Finished Pics! Ultra Modern Bass

Andyjr1515

impmann said:

Bonkers but brilliant and beautiful 

Thanks!

Done a bit more to the headstock clamp area.  

I chiselled an incline on it and put a couple of side fillets on (need access to both ends of the clamp so they need to be kept clear):


And then smoothed them out.  Still have to do the final sanding all over, but this is broadly how it will look:

Andyjr1515

Today's job was cutting the saddle slot.

I used the Dremel with the precision router base and a 3mm bit:


Rigged up a guide jig that would ensure that it stayed level and flat when clamped down:


Then clamped it, checked it all and slotted it:
 

Drilled a hole from the slot to the cables channel build into the neck and put in the piezo element for a trial fit:


Shaped the bone nut blank and strung it up.

And blow me!  The flipping thing actually intonates properly!!!!

paulnb57

Oh my, this is fabuolus, could look great in Crimson White Woodstain?...

DartmoorHedgehog

Very nice indeed

prowla

Andyjr1515 said:

Gagaryn said:

Andyjr1515 said:

Gagaryn said:

I'm no woodworking expert but I would worry about making that wall too thin - cack handed knob twiddlers or a jolt to the cable could be a disaster waiting to happen.

I know what you mean, but the tops for many guitar control chambers are just as thin - it's simply that you don't see it.  

 

Oh yeah - didn't think about that! Now that I have I'm worried!

Don't be overly worried - the advantage of the 'normal' pot holes is that the wood grain is across the hole.  In my case the holes are with the grain and so are indeed a little more vulnerable.  

Still should be OK.  I did think about setting in an aluminium plate rather than a wooden fence, but I think this will be fine.  We'll all be able see if I'm right or wrong soon!  

You could simply stick a strip of wood to the back of the holes (either on the inside or the outside).

Andyjr1515

prowla said:

Andyjr1515 

Don't be overly worried - the advantage of the 'normal' pot holes is that the wood grain is across the hole.  In my case the holes are with the grain and so are indeed a little more vulnerable.  

Still should be OK.  I did think about setting in an aluminium plate rather than a wooden fence, but I think this will be fine.  We'll all be able see if I'm right or wrong soon!  

You could simply stick a strip of wood to the back of the holes (either on the inside or the outside).

Yes indeed      The consideration for an ali plate was that two of the pots are really intended for chassis mounting on an amp/pedal, etc. rather than mounting on wood but you are right, plywood or other suitable crossgrained wood would allow the mounting wood to be slimmed even more.

In the end, Sporky's idea of using a threaded bush looks like it's going to give that little bit of extra support to the pots so they will fit with the present wood thickness

Andyjr1515

Slowly but surely starting to get there - frets levelled, recrowned and polished.  Another one off the list

fretmeister

Amazing!

Andyjr1515

OK - I'm on to finishing.

It's basically going to be a slurry and buffed oil job - the silky smooth organic feel should be perfect.  The challenge is to control the 'wetting' effect of tru-oil - which is what I would normally use.  

To see how much impact that would have, and how much figuring is in the various woods,  I did a quick slurry and buff.  The amount of darkening you perceive very much depends on the colour of the background, but this is probably representative:


You can see how much it brings out the flame and other figuring and - to my eyes - it's quite nice, but somehow loses a little bit along the way.  

So to experiment I've got on the way a bottle of Crimson White Stain (probably will not be using this but I'll do some scrap trials in any case) and some slightly more specialist finish - Osmo Polyx Oil Raw (3044).  The latter is basically a wipe on oil with some very fine white filler which should lessen the darkening of the end grain.  It is used by quite a few furniture makers to minimise the wetting effect of pretty much all finishes.  Worth a try.  

It will, of course also reduce the figuring, but hopefully subtly.  The latter is why I'm probably not going to use the Crimson stain - that will probably overdo the whitening and therefore the figuring.

I've sanded it back down - and you can see here how much the figuring fades:


 I should have some trials done later this week

paulnb57

I've seen a coule of Crimson vids using the white stain, it can look really good...

Andyjr1515

paulnb57 said:

I've seen a coule of Crimson vids using the white stain, it can look really good...

I've done some interesting trials today, including the Crimson stain.  I'll post shortly....

Andyjr1515

The primary finish I wanted to trial was the Osmo Polyx Oil Raw (3044).  

Its claim is that it minimises the 'wetting' effect on lighter woods.  I was keen, however in not losing all of the flame figuring of the sycamore in the process (it has a whitening filler in the oil that minimises discolouring of the end grain but does, of course, therefore risk impacting on the wood figuring).

I also wanted to trial the Crimson White Stain to see, if applied very thinly, how much that would mask the figuring.

With the Osmo, I wanted to check:

• Whether it did reduce the wetting darkening and tinting effect sufficiently
• Whether the figuring still showed
• Whether it could be 'slurry and buffed'
• Whether a satin silky feel could be achieved
• Whether it was sticky-less neck capable...

I've done enough trials today to know that I'm going to use the Osmo for the main finish.  Still got more work to do to verify the neck.

First of all - freshly sanded (left) vs Osmo Polyx Oil Raw 3044 (centre) vs untreated timber lightly dampened with water (right).  
Pretty impressive:

 
If I'd wiped the sanded-only properly, the darkness difference would be even less.  The main thing, though is that the yellowing is substantially reduced - and that's just water!  Figuring visibility is less, though.

Then compare it with tru-oil on straight grain.  Osmo top left, tru-oil top right, untreated bottom:
 
 

Now that's VERY impressive.  

So what about end grain?  Osmo top, where it's been sanded smooth, tru-oil middle, untreated bottom:


Then what happens to the figuring if I use a very much thinned single wipe of the Crimson White Stain, left to dry with Osmo on top (left) vs Osmo on the untreated wood (right):


I was expecting the Crimson stain to reduce the flame, but wow - for a single wipe of 50% water-thinned stain - the flame has gone...completely!  Actually nice colour so, as a white stain on say, Ash, I think could work well.  But not on my build.  I want the one on the right!

So I've done a trial coat of the bass in the Osmo - it will be sanded off to make sure I'm fully back to clean wood before I do the 'final finish', but this is broadly how it's looking after the first coat:



That's the kind of look I'm going for so decision made - Osmo Polyx Oil Raw (3044) it is!

And does it slurry-and-buff....it does indeed....it does indeed

DartmoorHedgehog

Very nice.  I agree it looks better without the white stain.

WezV

A white finish will always reduce the figure.   A white stain will do it even more than a trans white finish on top of the wood.

Flame and quilted figures are all about the orientation of the wood cells, and how light reflects off them.   Cover it in white lacquer and much of the light is reflected by the white pigment before it reaches the wood. 

 Use a direct stain and more will soak into the end grain, lightening the bits that should be darker and evening it all out even more

the only way to make it work is to start with really strong flame

Andyjr1515

WezV said:

A white finish will always reduce the figure.   A white stain will do it even more than a trans white finish on top of the wood.

Flame and quilted figures are all about the orientation of the wood cells, and how light reflects off them.   Cover it in white lacquer and much of the light is reflected by the white pigment before it reaches the wood. 

 Use a direct stain and more will soak into the end grain, lightening the bits that should be darker and evening it all out even more

the only way to make it work is to start with really strong flame

Yes - I suppose what surprised me was just how much it impacted with such a light coat...

Andyjr1515

I'm very pleased with the Osmo Polyx - and in particular finding the 3044 version.  

This is now pretty much with all finish coats applied and it is remarkable how close that is to the colour of the wiped, dry, sanded wood:



...and the finish is silky smooth:


Just a couple of final tidying bits, then the final tasks - fitting the p/ups and electrics, finishing the hardware installation and then final set up.  Always takes longer than you expect, but the end is definitely in sight!

paulnb57

Fab-u-lous!

Legionreturns

Absolutely stunning! 

Andyjr1515

Thanks, folks

Andyjr1515

One of the finishing off jobs was to sort some ferrules for the thru' headstock:


I can now put the final finish coat on this too, which completes the Osmo finishing of the whole bass.  Next stop, electrics...