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Pickups can be changed, ya know - I couldn't own anything that looked stock.
When I built my fretless Jazz, I used Bill Lawrence humbuckers with some trick switching and EQ stuff.
No pickguard, but I made a black plastic cover for all the electronics that was shaped like the chrome one Fender uses.
Looked great, sounded better.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

That's the joy in building your own. You can do just about whatever you'd like. As far as the cover you mentioned, I've often thought if it were made from a nice piece of wood, instead of chromed metal, you'd kill two birds with one stone. One, it would look better(IMHO), and Two, it would help reduce weight.
I've gotta take the time after this build is done to see if I can squeeze out one more body with the wood I have left. I'll be cutting it close, if it's even possible. I'd love to have a Jazz to match. We'll see.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

If your anything like me... you've got 20 scrap's of 15 differant kinds of woods laying around... none of which are suitible for buiding an entire body....
worst case scenario is you do a laminated body of a few differant woods....

Unfortunately I don't have much of a wood stash at this point. No body woods(unless I can scrape together another one from the remains of this old pine here), and only enough neck blanks for 3 more necks. I generally have to scrounge and beg until I find enough suitable wood to build with. But I am saving every last scrap of hardwood I cut off of anything, so there actually may come a day when I do exactly what you're describing. I have seen this done a couple of times on the TDPRI. I can guarantee you that if I ever have enough lying around, you can bet I'd do it in a heartbeat!
No worries, though. Something always seems to come my way. Whatever it happens to be, you can bet I'll turn it into a guitar(or bass).

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Sorry it took so long to get back to this thread. Life has a way of making you do other things besides those you'd like.
So, when I left you last, the fretboard was in clamps. After the glue was dry, it was time to lay out the fret positions on the board. I normally size the board to the neck, and then work off of a center line. But this board has no taper, so I thought I'd take advantage of that and use it to square my fret lines.
I use StewMac's fret calculator to determine the position of my frets. It gives fret distances from the nut, as well as fret to fret distance. I begin my measurements with the nut to fret positions, then fine tune with the fret to fret measurements. To begin, for the first 3 frets, it's a simple matter of using my calipers to mark the fret positions, like so:



After the 3rd fret, what I do is use a 35" rule to get to the whole inch, and then finish with the calipers. For example, the ninth fret is 13.783" from the nut. So using the 35" rule, I measure to 13", and place a little mark.



Then, i adjust my calipers to .783", screw down the locking screw, and, measuring from the 13" mark, I mark the final position of the fret.



I continue in this way until I have all the fret positions marked.



After which, I double check the fret positions by measuring the fret to fret distances provided by the fret calculator. I then scribe the fret positions with a razor, and trim the fretboard to fit the neck.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

To cut the actual fret slots, i use a coping saw. What I did was find a coping saw blade that was .023" thick. Then I hammered out the kerf in the saw blade until it, too, was .023". This is the required size for the fret tangs.
As usual, "Thing" steps in to help me saw a straight fret slot.





Here's a shot of the neck with the slots cut and the fretboard sanded to fit the neck.



That's all for now. More to come.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Next up is radiussing the fretboard.



The two 1X4s you see I use to keep the long radius block straight. I made the block by taking a 4" sanding block I got from StewMac, sanding a convex radius in a 2X4, and using that to sand the radius into another 2X4. It was originally used as a fretboard caul, but now it's doing double duty. Radius is 12".
Done.



I sanded to 400 grit.
Drilling for fret markers.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Ready to inlay.



For markers I have a beautiful piece of Bocote a friend of mine gave me just laying around. I think it will make nice fret markers. Something a little different than the usual pearl.



And here they are installed.



That's all for today. I ran out of light. I'll let these sit overnight and let the glue dry. Tomorrow I'll sand them flush to the board, and, hopefully, start hammering frets. Thanks for watching and sharing this with me.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Gee Mike,

you doin a better job on that bass than some dudes with full blown shops.
and that would include me.

Got a small request...please don't go be doin sumptin like painting that
beautiful pine body titty pink, banana yellow or day glow orange or some other tuttie frutie colour. Ok?

blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

LOL, thanks, Padma. That means a lot coming from you.
As far as painting it goes, not into tuttie fruitti colors. Definately no pink or yellow. I was considering a Pearl blue, though.
But i have had so many requests not to paint this thing, here and on another board I've posted this build on. I'd really like to oblige, but in order to do that and stay within cost constraints, I'd have to just hit it with clear. And i really, really hate looking at the line where I sandwiched this body together,
But it's possible I may do either a Tobacco Brown or Cherry Red transparent tint from StewMac, and top that with some clear. Input from all would be appreciated.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Pine don't be taking stains too well at all, no she don't.
Now tinting a clear coat works real gooder.
just lay down some sort of sealer first as in shellack or any clear kind of stuff.

Me ...me flavour that tobacco/ choclolate edge....but then ya know Pearl blue is nice especially if its that mica pear blue type of paint.

blessings

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

Yeah, i thought about stain for about 2/10 of a second. But not with pine.
The blue I'm talking about is Chrysler Intense Blue Pearl. But now I'm really thinking about the Tobacco Brown. If I could spray a coat or two in the center, hit it with a couple of coats of clear, and then spray the outer edges with enough coats to darken them considerably, enough to make it into kind of a burst, but do it with just the one can of Tobacco Brown.....
Spray several coats of clear over that. Might try that. Don't think i could mess that up too much.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Fret slots with a coping saw?
You da man!
Fretboard looks great, Mike!
Would you consider varnish for the finish?
I like it.
Really brings out the grain.

Thanks, Alan.
Varnish, eh? I've never used it before. I'm not sure how to apply it, buff it, etc. I've also heard that it's not as durable as lacquer, and things like alchohol can damage it. Not certain of that, but I know lacquer, and can get great results with it. The last finish I tried outside of what I know(wipe-on poly) turned out kind of o.k., but I know I can get much better results with lacquer, so i think I'll be staying in familiar territory this time around. I want that nice, dead flat, glassy finish that IMHO only lacquer can give you.
By the way, thanks for the Bocote. I've got at least enough to use on two more guitars in the future. It's beautiful, and I think it's gonna turn out nice with the rosewood..

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Sanded the position markers level with the board. Here are some shots of that.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Drilled for side markers.



Yeah, the picture sucks. I know. What can i say, my camera sucks, so sometimes I get shots like this. Look closely and you'll see there actually are pilot holes drilled into the side of the fretboard.
I use titebond to glue them in...



...and trim them flush with a razor. This is usually all that's needed. The razor gets them so close there's no need to sand them.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Time to move on to fretting. Here are the tools I use.



Frets are in.




Once I have them in, I clamp the neck on it's side, and use a huge bastard file to file the ends flush.



Now i need to bevel the fret ends. I use that same file, lay it along the side of the neck at an angle I think is about right, and file away.



There's a tool made especially for this, but so far I haven't had any problems doing it this way. I tried to get a pic of the ends after the bevel, but my camera,well, you know. It doesn't do closeups very well.
That's all I'll do to the frets at this stage. After the neck is shaped, and just before finish sanding for the final time, I'll level, crown, and dress the ends of the frets.
Done for today. Here's a final shot.



Again, thank you all for your interest and encouragement.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Hey Mike,
when you get going,
you are like the Duracell bunny that keeps on going!
Looks really nice.
I'm doing more wood instead of shell inlays mesef.

LOL! Thanks, Alan.
But it's about to slow to a crawl in a week or two. All i have left is to drill the body for neck screws, drill for the bridge ground, carve the neck, level crown and dress the frets, and final block sanding of the body in prep for finish Once that goes on, it'll be 4 weeks minimum(probably more like 6) 'till buff out and assembly.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Time to carve the neck. I should start by saying that this is the first bolt on neck I've ever done. I usually build set necks, with a scarfed headstock and 3x3 tuners, so I have never carved the transitions at headstock and heel for a bolt on before.
I start by marking the transitions. First the headstock...



...and then the heel.



Then i placed a line on the side of the blank that gives me some thickness behind the truss rod, as well as making the neck slightly thicker toward the heel.



Then, using a wood rasp, i start hogging away material. Here's a shot about halfway along.



And here, roughly thicknessed.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

After the neck is roughly thicknessed, I draw a line down the center of the back.



As I shape the neck with the rasp, I'll be very careful not to hit this line. The reason is simple. I don't want to file through to the truss rod. This line will remain until I begin the sanding process on the neck.
Using the aformentioned rasp, i start hogging away at the neck.





I should mention here that in order to make sure the neck is shaped the way I want it, I continually run my bare hand along the neck. This way I can feel not only the shape I'm getting, but every single dip, bump or flaw in the wood. I do this a lot. It's highly recommended.
And here it is, roughly shaped.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

To bring the neck to it's final shape, i use 60 grit sandpaper.



See the way the sandpaper is laying across the neck? What I do is simply grasp the paper on either side, and with a side to side motion I sand the neck, being sure to drape the paper over the sides of the neck so that I get a smooth curve to the back of the neck.

After a little work.



Almost there.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Here are a few parting shots.








I'll put the neck through 60, 120, 220, 320, and finally 400 grit before it goes to finish. Thanks to everyone watching.
That's all for today. More to come.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Mike, that is coming along beautifully.
You can say that is a "handmade" instrument.
I love your style!
Love that maple neck.

Thanks alot, Alan. Much appreciated!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.