MPUbicki build thread

MPU

MPU

Sep 21, 2004
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Valkeala Finland
#1
Here’s some pics of my latest build. I’ve posted questions and pics on other threads. Gluing of neck beam, fret spacing calculation and fretboard material are already posted.
Neck has Bruce Johnson design DASR trussrod with carbon back strap. Neck beam is 21-piece maple. Body is alder.
For this build I wanted tuners that are oriented like on Kubickis. They are Riviera tuner bridges from Italy. They need pretty precise routing and drilling. I made the template in Inkscape and cut it with laser.
There was discussion about neck laminates and how they look if they sort of end in the middle of the neck. I think they look just fine.
I think I have to route the neck cavity a bit deeper. I fear that I don’t have enough height adjustment the way the neck sits now.
Next thing is fretting, routing saddle slots and making string clamps to the ”headstock”. Then I can test assemble the bass and make the d-tuner lever.
 

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#3
MPU said:
For this build I wanted tuners that are oriented like on Kubickis. They are Riviera tuner bridges from Italy. They need pretty precise routing and drilling. I made the template in Inkscape and cut it with laser.
Click to expand...
Looking good so far! Those Riviera tuners caught my eye a while back. Let us know how well they work, the design doesn't seem to be much like anybody else's.

Beej said:
You had me at MPUbicki :smug: :laugh:
Click to expand...
I'm still trying to pronounce it.
 
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#5
Ha! That's going to be Bada$$! Are you going to scoop out the area around the bridge and upper bout for forearm relief, or leave it more of less flat? All those lams are really going to pop when the finish goes on. How about the nut end, I wasn't entirely clear if you were doing some version of the extended scale "capo" on the original Ex Factors, I always thought that was a brilliantly simple design, but you'd have to fabricate the parts, I don't think Kubicki would sell them. Bruce Bars for the win! Very impressive so far, sub'd.
 
#6
Nice work as usual! What's the idea of the neck laminations? Aside from the fact it looks cool, any advantage to it? There was a discussion a while ago about laminated necks and I was emphatically told that laminating adds no strength, if you're just laminating the same kind of wood to itself that is. (I promised myself I would test this but haven't got round to it yet.)
 
#7
I think the modern adhesives used are much stronger then the wood itself. We use LVL engineered lumber in construction all the time, and it's MUCH stiffer/stronger than an equivalent section of solid lumber. That's basically what a Kubicki neck is, an LVL beam. I don't know what Kubicki used, i assume epoxy?
 
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#8
Flying B said:
Nice work as usual! What's the idea of the neck laminations? Aside from the fact it looks cool, any advantage to it? There was a discussion a while ago about laminated necks and I was emphatically told that laminating adds no strength, if you're just laminating the same kind of wood to itself that is. (I promised myself I would test this but haven't got round to it yet.)
Click to expand...
iirc, Bruce or somebody similarly knowledgeable pointed out that laminated wood is not intrinsically stronger than non-laminated wood; strength advantages come from being able to remove any cracks or flaws in the wood laminates before gluing. With solid wood you're stuck with whatever's in there.
 
#9
I’m going to make the arm scoop, Ijust had to route the bridge holes first. I’m making that drop d, I just don’t know if I’m making the lever from aluminium or if I 3d-print it with cf reinforced filament.
I think laminating makes the neck beam more stable. These thin laminates do not have any kind of strength to warp each other. They are sawn from same leftover strips but they are turned and rotated so that the grain orientation varies between strips.
 
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#10
Multi-laminated necks can be very stable with a great, solid tone. I think Martin uses it on their acoustic guitars. My Soviet classical guitar uses it, and when one of the previous owner inadvertently put steel strings on it, the neck joint cracked but the neck itself remained dead straight!
 
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#11
Monolithic vs. glued laminate neck: Your body will tell you which is stronger when you try to break one over your leg.

Laminate is also more dimensionally stable, which means less fiddling with the truss rod. I hardly ever need to adjust relief on my Ex-Factors.

Your project is very cool @MPU. Subbed.
 
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#12
Hey @Kubicki Fan , figured you might know: does the modern incanation of Kubicki sell replacement parts for the older basses? I'm wondering if they'd sell @MPU a nut end string clamp, or if there are other sources of parts out there. I have a Steinberger XP-2, which is prone to breaking the "claw" string retainers. Ed Roman's Guitars bought up most of the NOS parts when the original Steinberger went under, and they charge outrageously high prices for parts. Given the relative complexity of the Kubicki bridge design, I'm guessing those parts do occasioanlly break or just wear out after 30 years in service. Of course, having seen what MPU is capable of, I have no doubt he can make his own parts.
 
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#14
scuzzy said:
other than current lower end Martin acoustics, I don't know why laminate isn't used more in neck construction. it's just rock solid, and you can get such a striking visual presence as well.
Click to expand...

Maybe people associate it with Plywood? It's not the same though, plywood alternates grain direction each layer. The most I've done so far is 5-piece necks, they seem pretty damn stable.
 
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#18
A multi-laminate design will also be a lot more consistent from one neck to the next. The stiffness might vary by say +/- 20% between various pieces of wood of the same species. If you mix and match them together, the more laminates you use, the more the variations cancel each other out.
 
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