Robin, what can I say other than to echo Woks comment.. You are way too hard on yourself!
There is nothing wrong with the HS shape, it has beautiful organic lines and IMHO will sit very nicely with the body shape.
Printable View
Robin, what can I say other than to echo Woks comment.. You are way too hard on yourself!
There is nothing wrong with the HS shape, it has beautiful organic lines and IMHO will sit very nicely with the body shape.
Nice work Rob, I'll be following this one closely
Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk
@DB
Thanks mate, we are always our worst critic. ;)
@Andrew
Thanks mate.
Fret not, it’s time to get rid of those pesky speed bumps.
Again I had the choice of easy (just pull the frets out) or hard……. So I bought this fingerboard from DB…………
I decided that for a real challenge to build (and play), I wanted a clean-skin fingerboard. I’m an idiot, no fret markers for me! I am going old school.
After heaps of research Plan A was to use an ordinary steam iron to heat up the glue binding the fretboard to the neck and “just” pries it off. It sounded so simple. I found that after about half an hour of resting the iron on the frets that there was no sign that the glue had started to melt. It certainly was hot enough, the burns on my hand will attest to that.
Plan B was to still use the iron but also use some brute force. I needed something with an edge to start the delaminating process. I was using a paint scraper, so I got the oil stone out and put an edge on the blade and VERY carefully positioned it on the glue line between the fretboard and the neck. (I was working from the heel end of the neck as I figured that any mistakes would be less noticeable there rather than the nut end). I could still not push it in by hand, so started to tap it with a mallet. I was being careful to ever so slightly angle the paint scraper towards the fretboard so if I had a mishap I would damage the fretboard and not the neck.
Well after about 2 1/2 hours I got the fretboard off. When I started I was using very gentle taps, but as I gained confidence, and got a feel of how the process worked I began to get a bit more aggressive with the “taps”. Having learnt by doing, I would imagine that this job could easily be done in under 2 hours
Next step will be rough cutting the fingerboard to size and glue it to the neck.
Pic 1 – Iron on the fretboard, and we’re ready to go – NB it must be a steam iron set on the highest setting.
Pic 2 – After over half an hour this is as far as I got!
Pic 3 – Another half hour or so and I had got about 5 frets done.
More to come…………….
………..
Pic 1 – Once I had delaminated the first 5 frets I then had to angle the scraper and attack from either side.
Pic 2 - By about this stage my “taps” were getting quite brutal but I could “feel” that the glue was letting go a little easier.
Pic 3 – Then with a few last taps it was done.
Pretty ballsy stuff Robin. I had a fretless mid 80's that had been de-fretted and maple strips inserted which meant finding the notes was much easier, particularly playing live under a constantly changing light show. Without fret lines it would have been so much harder in the near darkness. If it was my main axe suppose after a while you learn exactly where to be as your ear and bad looks from fellow band mates surely let you know when hitting a bung note.
Hey Wazza, it won't be my main bass, and is just for a bit of fun. She will have side dots, just nothing on the front of the fingerboard. But I think it will be great for developing a good ear for pitch.
But I fully expect to notice that everybody else will be out of tune when I'm playing. lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by robin
Haha love the 'Guys and Gal'. I'm still excited :)
big move to remove the fingerboard Rob, good job, 2.5 hours is a big job.
What is the fingerboard from DB, another rosewood one or maple ?
my fretless guitar that is 3/4 built is the same, just side dot markers, the grain in the jam wood fingerboard was too nice to put markers in !
You can always use the fingerboard you removed on another build !
Excellent Rob, poetry in motion.