Electric Double Bass Build

[wokkaboy]

Hi Chris, that grain filling looks fine how you sanded it back. I can't remember seeing a guide on the forum to the procedure.
The idea is that you sand it back till you see all the grain. You can see the area closer to the larger holes needs more sanding.
If you think the mix is too runny add more timbermate to the mix.
I generally sand to about 240 grit before applying it, then lightly sand back the timbermate 240 and 320 grits
Is that ebony timbermate ?

This is what DB said about grain filling on Ralphiles TLA-1 build diary below:
My preferred method is to mix the TM with water until it just maintains a peak when you lift the spatula out of the mix, slightly thicker than cream I guess.

On flat surfaces I use a rubber sqeegee and force it in across the grain.
Let it set for an hour and sand back with 320 grit and re apply if needed.

Have a play around, see which method works best for you is probably the best advice I can give...

[ihasmario]

Yeah Wokka, it's Ebony Timbermate.

I took to the big strip of glue along the surface of the shell today. Still kind of in the middle of it... It might be hard to completely get it all without getting through layers of the shell - I think some of it has gone into the grain.

The glue part might end up being an "underside", or covered by one of the wooden shapes I still need to draw up that will end up boosting the scale length.

I did a wet wipe over the wood in a spot after not being too convinced by my results - the grain filled parts looked more grey all over than anything...

When it's wet it looks awesome so great advice guys...

[wokkaboy]

looks good Chris. Don't wipe it with a damp cloth unless you have to. The moisture may remove some of the filler
When you get stain over it the grain will pop much more

[Fretworn]

Are you going to put a "leg" on it so it can be played like an upright bass?

[ihasmario]

Are you going to put a "leg" on it so it can be played like an upright bass?

Yeah Fretty, here's a pic of all the parts sans 'nut'. The spruce soundpost (looks like a long dowel) isn't long enough for a bass drum, so I need to work out what to do with that. I also need to flatten the bottom of the adjustable feet of the bridge (as it's made for a curved top).

Other parts I need to make are just the extra parts to boost the neck up, and a place to put the tail piece (that the telescoping leg will probably slide up into).

The telescoping leg is the second thing up.

[ihasmario]

Gave the first part I filled (now 16h or so in) a run over with some dye.

It's a little more "brown" than I had hoped - I was hoping for something with a little bit more red, but I'm not going to change it now... I figure it should look nice with a good finish over the top to make it look like a nice piece of furniture...

I'll give this one a find sanding over the parts that are a bit darker or otherwise still wet... Gotta smooth it out a bit more. I don't think I did a good enough job with the sanding on some parts of the drum. But I can fix that I guess

Still need to drill out the screw on the other side of the shell, but I figure I might as well multitask for a while and get one half done.

[wokkaboy]

Chris what stain did you apply ? You could always go over it with FW cedar should make it more red. I'd go over the whole shell and sand the areas that need it before you do any more grain filling or staining.

[ihasmario]

Hey Wokka, this is FW Elm.

I'll probably go over the whole thing in something more red in the last coat.

You're a much more patient man than I am - I'm going to do the whole drum as it is now (after I get that blasted screw out - don't have a drill on me right now), and then I will make sure I am extra careful with the sanding (and go real fine) and then go ahead and finish the staining.

Unfortunately it looks like the factory went over the drum with some kind of rotary sander with an annoyingly large and uneven grain. You can see the scratches all over - definitely not from me (I always sand with the grain).

Overall I find this stain (or this wood, I'm not sure) quite a bit harder to work with, because as you can see there are some white spots over parts of the wood that haven't been hit. This part of the drum is smooth as right now (as I sanded it before making it a bit deeper), but you can see some parts aren't taking the stain. It soaks up the stain super fast (maybe a bit dry?) and it doesn't want to fill those bits. But I'll get there eventually

Here's a few more pics of just evening out the stain/making it a bit stronger on the first run, because I'm an impatient person when it comes to this.

I'm pretty pleased with the results so far to be honest, the scratches that I couldn't feel or see were a bummer, but in the end it's better than paying for a pricey shell for a first try, IMO.

One thing I'm extremely pleased with is how the bit with the glue took the stain. You'll see it's "darker" than the rest of the stained part, but in my opinion it has come out worlds better than some of the problems I've had with glue in the past (i.e. the glue being super hard to get off, not taking any stain, etc).

[wokkaboy]

Hey Chris it's a much bigger job than you probably initially thought. Alot of those heavy machine marks you should be able to fill with timbermate.
First time I've seen FW elm.

If you have an orbital sander I'd use that, thats alot of sanding to do by hand !

[ihasmario]

Hey Chris it's a much bigger job than you probably initially thought. Alot of those heavy machine marks you should be able to fill with timbermate.
First time I've seen FW elm.

If you have an orbital sander I'd use that, thats alot of sanding to do by hand !

I'm sanding by hand, I don't have access to a sander. I'm not sure how much sanding the top can actually take before you go through a layer - I've never worked with ply or whatever this is before.

Can I put timbermate over the top of the scratches as it is now? I'm surprised it didn't go in because I had it quite thin (or maybe it did, and that's why they're standing out). I can't feel them. Or should I sand back the stain and then do it?

Cheers Wokka