. Took a day.

    [This space for rent]

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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    Bork said:
    Yes, the jaws extend enough that this is possible. It was a total pain in the arse to make though. Took a day.
    I'm not surprised!  Great result, though...
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  • lneivalneiva Frets: 2
    excelent work. one of the best designs i've seen on basses. 
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    lneiva said:
    excelent work. one of the best designs i've seen on basses. 
    Thank you :)  I feel well and truly flattered! 
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  • Blimey, that looks cracking! 
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    Blimey, that looks cracking! 
    Has been known.....  ;)


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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    edited June 2017
    The headstock outline will reflect elements of the shape of the body.  

    Like the body, it is taken from the same sycamore plank.  Into that, I've inset a maple parabola, giving a continuity to the fretboard wood, and then cut out the truss-rod cover from the headplate itself.  This will be secured by a neo-magnet.  

    The whole headstock will be eventually radiused to the same 20" the rest of the body and fretboard are, and then the edges also rounded off.

    This is it at the first stage of that work:






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  • paulnb57paulnb57 Frets: 3044
    Can't think of anyrhing other than, Wow! Its a bit special...
    Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll

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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    paulnb57 said:
    Can't think of anyrhing other than, Wow! Its a bit special...
    I think the shape itself is a bit martmite-ish, maybe - but it's this type of look that the owner very much is looking for.  

    The rounding will make a big, big difference to softening the lines and making it complement the body shape :) 
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    Back in the world of the internet and sawdust after a week or so in the beautiful wilds of Skye :)

    This isn't finished yet, but I've been starting to get the top and back curves sorted on the headstock.  Other than the top 'horn' the idea is to get a pretty close reflection of the body shape:



    The back is also concave radiused modestly and is definitely stripy:



    The truss rod cover is cut out of the headstock plate and will be secured by a single neo-magnet:


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  • RabsRabs Frets: 2602
    tFB Trader
  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    Rabs said:
    Very impressive work man.....
    Thanks, @Rabs :)
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  • paulnb57paulnb57 Frets: 3044
    Wonderfully organic Andy.....this will turn out great methinks
    Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll

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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    paulnb57 said:
    Wonderfully organic Andy.....this will turn out great methinks
    Thanks, Paul.  I have high expectations with this one. Fingers crossed ;)
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    Still loads and loads to do, but I like it when I get to the 'final list of tasks' stage. 17 items on it, two of which I've been able to cross off yesterday evening. 

    The 'most careful' one of the day was drilling the string exit holes in the fretboard. Not easy! Because the angles and exit points are pretty critical, the pilot holes (drilled from the top) had to be in EXACTLY the right place. Not at all easy when there is almost nothing you can get a ruler against. It was back to schoolboy geometry to work out exactly where I needed to drill, and then exactly the angle to twist to to end up with a hole that was in the right place and at the right angle for both the saddle and the tuner positions. It was another one of this 'check 14 times and drill once' jobs

    It paid off, though. These are, against all the odds, in the right place and are at the right angle:

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  • Nice work.  How did you drill those angled holes?  Did you just use a hand-held drill leaning against some sort of jig or have you got some sort of cunning tiltable pillar drill?
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    Nice work.  How did you drill those angled holes?  Did you just use a hand-held drill leaning against some sort of jig or have you got some sort of cunning tiltable pillar drill?
    I used a brad point drill, offset in position to account for the angle but hand-drilled vertically for 2.5mm or so to create shallow hole to prevent the angled drill skipping across the top, and then pushed the brad point into that hole, but at the final drilling angle (using a carpenters protractor as a reference) and hand drilled the angled hole.  I tested out the method on the mockup I'd used to check the tuner block concept.  

    As long as your first vertical hole is shallower than the diameter of the drill, you end up with an angled hole as neat as if it had been done on a jig :)
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