I'm not sure if I'll do an accent color on the bottom, but an indicator spot looks good.
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This type of sanding hurts my fingers! They need more shaping and uniformity, but getting closer. and I know this shot makes them all look weird (especially the ones on each end), but they are pretty consistent in height, diameter and all of them have straight sides.
I've been thinking about wooden knobs and have a different idea in mind. My thoughts involve a piece of 1/4" dowel glued into a small piece of wood, and the drill press set on a slow speed...
I've tried that, it doesn't work very well, certainly doesn't work well with sandpaper. Probably the best non-lathe method (the lathe works very well as you would imagine) is to use a plug cutter with the center drill removed. Now that I've figured out how to put the hole in the middle, I should try that again.
On the drill press I line up my wood with a plug cutter and clamp the wood to the drill press table, then change out to a 3/4 inch Forstner bit and cut about a tenth of an inch in. Then I change back to the plug cutter and cut the knob out. The Forstner bit leaves a small hole exactly in the center.
Big snowstorm here today, so it's unlikely I'll see the fretboards until tomorrow. The good thing about this delay is I probably wouldn't have spent as much time making knobs if I was working on other things. They look great - that sapwood swoosh on the back side creates an extreme optical illusion, I'm not sure how many times I've stopped and checked that the sides were square with the bottom.
Hmmm, wooden knobs, I hear another side project calling my name...
Probably one more coat and these are done. One thing I forgot about is that you need to cut a chamfer on the bottom, otherwise the knobs won't sit flush, you have to make room for the nut that holds the pot in place. Hopefully I can do that without ruining the knob, but I'll do that now before the last coat, just in case. I usually use the sanding cylinder in the dremel, another workout for the fingers.
I got my fretboards today, they look awesome, but unfortunately they messed up my order, sending two exact 1/4" thick fretboards, both slotted. I ordered one 1/4" thick slotted and 5/16" thick non-slotted (for fretless). At least I can get moving on fretting the one neck.
- Apr 18, 2008
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Weird, they sent you a 34” scale and a 35” scale...
Opposed to fretlines on a fretless board?
(I am)
Opposed to fretlines on a fretless board?
(I am)
They are both 34", the two boards are not parallel to each other in the picture. And yes, I don't want lines on the face of the fretboard, I will put cheater lines and dots on the side.Weird, they sent you a 34” scale and a 35” scale...
Opposed to fretlines on a fretless board?
As with everything like this, it was a communication error. I asked for a combination that was not allowed (radius on a 5/16" board). Of course communication goes two ways, someone could have verified my request considering I asked for something not possible. LMII is taking care of me and sending out the proper (though unradiused) board. It looks like my radius block will be getting another workout :-D
I trimmed the fretboard and got it glued up to the "fretted" neck.
Hi John -
Looking very good there - now I need knobs for mine ! LOL .....
Looking very good there - now I need knobs for mine ! LOL .....
The glue up went perfectly, no gaps, it looks great.
I set about sanding off the dried glue and polished up with abalon pads, what a great looking piece of wood.
I've only fretted a couple necks before, as I was cutting the fretwire I was thinking "this is why I play fretless" :-D. Cutting went fine, well until I got to the third fret and ran out of wire. ugh. I guess I should have done some math when I ordered. I forget that luthier stuff is mostly aimed at guitars, not wide bass necks with 24 frets. I'll move on to other stuff, but I'll probably run out of stuff to do this weekend.
I set about sanding off the dried glue and polished up with abalon pads, what a great looking piece of wood.
I've only fretted a couple necks before, as I was cutting the fretwire I was thinking "this is why I play fretless" :-D. Cutting went fine, well until I got to the third fret and ran out of wire. ugh. I guess I should have done some math when I ordered. I forget that luthier stuff is mostly aimed at guitars, not wide bass necks with 24 frets. I'll move on to other stuff, but I'll probably run out of stuff to do this weekend.
Usually I do the neck pocket, then test the bridge position with strings. In this case the bridge is routed in (and not symmetrical), so there's no moving it. I'm doing the reverse, putting the neck pocket in to line up with the bridge. This is made a bit tricky because of the thickness of neck blank, I need the strings to not touch the neck while I'm lining things up. I put spacer under the strings to bring them up, but I had to be careful that the path across the spacer remained parallel. Anyway, more eyeball than I like, but I think I got it.
I had to calculate the depth of the pocket as well since I'm using different string saddles. The frets are about .055 high, considering the other board has an extra .0625 on it, I should be able to sand it to the point where both are the same height. The heels are exactly the same, so that shouldn't be an issue with fit.
I'll probably go through the whole process again to verify things before committing to the neck heel route.
I had to calculate the depth of the pocket as well since I'm using different string saddles. The frets are about .055 high, considering the other board has an extra .0625 on it, I should be able to sand it to the point where both are the same height. The heels are exactly the same, so that shouldn't be an issue with fit.
I'll probably go through the whole process again to verify things before committing to the neck heel route.