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And here's the fingerboard. I haven't sanded back the veneer yet because the Wudtone is still damp. Still, you get the idea.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...n04v-image.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...v0k7-image.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...tp9h-image.jpg
Very Nice BrO!! Love it!
Looking really great Lawry! Can't wait to see the clear on there - the figure will deepen considerably. You picked a great colour to go with. Awesome job!
cheers,
Gav.
Looking great Lawry - that Burning Sun is really dark! At first glance I thought it was Mahogany!
looking fantastic Lawry, you or-ta be quite chuffed with it
Lawry looking the goods, I agree with Brendan the colour looks very dark for burning sun but the colour really suits the cap - good work. What colour you going to do the back of the neck and back/sides of the body ?
I'll get you the measurement of my bridge placement tonight. Can't wait to play mine again !
Looking great Lawry! How do you go about shaping the fret markers without damaging the body? Just steady hands and a stanley knife?
And by body I mean fretboard. oops.
@Wokka. Yeah, the burning sun deep colour coat is indeed very deep and I don't think I want it any deeper. It will be interesting to see how it looks with the base coat on. My hopes are that it ends up looking similar to how clouds burn at sunset.
@Tim. After removing the frets I used a coping saw to give the slots a flat bottom. I then used a scalpel against a steel ruler to cut the veneer strips and inserted them into the slots. After that I used some thin CA glue to hold the veneer in place and when it dried I used the scalpel blade to cut off the excess veneer flush with the fingerboard.
Forgot to say that the back and sides are going to be Hot Auburn and the neck will be clear. Although, I am still undecided on whether or not to make the neck Not Auburn too.
Lozza my distance from centre of 24th fret to front edge of Bridge block is 214mm plus or minus 1mm. This should give you about 431mm (Nut to 12th fret distance) from 12th fret to forward B string saddle. I'd recommend clear neck. The grain is too nice to darken
Thanks for the update Wokka. It has been stored under 'useful information'. And I reckon I will keep the neck untainted.
Also had a couple of cool things happen today.
Firstly, my bone nut has turned up (thanks heaps DB). I'll start doing some setup with that tomorrow.
Secondly, I sent a design to the guy who made my previous TRCs, scratch-plates and neck plate. He made me a truss rod cover with an intertwined bass and treble clef mounted on a rosewood base. The bass clef is gold MOP and the treble clef is white MOP. The whole thing has been rubbed up with beeswax for a nice satin sheen and it looks fantastic.
Woohoo!
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...iof4-image.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...0s53-image.jpg
That TRC is just beautiful! Great design, and great execution!
This is becoming droolworthy!!
Oh, and the whole bass is beautiful too!
That TRC is gorgeous, soooo well done. And, is that the Vox Pathfinder you gutted holding up DB's nicely crafted nut?
@Eliot. Yeah. I reckon it'll look great on the bass. I like the idea of the intertwined clefs because the 6 string covers both the bass and treble registers.
@Scott. Yep. That's the valvified Vox Pathfinder alright. Well spotted.
Looking great Lawry!
Wow Lawry, that truss rod cover is beautiful!
cheers,
Gav.
Lozza can you please Facebook message me the details of the bloke who made the TRC, that is amazing and will be the icing on the cake. Also I can recommend DB's bone nuts as mine has one
Hey Woks,
No need to PM you.
I got my stuff from John Duff at Labels Extreme here...
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Label...ref=ts&fref=ts
I've been 'extremely' happy with the work he has done for me and he is not expensive.
Tell him 'Lawry' sent you. ;)
A minor update (that's 'a minor update' not 'Am update' - bit of muso humour there)
Bought some thin superglue this morning in preparation for coating the fingerboard (the sanding's done). And late yesterday I put the first base coat of Burning Sun on the body and headstock. All being well They will get another coat tomorrow arvo. Also put the first neck coat on today. I've decided to go with a clear neck cos the grain is pretty cool and I don't want to lose the subtleties of it.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...8q63-image.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...o3md-image.jpg
Wow Lawry, the grain on the body is really coming to life with the base coats! Beautifully done and a perfect choice. Clear on the neck is also the way to go IMO - contrasts nicely with the body and allows the contrast in the neck timbers to come to the fore. Can't wait to see it with the clear coats on!
cheers,
Gav.
looking good Lozza, that burning sun looks superb, can't wait to see it after clear coats and the neck clear is the best choice.
It will look a treat with the black hardware on.
I got to find the time to play mine to set the neck in, took it to DB's yesterday for some neck tweaks, its playing pretty well now
Beautiful Lawry...gotta love that Burning Sun!
Really looking the goods. Will follow this build every step of the way.
Cheers
Andy
She's gorgeous, Lawry. The grain is amazing! Looking forward to seeing more.
Pity it's such a long way from NQ to WA or else I'd be round to DB's too. Maybe I can fax it to him for a tweak ;-)Quote:
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on February 10, 2014, 09:24
looking good Lozza, that burning sun looks superb, can't wait to see it after clear coats and the neck clear is the best choice.
It will look a treat with the black hardware on.
I got to find the time to play mine to set the neck in, took it to DB's yesterday for some neck tweaks, its playing pretty well now
Pretty keen to know what tweaks were done for fine tuning (pun intended). One thing about a fretless is that microtone cockups are user based, usually indicating that more practise and less ego is required 8-)
I get every post sent to me via e-mail and I scan through at speed looking to see if there is someone who needs my help.....Quote:
/<\\/p>[/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/]<\\/p>/Quote from lawry on February 14, 2014, 08:18
Maybe I can fax it to him for a tweak ;)
I now need help / counseling myself...
I misread the above as faxing DB for a twerk.....Oh! the imagery!!! I feel traumatized.
LOL. Now I have an image in my head that I could do without. Thanks for sharing that, Gav. :-?
Had a bit of fun today working on the bass.
Put another coat of burning sun on the cap (4th one) and it's really starting to shine. The picture shows the sun shining on part of it and it really does burn.
I also put eleven coats of superglue on the fingerboard but will put another 4 or 5 on before I buff it.
And finally, I'm not fussed with the black plastic cavity cover that came with the kit so I used the remaining veneer sheet (from the fret slot filling) to make a 4 ply panel and I'll make a cover out of that. Once I had glued the veneer sheets together with Titebond I put the whole thing under a few batteries to keep it flat until it dries.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...04m9-image.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...748p-image.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...5270-image.jpg
Loving it Lawry! This is going to be a glorious bass.
You'll have to pop around for a play, Eliot. I'll leave the light on for you.
Shouldn't take too long, it's only about 4,500 kilometers as the crow flies.
Oh, and bring one of your cool basses with you. And cake! :-)
Looking excellent Lawry...the fingerboard is coming up a treat.
Top job.
OK - I'm hoping DB will read this...
Got a question about the nut. What gap height do I need between the strings and the fingerboard at the nut on a fretless, DB? I've done some web-crawling and it varies between 1-2mm or 0mm. I am not prepared to use any of this info as gospel as I don't know what's knowledge and what's opinion.
Thanks in advance for your input.
looking sensational Lozza, never knew you coated fretless fingerboards with superglue !
Look forward to seeing the control veneer plate Loz, should look excellent
Oh, for DB.....Quote:
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from lawry on February 17, 2014, 14:24
OK - I'm hoping DB will read this...
Got a question about the nut. What gap height do I need between the strings and the fingerboard at the nut on a fretless, DB? I've done some web-crawling and it varies between 1-2mm or 0mm. I am not prepared to use any of this info as gospel as I don't know what's knowledge and what's opinion.
Thanks in advance for your input.
Ok - I'll let him explain the intonation offset and how this relates to string height..... :)
Sorry Gav. Didn't mean any disrespect. I just automatically thought bass:DB.
I understand that the higher the string at the nut then the more effect it has on intonation on the notes at that end. What I am hoping to find out is what is a good height for the strings at the nut on a fretless. After all, my fingers are going to be the biggest problem for intonation.
I am more than happy for you to give me the low down (poor pun I know, but it had to be said)
Good question Lawry - was wondering the same myself...
Awesome job Lawry! Man that fretboard looks amazing. I didnt know about the superglue either. A great tip if I ever find myself doing a fretless. The body is also looking stunning. This is going to be one glorious bass when you are done! Amazing.
Cheers,
Gav.
First thing to make sure of is a very straight neck. With a fretted board you will usually look for a slight bit of bow in the neck. Not the case with fretless. Ideally you want the strings lower and as close as you can get to the fretboard without creating a buzz. For slap bass you would want to go a little higher. The straighter the neck, the lower you can go in terms of string height , the better the resulting tone or as the vocabulary of the day goes, the MWAH factor!
The second point is to consider the string height, string thickness and the effect of string height on intonation. The last piece in the set up will be the height at the nut. As you reduce string height, the scale length will effectively shorten, you may need to adjust the saddles to keep the bass intonated correctly. Get the saddle height set and then begin work on the nut. Typically ( on a fretted guitar) you would be looking to be slightly above the first fret in terms of the nut. Again, depending on how low you want to go, you could comfortably go almost down to the fretboard and get great tone on the open strings.
Its pretty much personal preference but as a starting point, grab your trusty "fretted" bass guitar and measure the distance from the fretboard to the strings and then subtract the height of the fret! You can take this measurement at the nut and indeed at any of the markers all the way up the neck.
Hope this serves as a guide!
Bleed in' hell, Gav.
I came looking for advice and ended up with a manual. Thanks very much for the detailed explanation. Hopefully I don't make a cockup of it.