New build experiment

[mark5009]

After an all-too-brief diving vacation to Lord Howe Island, back to doing some of this AG05 project. One of the great things about the Organic School of Design™ (also known as "making it up as you go along") is you get to try things out. So I umm-ed and arr-ed about pickups and controls and the like, trying this and that, and I ended up back where I started: an active J-bass setup, with a (switchable) piezo bridge. Cool. I have some of those lying around (AUD$30 ex-China for the pups + the box -- hooray!) but the wiring doesn't quite suit my odd design. Soooo, new wiring harness time. Less fun than it seems, but it all works, sounds pretty good on my test rig, and draws under 0.5mA. A winner (for now)

Time to get the body parts together. This means making a template (doing lots of that for this project) and getting out the "big boy" router

And then come by-hand cleanup

And it all fits nice and pretty.

Given the control wires and access is going to be in the top part, I need to make the two parts separable, but strong. Mmmm, M6 stainless into steel inserts, a real favourite of mine.

So I mentioned I got these cheap PUPs from China. One of the cheapnesses of them is the case. No problemo, just make some new ones. After all, everything is custom, right? And I happen to have a nice piece of Qld Mahogany lurking around. I started by cutting a few mortices (not too common in lutherie, but fun to do)

Until the PUPs fit nice and snug

Separate on the bandsaw...

Shape on the spindle sander and we're almost ready to go! (As if... :-/)

Now route out the body cavities using a template or two, add an access hole for the lead, places for the springs to go, drill the screw holes; you know, do stuff...

And then do a trial fitting. Not too bad. In need of some cleanup, but that's how we roll...

Now it's time to mount the bridge in its own cavity. I'm going to have some height adjusters, but they're going to be accessible from the back (set screws and inserts).

And that's it for now. Some progress though there are some tricky bits to come, like how I'm going to get the tuners to work properly, the various control cavity designs (controller, pots, and battery box), and so on. Fun stuff.

 

[ctmullins]

Sweet, nice progress!

 

[mark5009]

Sweet, nice progress!

Thanks, Todd! Going to have to think hard soon and I'm not sure I like that idea ;-)

 

[mark5009]

More stuff done, some of which I found a touch tricky. More on that in a bit but it is related to the control cavities, the amount of stuff I'm attempting to fit in, and the storage of space this design is affording. Some pictures:

I've gone old-school in a few of my efforts recently. The battery box is on of the few elements of this design that goes from the outside, through the outside body, into the inside body. I ended up chiseling out the inner portion then using my shop-made router plane to smooth the bottom. These are fun little tools to both make and use. Hooray!

Now on to one of the hard parts: letting the tuners turn. Here's how it's turned out...

And here is the detail. There is about 3mm at the bottom of the trench -- plenty of room And the tuners turn! As an added bonus I get a cool little contour map...

Time for another tricky bit: the control cavity. First make the cover plate (same wood as the pickup covers), then a template to match, then rout to 2mm (for the ledge the screws will go into)...

Ooops. Pictures out of order. This is the cover for the bridge height adjustment screws. I used this to work out how to do the control cavity...

And back to the control cavity -- router-time! But, for those with keen eyes, notice I am yet to place the hole(s) that will join to control cavity to the outside world. I did manage to do that but I had to be very careful...

Some more old-school action. The jack I'm using is an odd one at 16mm and 30mm deep. The only drill I had that'd fit was an auger (a sharp auger ;-)), so out with the Millers Falls No.123 brace...

And one excellent hole! Hooray!

The drilling and shaping the holes for the wires, carving the neck, shaping the body, and stuff like that. Fun! and the project is almost ready for dry fitting and testing. Need to do some fret work first, though.

Last, a big shout out to Bruce Johnson. In a post somewhere on this site he mentioned the tools he used to shape wood. I figured I'd give his technique -- particularly using an angle grinder loaded with 80-grit -- a go. Loved it! Fast, yet really controllable, I'm a convert. The however the technique it is messy, so take appropriate precautions...

More in a while...

 

[franksidebottom]

Nice to see a brace in action, still got my dads, which was his dads, just never seen one used in this day of battery & pillar drills. Kudos on angle grinders and routers planes/braces in one build!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Nice to see a brace in action, still got my dads, which was his dads, just never seen one used in this day of battery & pillar drills. Kudos on angle grinders and routers planes/braces in one build!

I've got the same brace. Don't use it everyday but I do use it. Particularly when I want to enlarge a hole slow and easy without the bit catching. The ratchet on the brace still works in both directions. I'm told that's not common but I don't know.

 

[mark5009]

Nice to see a brace in action, still got my dads, which was his dads, just never seen one used in this day of battery & pillar drills. Kudos on angle grinders and routers planes/braces in one build!

Thanks! Braces, I'm finding, are really excellent tools. Down here in Oz we have to handle some nasty timbers, full of silicates, and hard as. In times past I've been forced to use a hammer drill to get any hole-action happening, but that changed with this brace. I can now cut a 125mm x 25mm hole in aged blue gum with only shoulder power in a minute or so. The leverage is just amazing.

All I can add it that modern solutions aren't always better, simply different. And having the option is often nice

 

[mark5009]

I've got the same brace. Don't use it everyday but I do use it. Particularly when I want to enlarge a hole slow and easy without the bit catching. The ratchet on the brace still works in both directions. I'm told that's not common but I don't know.

Thanks for the comment, Matt. I really like this MF's brace and, like yours, it works as it should, ratcheting in both directions. I have a few old hand tools, and most of them get a work out on a fairly regular basis. I've used the brace, my antique spokeshave, draw knives, and a Stanley No7 plane on this project. There's something about this kind of reuse I really like.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Nice to see a brace in action, still got my dads, which was his dads, just never seen one used in this day of battery & pillar drills. Kudos on angle grinders and routers planes/braces in one build!

Heh - you should have seen the folks on the jobsite when everybody's drills were out of action (it was the nicad or nimh era) recharging, and I dropped my second dead battery, yanked a brace out of my bucket and kept screwing.

Thing you might not know - they come in different "speeds" or "gearing" - the "standard" brace is a 10" swing (the handle is offset by 5" from the shaft) I know of as small as 6 and as large as 14 being available. The smaller ones go faster, the bigger ones give you more power while going slower. I think I have a 6, a 12, and many 10's - I don't recall having an 8, unless the 6 I think I have is actually an 8.

Many people are also unaware that the vast majority you can find have a ratchet feature so that you can drill in a corner. (Hmm, I see that I had not read as far as the posts above - in my experience, it's rare to find one without (mostly older ones, perhaps predating the idea)

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Nice to see a brace in action, still got my dads, which was his dads, just never seen one used in this day of battery & pillar drills. Kudos on angle grinders and routers planes/braces in one build!

Do you have the bits (drills, with the square tapered end to chuck)? The brace is only half the tool (brace & bit). If you have the bits, go find some wood and make some holes in it. You may come to appreciate what it can do.

We used to grab the brace and bit and go make holes in things for fun.

Spoon bits are a unique to the brace variant (AFAIK) that can do some interesting things - Windsor chair makers still use them quite a lot. The auger style bit is more common.

 

[franksidebottom]

I’ll have to have a nosey and see T Bone, I inherited a few of my granddads tools, not the hand made wooden planes, I’ll have to pry them out of my dads fingers when the day comes! I never New the braces came with different gearing/sizes, very interesting and makes perfect sense.

Sorry for the derailment Mark, I was reading a thread on minimum tools to make a bass, the guys had more money then time he mentioned, lots of good advice given but a hell of a lot of power tool recommendations. Just laughing to myself about the poor lute makers of the past without a router and I came across your thread. It’s just nice to see.

 

[mark5009]

Sorry for the derailment Mark, I was reading a thread on minimum tools to make a bass, the guys had more money then time he mentioned, lots of good advice given but a hell of a lot of power tool recommendations. Just laughing to myself about the poor lute makers of the past without a router and I came across your thread. It’s just nice to see.

Not a problem, Frank. They general vibe I get on TB is whatever-works-for-you-is-good.

I like using old tools and have been lucky enough to inherit a few, and then buy a few more as the need arises. The brace was one of those needs. I had to bore a bunch of 19mm (3/4") holes through some tough timbers away from power. Enter the brace. And my Stanley No7 plane takes the place of a jointer for me (no room in my shop for one and using the old plane is very fun). Hand tools are great and I prefer the peace and quiet that comes with them. That said, power tools also rock -- I'd be loathe to give up my table saw, bandsaw, standing drill, and router -- so I guess I fall into some kind of muddled middle ground.

Personally, it's nice to have the choice

 

[mark5009]

Life has intervened and progress is slow. Still, this thing has reached the "next stage" (hooray!) but there have been a few hiccups along the way.

Let's start with the control plate. All those pots, all that wire, and not so much space. Not going to work, just no.

So back to the soldering station, a dip into the parts box (IDC 16-way connector), and PaDah! a slight chance of getting this baby together...

Which I eventually did (after much jiggery-pokery with wires and routing and stuff, and here is what it looks like:

Not a great pic, but it is strung up and it takes the tension well. The neck is nice and playable, and the whole is well balanced and not too cumbersome at 3.8 kg (8.4 pounds). For a 34" 5 string that seems acceptable. That milestone passed, time to get into some detail and finishing work.

 

[mark5009]

I've finally pulled my finger out and got this puppy up and going. I started by completely redesigning the electronics and wiring (what fun, still not right, and I'm certainly not going down this kind of build-route again)

...then finished it up with a custom oil finish and shellac for that olde-timey look

...and lastly putting it all together. I think it came out pretty well, though I'm going to have to pull it apart again and fix a few minor issues...

Front detail (the knobs are going to be changed)

...back

...back detail. The relic-look in this case is due to the wood actually being a relic. The pine back
is about 120 years old and full of worm tracks, splits, and the like. I like the grain pattern though

Side view

Overall weight is 3.8kg (8.4lbs) and the balance is pretty good. I'm not too happy with the sound
at the moment but it shows some promise. The bottom B is clean and the action nice and clean.
The bridge requires some work, as do the electronics (sigh), but it promises to be an interesting
instrument to play. Hooray!