Winter Build Off 2018 - Gemini 2

#161
I got the electronics worked out, it was a loose ground wire on the OUTPUT jack. One of the issues I always have with prewired stuff on experimental instruments is that I have to install and uninstall stuff multiple times, that's not a good thing for wires. No big deal.

The piezos are still louder than the mag pickup, I might have to attenuate that signal. It's a slap machine though, sounds great.

I forgot a grounding wire for the bridge, it definitely needs it, I'll do that when I install the other piezo, as I'll probably have to take the bridge off at that time.

I need to get the knobs installed. The volume pot is shorter than the others so I'm going to have to do a little trickery to make the knobs the same height. Hopefully I can do that without drilling through the top of the knob.

I await the replacement piezo before I can really finish it, but it's close. I need to make two nuts, one to replace the one I made yesterday and one for the fretless neck. I'll get on that this afternoon or tomorrow.
 
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#162
I re-made the nut for the fretted neck and got that all set, second time's a charm.

Then I put the fretless neck on, I put a stop watch on and it took me 3 minutes to transfer the neck and get it more or less up to tune. I made the nut for the fretless neck, which only took me one try :-D.

I have a bit of a problem on the fretless neck as there's a bit of a bulge at the bottom of the fretboard. I'll need to figure out what's wrong, I suspect it's just where the CA pooled up. I tuned up the fretboard before putting CA on it, so I'm pretty sure that's what it is. The funny thing is the bulge is beyond the 24th fret, so that part of the fretboard could angle down and not impact it's playability. Hopefully I can fix it without sanding through the CA, or I'll have to re-do the CA, not a big deal, but I hope I don't have to do that. This may be a downside of the pooling method of applying the CA.

I played it for a minute and the fretless neck mellows out the highs a bit.

I got the knobs fixed up so they are all the same level, I just placed them on. I need to put set screws in them and do one more coat of Tru Oil on them.
20180128_164448.jpg
 
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#167
I got the neck refinished with CA. Honestly, the last version was better, but this is still good.
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After verifying that string paths were good and there was no buzzing I cleaned up the sides and tack glued in the nut. I need to do some final cleanup overall and I await the piezo to finish that part off. I played it for a few minutes, super nice, I think this will spend most of its life as a fretless, yowza, nice tone, beautiful feel.

That finish on the back of the neck (knock down shine with 400 sandpaper then 2 coats of wax) is the bomb, if you're not doing your necks that way, try it out, super smooth, no stick, it feels so damn good. I'll get the knobs drilled and set screwed today.

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#168
Hey John -
The bass looks really good but I'm a tad confused by the large color differences between the last two pics . Which pic is more accurate to the actual color ? Just curious as either one looks really good but they are so different in color tonality . Still loving my little Jisch fretless too by the way - Kelly
 
#171
Small update with no pics. I got the necks all set, the nuts filed, and the knobs drilled, finished and installed.

I swapped from fretless to fretted today, under five minutes, it plays great with both necks, without adjusting strings or anything. Having the headless design means I don't have to take strings off, they just have to be loose enough that I can slip them out of the retention block at the top. Loosening a string just enough to unhook it is really not many turns with the tuning knobs, I have to learn that point, sometimes I go way too far. Tuning has been very good, it stays in tune overnight requiring just small touch ups - similar to any other bass I have.

I'm not entirely sold on this pickup, it's very bright, down the road I might look at something else.

I've got a short list of things that need to be dealt with:
- Piezos, string saddles and holding them in position for intonation - I have no idea how I will do that right now, but once I get everything settled I'll figure it out
- ground wire for bridge
- the crowns on the frets are too sharp, I need to round them off or move them in a bit
- volume on the piezos is hot, need to attenuate them a bit (install a trim pot)
- probably a bit more work on the nuts to form them and make them perfectly flush

I'm mostly typing these in here so I remember what I need to do.

I'm closing in on the end, but glad to take my time getting all these small things worked out, hopefully I'll get the piezos today, but probably tomorrow.
 
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#175
I got the new saddles and the spacers installed. I didn't really post a "before" pic, but this looks much better. I've got to do some intonation and string height work, but it's close. I also changed out the type of piezos, these sound better, less clack. They are still loud compared to the mag pickup, I may attenuate them, not sure yet, with a combination of the mix and volume knobs you can mix them well. And yeah the fingerboard needs cleaning!
20180205_180338.jpg
 
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#176
Jisch said:
I got the new saddles and the spacers installed. I didn't really post a "before" pic, but this looks much better. I've got to do some intonation and string height work, but it's close. I also changed out the type of piezos, these sound better, less clack. They are still loud compared to the mag pickup, I may attenuate them, not sure yet, with a combination of the mix and volume knobs you can mix them well. And yeah the fingerboard needs cleaning! View attachment 2904251
Click to expand...

I am really loving this body shape!
 
#178
I installed a potentiometer to attenuate the piezo signal going into the preamp. I used the VU in garageband to measure the signal strength from both and evened it out. I set the intonation, it's always comforting when the intonation is good and I don't run out of saddle adjustment.

It sounds pretty good, but I've only used the fretless neck so far with the piezos installed.

Next I need to install the fretted neck and make sure the set up works on that neck as well. The last time around I set everything up on the fretted neck first and I didn't need to change anything when I put the fretless neck on. I'm pretty sure I'll be ok. Then I guess I need to clean everything up and take some glamor shots. Then the hard work of recording with both necks and multiple settings to show off the various sounds possible with this configuration, this being a instrument building contest not a beauty contest :-D

I'll probably get most of that done this weekend (a lot of rain in the forecast!)
 
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#179
I keep doing things that won't show up in a photo. Today I redressed the ends of the frets, they felt a little sharp. I compared them to my Kiesel and I see that I didn't angle the sides of the frets in enough. It took me a couple hours, but I got them all set, it feels nice and smooth now. I am not sure how I could ever recoup the time it takes me to dress and polish frets (especially if I have to do it twice :-D). After I got that done I had to polish the frets again.

I played through the big amp for a few minutes with the fretted neck, it sounds really good with the treble rolled off and the bass up at about 75%. That bugs me a little bit, I mean it sounds REALLY good, but in the back of my head I think it should sound really good flat. I'm considering putting an EMG in it instead of the bright Bartolini. I should probably play it for a bit before I spend the money.
 
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#180
I used this bass at practice last night in fretted mode. While I'll admit it doesn't have the same range of sound that most of my other basses have, it worked very well. Whenever I have a new bass I usually play it for the first few songs before switching back to my five fretless - the five is the most comfortable and versatile bass I have, it's been my main bass for a while so it's what I'm used to. I played the Gemini for a few songs, loved it, but switched to the five, then two songs later I switched back to the Gemini. It's a lot of fun to play, the wide spacing is nice, it's really light and not having it a head feels really good. My five is balanced, but it's a lot heavier than this one is. I may have to look into building a five with wide spacing and headless.

Anyway, good first outing, I have some small stuff to do before it's done done, but it's pretty close right now. There's a bit of hum on the piezos, I need to figure that out and there is a high spot on the bottom of the fretless neck, I'm pretty sure it's the CA, god I hope it's the CA.

I record all of our practices, I mixed down a minute of the tail end of one song for a quick clip of how it sounds. Of course it sounds better coming out of my 2x12 speakers, my bandmates were impressed.
 
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