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Wow that is one one gorgeous looking body+neck!

With the compound radius jig, do you work up and down the neck and roll forward and backward at the same time or do one pass, adjust and then do another? I looks like a great system. It makes me think I should do more with my router and get thinking about the kinds of jigs I should be making.

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Music. And Stuff.

Go back and forth, lengthwise. I move it, and run the router back and forth. One bite at a time.

Strings thru the body. The only way to go.

Worked on the brass bass nut. Hardest part is getting the scratches out of the brass. Got it down to 600 grit wet sandpaper. I think I want to round off the edges, so back to more sanding after that. But it'll be worth it. The slots aren't deep and wide enough yet. One the fingerboard is fretted and glued down I'l finish the slots.

Looks good, Jim!
Working with brass is a nice change from wood.
No grain, no splits, no twists.
A buffing wheel is nice for polishing it out.
I'm always afraid the piece will fly off somewhere in the shop though.

Got some more wet sandpaper and I'm working out the scratches. Down to 600 grit with 1000 and 1500 to go. Was looking at a buffing wheel for my grinder at Ace Hardware today.

Next question is: Coating it with something to prevent corrosion. Maybe laquer?

Not too bad after I got the major scratches out of it. Used 220, then 300 grit Wet paper, then on to 600 and 1500. Then finished it with steel wool. Almost looks machine made, scary. Once the fretboard and frets are in I can finish up notching the strings and adjusting the height. Also going to drill some holes to screw it down. Get the screws first instead of guessing.

Tried to get a good shot that would show the finish, but this will have to do.



Brass is kind of fun to work with.

Great work, Jim. I like the direction you've taken

I'm changing course on the bass bridge. Nice thought but too impractical.

Now that I'm through with the wedding bills and Xmass funnies. I can get back at it. Got a box that FedEx is supposed to deliver today from StewMac! Mostly tools and parts. Inlay, binding and other goodies.

Been at a stopping point as there's not much I can do to them until I get supplies. What we give up for our kids! Def don't want to approach them with a router or drill until I have the parts in my hands.

Off to the races again. Finally getting the last of the hardware to finish this bass. Didn't want to route ahead and mess it up. Anyway went with single string bridges again. They are too cool. Got these from Choppers Music (ebay). Got a MM Pro bass pup from GFS and Wilkinson tuners. Pots, switches, scrap carbon fiber (to make nuts) and other goodies from luthiers mercantile and stewmac. Now to get er dun!

Snafu!
Was drilling for the bridge screws in the purpleheart and broke a screw off.
Took a piece of brake line I had from another project thru the years (I'm a pack rat, I got boxes of junk that might be useful, LOL), Beveled it on the grinder, put it in my drill and ran it in reverse. Screw came right out. Took a piece of PH and made a dowel on the belt sander. Cut it off, glued it in and sanded it down. Fixed! Thanks to Dan Erlewine for this tip.

Next to drill out for the pots. Easy enough. Measured the pots with a digital caliper and planned the placement. Clamped a board to the front of the body and drilled out the holes. The center hole is for a miniswitch for series/parallel effect. My cavity wasn't deep enough so I routed it down to the right depth. Also drilled for the string ferrules in the back. Took my time to get them just right.

While I was at it I wasn't thrilled with the Sapele coverplate I had made so I found a nice piece of flame maple to make another one. Thinned it down on the thickness sander, cut it out a little too big and used the circle sander on the belt sander to slowly bring it down to the right size. Now that looks cool.

Now for the pup cavity. Had a template I made for the first MM pup so one less thing to do. Double stick tape. Hogged it out with a forstner bit and went to town with a router. My wiring channel I made in the wing came out perfect. Touched it off with a small dremel roundover bit. Perfect bit.







Next to make a nut out of the carbon fiber scrap. Not a bad deal, $4 for a nice piece of carbon fiber. Dang that stuff is strong. Much easier to work with than brass. I just don't have the right tools to adequately work with brass. Too much hand filing.
Know what I like about the lines in the neck? Makes it so easy to locate tuner keys, pups, etc. Got the locations marked and measured the tuners. 9mm hole! Oh No. Right between 9/16 and 1/2". Next paycheck as I'm tapped out for this one.

Getting there!

Want to get the tuner holes done so I can start finish sanding, set it up before final finishing and try it out. Need to get strings. My buddy, an incredible bassist and guitarist has a music shop open on saturdays, turned me on to Hartke Strings for a great price. He'll want to see it when it's done. He teaches a lot of High School students so hanging my axes there will get some exposure. That is when the economy ever gets going again.

I would've added a 25th or even 26th fret in there just for looks, kind of like the Cort Curbow basses. Looks nice though. I like the rounded out pickup cavity.

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That's a great looking bass, Jim . I'd like to tackle one eventually.

On a roll, can't stand still, got a flamin' heart can't get my fill!

Routing it up for the pup, routed the control cavity a little deeper for the pots and miniswitch (series/ parallel). Drilled the tuner holes with a 17/32 bit that cost $17.00. I'll keep it just for bass tuners like these Wilkinsons from GFS. Had a crack dilema to deal with. Done. Sanded it down to 220 grit so far. Also got a Makita orbit sander at cost. Very Nice! Wiped it down with mineral spirits to get an idea of what it'll look like. Awesome.



Gonna finish sanding it down and start applying tru oil.

Sanding routing and fiddling are all done. Sanded to 400 grit. Super smooth. Took some elbow grease to get the first coat of Tru Oil to take. Now it has 3 coats. Will be working 12 shifts for the next three days so I'll put a coat on each evening. I'm getting to love Tru Oil and how it's getting the flame to pop. Guess where I got the wood for the knobs.

Stunning - I REALLY like to soft edges on things - you have a great eye and touch with the details Jim - I'm impressed!

Thanks for the kind words, Virgil.
5 coats of Tru Oil and it looks awesome. Calling it done.
Installed the hardware and strung it up. Still needs a setup. Took it to work today (saturday at the water plant, with me, myself and I to talk to) to work on the nut and set up what I could. Got the action down to a gnats ass with just a few frets needing further attention. Plays awesome. Great fast action.
Enough Yappin. Pix:








Really like the GFS pup and he series/parallel miniswitch. Kind of a modern bass sound (series) and a slap bass sound (parallel). Going to try to get my wife to take a video of it after church tomorrow night so ya all can hear it.

Jim I think it's a beautiful bass. The knobs give a sporty look

That's a stunner, Jim . Very nicely done!

Spent 1/2 a day working on the frets and adjusting the bridge. OOH MAN! Plays perfectly on all 24 frets! My wife said it sounds kinda like my old Rickenbacker. It does, especially with a pick. No more store bought basses for me. Mine blow them away. That neck is rock solid. I doubt if I could get the truss rod to move it more than a little bit.

Now to start making them for appreciative bass players.