Bass guitar build Post #15

Out of clamps and body shaping started.
First pass with the router.

Body shape is cleaned up. Starting weight after gluing the wings on was 8.7 lbs, weight after routing to shape 7.7 lbs. Next up is to drill the tuner holes, route out cavities for the pick ups and control cavity, and place the bridge. I did not put a neck to body angle on this guitar so I will most likely have to recess the bridge as well. There is still extensive carving work to be completed on the body so this is by no means the final shape.

Slight tearout. I think the router bit is getting a little dull. Thankfully this will disappear when I round over the back edge.

Bass guitar build Post #14

Smoothing out the head and neck looking for areas to tweak.

After laying out the bridge and pickup positions I routed a slot in the lower wing to allow for wiring. It will meet up with the routes for both the neck and bridge pickup positions. I then drilled a hole from the bridge position to where the control cavity will eventually be routed. After completing this work I glued the lower wing to the neck blank using the cutoff from when I rough cut the body for a clamping caul.

I had to true up the edge of the upper wing before attaching it to the neck blank. I removed about 1/32" from the edge with a router and verified a match before gluing it in place. The lower wing was in clamps for over an hour before I removed them to add the upper wing.

The body will sit in clamps for the next 24 hours minimum. When I get home from work tomorrow I will start routing the body to its final shape.

Bass guitar build Post #13

H was working today so I got to spend about 10 hours working in the garage. Made a good amount of progress but I am beat.

Side marker dots installed at fret locations 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 24.

Shaping of the body to heel connection started.

Still going. . .

And still going. . .

Rough rounding of the neck begun.

Rough rounding completed. There are still a few places I can touch up a bit but I have had it for the day.

Tomorrow is beer brewing day followed up by grilling out. I most likely won't be getting anything done until Monday. Hope everyone has a fun, safe, and relaxing Memorial Day.

Bass guitar build Post #12

Today I finished up the rough profile of the neck. Lots and lots of wood chips were cleaned up in the making of this post.

Pic for Sean who said he wanted to see the fretboard after the neck came out of the clamps.

Once again a gratuitous mock up shot. I started shaping the volute as well.

Tomorrow I will finish shaping the volute and rough in the transition from the neck to the body. If my package arrives like it is supposed to I will also be installing the side marker dots on the fretboard and possibly sanding the radius if I have time.

Bass guitar build Post #11

I managed to get through my steps today without and major issues.

Router sled made a giant leap towards paying itself off today rough profiling the thickness of the head.

Rough profile complete.

Finally the fretboard is being glued in place.

Tomorrow I get to profile the thickness of the back of the neck and start shaping the volute. Smells like progress.

Bass guitar build Post #10

Glued on a maple laminate to the headstock last night. Kinda makes it look like a shovel.

I was routing the new headstock laminate to size when suddenly: catastrophe!!!

I had some tear out on one of the ears.

So I am sitting looking at this and think "I can fix this". I look around and see sawdust everywhere. I am starting to feel a little bummed when H shows up. I tell her I can't find the piece that tore out and she looks at the floor covered in sawdust. I start to say "You are never gonna find it in there..." when she reaches down and grabs something. She hands it to me and says "How about this?" Talk about queen of the jigsaw puzzles. Wouldn't you know she found half of the tear out. I eventually found the other half a few feet away and glued the pieces back in place.

All clamped up. Finishing up the routing will have to wait until tomorrow when the glue dries thoroughly.

Bass guitar build Post #9

So it has been a busy weekend and I wasn't able to do anything much of anything on this project. I started up again today and I have reached a point where I needed to build a tool to progress. So today I spent a couple of hours building a router sled. The idea is that you can adjust the sled to hold the router at any planar angle needed. Here is what I created.

Using the router sled I "thicknessed" the piece of maple I am going to use for a laminate on my headstock. The below pic is the rough shape of what will be added.

Next I added a piece of maple to the truss rod channel to support the nut.

Different angle

Hoping to glue on the headstock laminate and the fretboard tomorrow. Once those two things are done it will be time for some serious progress.

Bass guitar build Post #8

So it does not look like much but I finally smoothed out the truss rod access, installed the truss rod, finished my rough cut of the body wings, and completed my final cut of the inner part of the horns. I spent about 3 hours doing this, I really prefer when the changes are more noticeable but I also feel I am getting much closer. At least it almost looks like a guitar now.
And yes, that is the new Summit "Saga" IPA. It was just released on 5/14 and I got my first taste of it tonight. I am liking it quite a bit.

Close up of the inner horn routes. They still need to be sanded but then again, there is still tons of work to be finished for the whole guitar.

Bass guitar build Post #7

Not much done today. I was planning on finishing my rough cutout of the body wings today but my jigsaw blade sucks. I ran to the store and got better blades only to return home and realize that they were too short. Don't feel like going back to the store so I think it's time for a beer.

Bass guitar build Post #6

I didn't get a whole lot done today but its something anyway.

First side profile completed.

Second side profile completed.

Little by little its taking shape.

Bass guitar build Post #5

Today was a good day for progress. For starters, I affixed my template to the headstock blank and routed out the head shape.

First pass with the router started.

First pass completed.

Second pass with router completed.

Headstock template removed.

Fretboard has been cut to length/width and tapered.

Fretboard mounted to neck blank with two sided tape.

First pass with the router for neck profiling.

Both sides of neck completed on first pass of the router. It looks a little sloppy. My router bit came loose in the collet and ended up cutting a little deeper in spots before I noticed.

Better angle on the neck profiling.

Holy crap! It's starting to look like there is actually a guitar in this block of wood. Next up is to finish up a second pass with the router on the neck, remove any extra material the router cannot reach, permanently install the truss rod, and glue on the fretboard. Work starts again tomorrow so the updates will likely get shorter for a while.