Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on November 25, 2012 at 1:33am

Nice! Can't wait to see what they sound like.

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Permalink Reply by jeff Lord on November 25, 2012 at 1:47am

didn't know that you could see sound LOL.

Many Thanks, I am slowly getting the hang of  building these , they're fun, even though I can't play a note.

The thing that I like is there are no RULES , that you must adhere to in the building , expect that they stay true to form, and heritage.

Jeff

from down under

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Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on November 25, 2012 at 2:44am

Those are going to be awesome!

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Permalink Reply by jeff Lord on November 25, 2012 at 12:20pm

HI Guy's,

with the BASS guitar I want to make it with an electric pick up, do I need 2 pick-ups, or 1 and what type is best , not too expensive .and does it need 1,2,or 3 control pots???

Jeff

from  Down Under

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on November 25, 2012 at 1:53pm

Scarlet's has a really nice looking laminated neck. Good job! The sound boxes look nice as well. Should turn out to be pretty good box guitars. I guess you have pretty much experience with wood working.

For a first time electric/acoustic, I'd recommend going with a single piezo. You can find a bottle cap and fill it half way with hot glue, then place the piezo in the center, and then fill the rest of the cap with hot glue. Once that has cooled, hot glue it to the underside of the soundboard wherever you have enough clearance. The problem with piezo pickups is that they tend to be too sensitive, which is the reason we've encapsulated it in so much hot glue. The downside to using so much hot glue is that it mutes the middle and high end response, which shouldn't be such a problem with bass instruments, but can be with guitars and ukes. You may also want to make your instrument with an access panel (or lid) that you can re-open so you can change your pickup arrangement and experiment with preamps, and the like. It's probably worth building a experimental test bed guitar if you really get into building electrics.

-Rand.

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Permalink Reply by jeff Lord on November 25, 2012 at 4:50pm

Rand,

Thanks for the kind comments and advice, I was thinking of a proper Bass pick up, not the piezo style.

As for wood working  , well I mainly build small furniture items , and boats.

And I also do some pyrography, just for fun, the picture is of a letter box I built for some friends, the animal is a Bilby,a small marsupial unique to the outback, and their name is BIELBY, so hence the picture.

Attachments:

• 20 finally finished.JPG, 377 KB
• hull 1.jpg, 826 KB
• WInter Fest & Lbox 071.jpg, 236 KB

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on November 25, 2012 at 5:49pm

Do you "bolt-on" your necks or are the "neck-thrus"?  If neck-thrus (i.e. neck extends through the sound box), then you will need to cut out a chunk of wood from the neck to make the bass magnetic pickup fit, which will weaken the neck. To strengthen it again, its common practice to glue another length of wood to the under side of the neck. Getting the dimensions just right for the cutout and the corresponding hole in the sound board for the magnetic pickup can be a bit tricky, but I think with your wood working experience, it won't be that much of a challenge. Good luck with your project, and I love the boat. Wish I could build one (my wood workshop -- the corner of my desk where I build my instruments -- kind of prohibits me from trying).

-Rand.

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Permalink Reply by jeff Lord on November 25, 2012 at 8:33pm

The 2 for the Grand children are glued and screwed to the end, the bass will be right through and I have sufficient timber to  reinforce the through neck..

I have a scroll saw that will cut the hole with minimal damage to the edges, my work shop is a 10Ft square tin shed in the back yard, get hot in the summer .

Jeff

from Down Under

Attachments:

• saw bench.jpg, 868 KB
• work bench.jpg, 840 KB

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on November 25, 2012 at 11:27pm

Your workshop makes me envious. Looks like a great setup for wood working. Maybe you can erect a big tent over the shed during the summers to keep it out of the sun and hopefully be cooler.

-Rand.

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Permalink Reply by jeff Lord on November 26, 2012 at 2:20am

Hi Rand,

A tent over the top would turn it into an oven down here, our summer average temp during the day is 88Deg Fahrenheit, and we have 80%+ humidity.

I hope to get a larger shed 1 day, until then I work early morning and late afternoon.

By the way I am also a ham radio operator .

Jeff
from down under

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Permalink Reply by jeff Lord on November 26, 2012 at 8:17pm

Hi All,

A bit more done today, I have fitted the tuning Pegs(?), and the nuts(?), on both guitars.

The tuners on Scarlet's were very tight , I made the end of the neck a little small, not knowing how much room I needed, PJ's was not so bad, and there was a little more room to move , I also adjusted the spacing slightly.

I have also made the nuts(?), from Blue Gum (eucalyptus) which is quiet hard, these were fitted into a shallow groove , and epoxy glued.

Jeff

from Down Under

Attachments:

• sc tight fit.jpg, 797 KB
• pj back 1.jpg, 808 KB
• pj front 1.jpg, 791 KB

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Permalink Reply by jeff Lord on November 27, 2012 at 12:23am

HI All ,

I know I have made the last 3 posts, but here is another for the Forum, a couple of the 2 CBG's , nearly finished.

Jeff

from Down Under

Attachments:

• both 1.jpg, 882 KB
• both 2.jpg, 856 KB
• both 3.jpg, 839 KB

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