Chili
Site Moderator
I wasn't happy with the way my parts-bass came out with the finish. It came out too dark and I tried a poly coat and that was a disaster. Plus the body was a Fender Jazz copy and I really don't like them. I cut down the droopy butt end and sharpened the horns, but it still looked like a jazz bass.
So, I'm building a new body and decided to do it from scratch. I'll pull all the hardware from the jazz bass and I'll use the neck. I'm not ready to make my own neck yet.
My purchase was a plank of Alder cut in two.
I took one half and cut that in half.
I bought a planer and a jointer and milled it nice, flat and parallel. I did the edges so I could glue them together. A small learning curve, but super easy once get the idea of it. The planer is not wide enough to plane the two halves glued together, so I had to do one half at a time. To eliminate the small warpage, I bought a melamime shelf from Home Depot and used it as a sled. It is flat enough to use as a reference and held the alder in place as it went through the planer. I milled both halves on one side with the sled then milled the other sides without it. And I milled them both to the same thickness which was slightly less than 1.5"
The Alder is nice, but I wanted something eloquent and simple on top. I'm not batting for the fence like I did with the previous two basses and that walnut burl veneer. I went with maple and zebrawood. Both are about 1/4" thick and will make a nice cap. The zebrawood will be an "extension" of the fretboard.
I straightened the edges of the caps with the jointer and glued them together.
Then set to making a template. I used my Ibanez 5 string bass as a guide. Love that bass.
I used a dowel and sandpaper for the interior curves. I changed the angle to smooth out the compound curves. Kind of a pain.
I held the sandpaper around the exterior curves. Much easier and it is basically self-shapes the compound curves.
Completed template.
I glued the maple/zebrawood cap to the body.
Here is the template with a rough outline drawn.
I still had a couple of sheets of that walnut burl veneer and I thought I would use one on the back. I actually glued it on but it came out to wavy, so I scraped it off and sanded off the glue marks.
Before gluing the cap on, I cut a hole in the body for the active preamp. The 1/4" cap will act as a mounting plate for the knobs.
To cut the body rough shape, I started with a jig saw. Not the right choice of tools. . I was forced to go out and buy a band saw. I really hate spending money for one cut, but needed to do it. The band saw did the job in like 5 minutes. Right tool for the job. I should be able to get more use out of the band saw when I start building frames for my wife's paintings.
Rough shape done.
Next, I'll use the template and cut the real shape with a router. That'll happen this week.
So, I'm building a new body and decided to do it from scratch. I'll pull all the hardware from the jazz bass and I'll use the neck. I'm not ready to make my own neck yet.
My purchase was a plank of Alder cut in two.
I took one half and cut that in half.
I bought a planer and a jointer and milled it nice, flat and parallel. I did the edges so I could glue them together. A small learning curve, but super easy once get the idea of it. The planer is not wide enough to plane the two halves glued together, so I had to do one half at a time. To eliminate the small warpage, I bought a melamime shelf from Home Depot and used it as a sled. It is flat enough to use as a reference and held the alder in place as it went through the planer. I milled both halves on one side with the sled then milled the other sides without it. And I milled them both to the same thickness which was slightly less than 1.5"
The Alder is nice, but I wanted something eloquent and simple on top. I'm not batting for the fence like I did with the previous two basses and that walnut burl veneer. I went with maple and zebrawood. Both are about 1/4" thick and will make a nice cap. The zebrawood will be an "extension" of the fretboard.
I straightened the edges of the caps with the jointer and glued them together.
Then set to making a template. I used my Ibanez 5 string bass as a guide. Love that bass.
I used a dowel and sandpaper for the interior curves. I changed the angle to smooth out the compound curves. Kind of a pain.
I held the sandpaper around the exterior curves. Much easier and it is basically self-shapes the compound curves.
Completed template.
I glued the maple/zebrawood cap to the body.
Here is the template with a rough outline drawn.
I still had a couple of sheets of that walnut burl veneer and I thought I would use one on the back. I actually glued it on but it came out to wavy, so I scraped it off and sanded off the glue marks.
Before gluing the cap on, I cut a hole in the body for the active preamp. The 1/4" cap will act as a mounting plate for the knobs.
To cut the body rough shape, I started with a jig saw. Not the right choice of tools. . I was forced to go out and buy a band saw. I really hate spending money for one cut, but needed to do it. The band saw did the job in like 5 minutes. Right tool for the job. I should be able to get more use out of the band saw when I start building frames for my wife's paintings.
Rough shape done.
Next, I'll use the template and cut the real shape with a router. That'll happen this week.
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