Awesome work again Robin, inspirational. I'm also a big fan of hand-tools partially out of necessity and also for my own safety lol! I also prefer the control that hand-tools offer.
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Awesome work again Robin, inspirational. I'm also a big fan of hand-tools partially out of necessity and also for my own safety lol! I also prefer the control that hand-tools offer.
Awesome tip. I may use this for my fretless (and in the world of Bass I'm a relative beginner so may help lol)Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Hi Robin
Japanese saw rasp is a rasp but wider, has to different grits one on each side and also a "grill" looking shape - not solid. Saw one used in a Crimson guitars youtube video when they were shaping a neck from a blank and decided to buy one. Pretty cheap less than 20 Euros delivered from ebay
@Andrew
Thanks Andrew.
I find that using hand drills gives me much more precision that power drills. It also maybe that I'm a bit of a klutz lol.
@Arzi
Thanks for the info on the Japanese Rasp, I might have to start saving for one, they sound good. If the guy from Crimson uses one, they must be good. I have learnt so much from his videos.
Cheers Guys
Great Robin. The Crimson guy told that if he'd have to pick one favorite tool it would be that one. Seemed to bite really well when he shaped the neck - although he is a professional builder... :)
Hey Robin, great progress mate, can't wait to see the fingerboard unveiled.
DB has a japanse rasp and he loves it. It can tear material off really quickly as the waste goes through the holes in the mesh pattern. He even used it to shape a nut for my 7 string iceman, which he said at least the cricket bat will have a decent nut hahah
bet you are learning heaps as you go Rob, nothing like learning new skills. Keep up the good work mate
Thanks Warren, yep learning all the time. Never too old to teach this old dog ;)
I am getting really interested in these Japanese rasps. I might have to bite the bullet and find some money from somewhere. They're not cheap, but what good tool is?
cheers mate
Darn!
Don’t know what I did wrong when gluing the fingerboard to the neck, but the neck WAS pretty straight before I started and now has an up-bow (I think it’s way too big to be called relief) of approx 2mm.
I think it’s asking too much of the truss rod to fix this, and although I can level the fb out when I radius it, I would prefer to have it at least a bit straighter than it is now.
Apart from taking the fb off and starting again I’m not sure what to do.
So I decided to try some easy fixes first. I have put some clamps on the neck and I will let it sit for the rest of the day and see what happens. It’s going to be pretty hot and humid up here in Brissie today so that might help a bit.
Apparently we learn more from our mistakes, so it gives me a chance to find ways to fix an up-bow.
Yep Woks, learning heaps. lol
Pic 1 & 2 - the up-bow.
Pic 3 – all clamped up.
Ive fixed upbow once by clamping a caul in the middle of the neck and clamping either side to pull it down
Thanks Nick, I am doing something similar to that now. Can you remember how long it took for the wood to adjust? I don't want to give up after 12 hours if 24 or longer would have done the trick.
Thats a pain...
I don't think it's something you won't be able to fix.
The truss rods are pretty tough, I have put them through the DB Destruction Testing Laboratory and twice I have snapped the allen key..
So, whilst you have it clamped down wind the truss rod in until it bites in then leave the neck for a few days and see how it looks
bummer Rob,
as DB says leave it clamped for a few days, do some work on the body in the meantime.
The last fingerboard I glued on the truss rod was slightly proud and has left a small gap on one side of the fingerboard which DB pulled me up on ! I've cheated and filled the gap
Robin - have you seen this one from StewMac?
https://youtu.be/ZtKzL3n0fgc
What can I say, except thanks once again you guys. You may have just saved me an awful lot of bother.
I will do as DB suggested and leave it clamped for a few days and progressively tighten the truss rod so as to not over-stress anything. I'll post again in a few days and let you know how it goes.
Good luck Rob! Looks like you have it well in hand.
cheers,
Gav.
Well, thanks to you guys I’m back on track.
I left the neck clamped under tension progressively tightening the clamp and the truss rod. After about 5 days the neck has reset to be fairy straight even with the truss rod loosened right off.
After quite a few hours of sanding with the radius block I have now got the fb close to what I want. Unfortunately I didn’t do such a stellar job with the sanding and ended up with a somewhat wonky radius. But I intend to coat the board with a fibreglasss resin so I get to try my sanding skills all over again. Yay! Having learnt by my mistakes I hope to do a better job this time.
Pic 1 – The neck all clamped up
Pic 2 – The radius block and a container of Rosewood dust. I always keep the dust from the different woods I use in case it’s needed for repairs etc.
Pic 3 – The straight edge says “Meh, OK”
Some more of the fingerboard.
Ahhh, the joys of sanding radii on fingerboards :)
Nice job with getting the neck straight.
Now for my two cents re: fibreglass resin.. Don't do it! It will gunk up your strings like crazy and may actually make the FB tacky to play..
Robin thats looking first class mate!
hey Robin that neck is looking sweet. If you still have plenty of meat in the fingerboard keep sanding it to correct the radii
Awesome Rob! That FB looks amazing. It's so beautiful to see an onbroken piece of rosewood all the way down.
cheers,
Gav.
This is looking great Robin. I like the dust collection for future repair, great tip!
Oh No!! Don't be telling me that Phil. Before I went down this road I researched the Pedulla Web site and they use Polyester Resin to coat their Fretless fingerboards. In the past I have repaired surfboards with the stuff and when it dries, it feels hard, dry and as tough as nails. I can't imagine it feeling tacky.Quote:
Originally Posted by dingobass
Are we talking about the same stuff?
I don't think that untreated Rosewood will stand up to the rigors of bass strings that well. I was intending to use flat wounds, as I think that the round wounds chew up the fb over time.
Thanks Andy, Woks, Gav and Blues. Up close it still looks a bit rough, but as I was intending to coat it I hadn't given it the time to get a really good finish.
Well there ya go, I have learned something else from you Robin :)Quote:
Originally Posted by robin
I guess using flatties (always my choice of Bass strings for fretted and fretless Bass) won't give you any grief.
Can hardly wait to see this Bass finished.
Not wrong there, Gav. It is a stunning chunk of tree, I very nearly kept it for my collection but I couldn't do that to our Robin :pQuote:
Originally Posted by gavinturner
That FB is GORGEOUS Robin, I hope i can find something that pretty for my next project.Quote:
Originally Posted by robin
@DB
Thanks DB for not hoarding that fb mate, I really appreciate it. I now just have to do it justice.
@FrankenWashie
I take no credit for that fingerboard, its all Dingobass. I just hope he has more in his stocks.
rob
Hi Robin, the Yammy Fretless I owned about 30 years ago had a rosewood fret board and I was using rotosound round wounds at the time as I liked the brighter sound they produced. It was not my main axe and only used occasionally live for the odd song here and there. Used more whilst practising and mucking around. Over time round wounds will bite into any wood surface, particularly if you have an aggressive attack in your playing style however if more of a softer finger plucker you should still be ok.Quote:
Originally Posted by robin
On the fibre glass resin topic, definitely don't do it. Highly toxic and not worth the effort. Only finished Rosewood Fret Boards I have seen are on Rickenbackers but not sure what they use.
Reckon you would be best to use some of DB's Dingo Wax to retain the original earthy tone it will produce.
Another alternative that I use quite often is to flood the board with thin CA glue.
Put one coat on, let it cure for a few hours then sand it back with 220 and go again.
The second coat then gets sanded right up to 2500 and then I give it a coat of wax.
Please do this outside though, the CA glue fumes will mess with your head.....
Flick me a message when you are ready, I can source these quality boards for a very reasonable price.Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Thanks Wazz and DB, more food for thought. I am now undecided what to do, so I'll do a bit more research.
I'll be using flats, so I thought that a coated board might retain some of the highs you lose when using the flats. One of the all time fretless legends, Jaco Pastorius, coated his boards with either epoxy or polyester resin and that was the sound I would like to achieve.
Thanks again guys.
Interesting! I may have to consult Guru DB for materials for my next build.Quote:
Originally Posted by robin
Just a quick update.
I took Woks advice and spent another couple of hours sanding the board some more and ended up with it pretty much how I wanted it. I was going to buy some white plastic side dot markers, but I ended up using a bamboo Kebab skewer instead. They do show a bit of the bamboo fibres if you look at them closely but I kind of like the natural colour of the bamboo against the dark Rosewood. AND I'm a cheapskate.
I have noticed that the Rosewood marks quite easily, so I will definitely have to coat it with “something”.
I have done heaps of research and the 3 obvious solutions are CA glue, epoxy resin and polyester resin. And against all good advice, wisdom and common sense provided by you lot, I have decided to go with the Polyester resin. Here’s hoping I don’t regret my obdurate decision.
Stay tuned.
Pic 1 – the skewer super glued in position and roughly cut to length
Pic 2 – Sanded down and finished.
Good job Robin this is looking great! Love your fretboard job.
Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk
Looks amazing rob.
cheers,
Gav.
Bamboo skewers..... You just keep on coming up with amazing workarounds Robin. Love it, consider it stolen :)
Yeh Bamboo skewers, i been using the for years to plug holes, but i didnt think about them as fret markers. You are doing a great job on this
wow Rob I never thought of using bamboo skewers for fret dot markers, looks great.
Are you going to mark every fret as you won't have any markers on the top of the fingerboard ?
for my fretless neck I used black and white markers to differentiate even and odd fret numbers and a bigger MOP dot for the 12th fret
The skewers look good Rob, they match the neck nicely.
For some coloured side dot options... old plastic knitting needles, the thin ones are about the right diameter.