Winter Build Off 2024 - Best bass for making my first build harder than it needs to be...

#41
While it seems to be wildly unpopular in guitar wiring, Making a good mechanical join (put the wire through the loop and bend it closed) and then soldering it is a lot more reliable than using the solder as the mechanical join (poke wire through and solder it straight.)

Having things physically clean (not oxidized, not an issue with new parts usually) and chemically clean (flux) and then getting them to temperature so the solder flows in the joint, not melting solder on the iron and dripping it on the joint. A tiny dab of flux-core solder on the (clean) iron tip will help to transfer heat to the joint better than a totally dry tip.
 
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#42
Well, it looks like a bit of a dog's breakfast, but I think we're off to a good start on the electronics. Everything tests out fine and the connections feel solid I'll just need to connect the pickups and bridge ground, then we're off to the races!

IMG20240226132238.jpg


I ended up going with an on-on-on switch for the loading caps and setting it up so that the middle position will add a .0033uf to the neck pickup, while the third position will retain that cap and add a .0022uf to the bridge. First position acts as an off switch. I put big resistors across the caps to hopefully avoid any popping, but I'm wondering if this was in fact correct to do... Any thoughts?
 
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#43
Got the body glued up overnight, and I've got to say dang, it's looking sweet with that thicker center section.

IMG20240227045014.jpg


I'll be out today since I got the 1980 Yamaha Exciter running again and we've got snow in the mountains, but I'll tidy up the body transitions as soon as I can and get some more pictures up.

Of course, I realized I may have been better off doing one more step before gluing up the body, but we'll just have to see how that goes with some jury rigging. More to come on that note when it's time to figure it out...

On a side note for another project -- I decided to take this old crappy acoustic bass that I've got into a fretless since I just don't like the clank sounds as it stands. I got the frets out, slots filled, board sanded about to where I want it, and started poly coating it. Now it seems that either the wood filler is slightly absorbing the poly or the break in surface tension is causing the fret lines to imprint through the finish.

IMG20240227050003.jpg


You can see I got some bumps as well from a bit of dust that landed while it was still tacky, so I'll have to do some sanding and recoating anyway, but for the fret lines is it best to just keep on leveling things with fresh coats, or should I be stripping the board and doing something differently?
 

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#44
gooseontheloose said:
Got the body glued up overnight, and I've got to say dang, it's looking sweet with that thicker center section.

View attachment 5366661

I'll be out today since I got the 1980 Yamaha Exciter running again and we've got snow in the mountains, but I'll tidy up the body transitions as soon as I can and get some more pictures up.

Of course, I realized I may have been better off doing one more step before gluing up the body, but we'll just have to see how that goes with some jury rigging. More to come on that note when it's time to figure it out...

On a side note for another project -- I decided to take this old crappy acoustic bass that I've got into a fretless since I just don't like the clank sounds as it stands. I got the frets out, slots filled, board sanded about to where I want it, and started poly coating it. Now it seems that either the wood filler is slightly absorbing the poly or the break in surface tension is causing the fret lines to imprint through the finish.

View attachment 5366674

You can see I got some bumps as well from a bit of dust that landed while it was still tacky, so I'll have to do some sanding and recoating anyway, but for the fret lines is it best to just keep on leveling things with fresh coats, or should I be stripping the board and doing something differently?
Click to expand...


The fret lines were level before you coated it with polyurethane? The lines are a different grain direction or even end grain depending on how the veneer I’m guessing you used was oriented so it’s probably just absorbing the finish differently. You can keep coating and sanding but most polyurethane is going to be a bit soft for a fretless board. You might try CA. That’s what I used in my last 2 or 3 fretless boards and I like it other than certain odiferous aspects of the actual coating.
 
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#45
Matt Liebenau said:
The fret lines were level before you coated it with polyurethane? The lines are a different grain direction or even end grain depending on how the veneer I’m guessing you used was oriented so it’s probably just absorbing the finish differently. You can keep coating and sanding but most polyurethane is going to be a bit soft for a fretless board. You might try CA. That’s what I used in my last 2 or 3 fretless boards and I like it other than certain odiferous aspects of the actual coating.
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Yep, fret lines were level - I ended up going the easy way and using a commercial wood filler that I had on hand rather than veneer. As for poly being too soft, would that be the case even with tapewounds? That's what I'll most likely throw on here. I haven't put too much on, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal to strip I suppose.
 
#47
Slidlow said:
I would think the use of wood filler is the issue.
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Do we think it's potentially due to shrinkage after nominal drying time, or are there other inherent reasons? I have a notorious habit of manically starting projects with less information than I should when they seem low stakes. In this case, I haven't played this bass in years because it sounded so bad, so I figured I couldn't make it "deader."
 
#48
gooseontheloose said:
Do we think it's potentially due to shrinkage after nominal drying time, or are there other inherent reasons? I have a notorious habit of manically starting projects with less information than I should when they seem low stakes. In this case, I haven't played this bass in years because it sounded so bad, so I figured I couldn't make it "deader."
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Likely that or the filler soaked up more finish then the surrounding wood.
 
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#50
gooseontheloose said:
Well, I guess I'm in deep with that choice, haha! So we'll see how it goes with just gobbing more finish onto it. It's like rope work - if you can't tie a knot, tie a lot...
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Filler is problematic for a number of reasons. It may have shrunk, or not take the finish well. But when you string it those slots will try to compress under tension. If they aren't filled with something tough enough to resist compression the neck may bow forward too much. My $0.02 is to strip the poly off, fill with veneer and level, then finish with CA, or a suitably hard epoxy.
 
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#53
gooseontheloose said:
Well, it looks like a bit of a dog's breakfast, but I think we're off to a good start on the electronics. Everything tests out fine and the connections feel solid I'll just need to connect the pickups and bridge ground, then we're off to the races!

View attachment 5365947

I ended up going with an on-on-on switch for the loading caps and setting it up so that the middle position will add a .0033uf to the neck pickup, while the third position will retain that cap and add a .0022uf to the bridge. First position acts as an off switch. I put big resistors across the caps to hopefully avoid any popping, but I'm wondering if this was in fact correct to do... Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

First off, your soldering looks functional. It looks like you used lead free solder and that can be tough to get to flow nicely. Some paste flux and a bit more heat in some of those joints will make them prettier.

There shouldn't be any "pop" to deal with in a passive bass. Those resistors will effectively act as a load on the pickup, which would normally reduce the signal strength and darken the tone somewhat, but it looks like those are 10M so won't have a significant effect.
 
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#54
Alright, so in regard to the "something" I forgot to do before gluing up the body - I got the ledge for the control cavity cover cut this morning. I couldn't run the router right on the body because of the thicker center section, so I had to finally set up a makeshift router sled.

IMG20240228102454.jpg


I'm somewhat loathe to do new things that my pea brain deems "complicated," but it really didn't take that much work. It seems like even with this grotesquely rudimentary setup, things turned out sort of fine!

IMG20240228103143.jpg


I got a little bit of tearout in a vulnerable section, but I really wasn't surprised as I had already filled a bit of checking in that area. Overall, the depth turned out consistently and it only took a little bit of chisel work to clean up some edges. I'm waiting of a few items in the mail this week, which feels painful, but things are getting close!
 
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#58
Well, my attempts with the gramil were (mostly) a bust. I imagine it's a mix of my poor technique and subpar quality of a cheap tool, but I couldn't get anywhere near deep enough into the headstock to make a perfect ledge. Any ideas on how to go about this now?

With the fretboard on, I don't have enough clearance to do the whole thing with a router. Maybe my best bet really is just to use the gramil as a marker and up my chiseling game...
 
#59
gooseontheloose said:
Well, my attempts with the gramil were (mostly) a bust. I imagine it's a mix of my poor technique and subpar quality of a cheap tool, but I couldn't get anywhere near deep enough into the headstock to make a perfect ledge. Any ideas on how to go about this now?

With the fretboard on, I don't have enough clearance to do the whole thing with a router. Maybe my best bet really is just to use the gramil as a marker and up my chiseling game...
Click to expand...
What are you trying to do? Install binding on the headstock? What did it miss?
 
#60
gooseontheloose said:
Well, my attempts with the gramil were (mostly) a bust. I imagine it's a mix of my poor technique and subpar quality of a cheap tool, but I couldn't get anywhere near deep enough into the headstock to make a perfect ledge. Any ideas on how to go about this now?

With the fretboard on, I don't have enough clearance to do the whole thing with a router. Maybe my best bet really is just to use the gramil as a marker and up my chiseling game...
Click to expand...


I haven’t used one but that’s my understanding of how a gramil is supposed to work. Mark the ledges with the gramil then chisel.

 
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