1st Biuld - HB-4S violin bass

[maxadudley]

OoooOOOoOOoooo
That back is preeety. I like the red stain. Thank you for solving the mystery of the pick-guard bracket! I was also clueless when I looked at my big bag of miscellaneous hardware. The body on my kit isn't as curved as yours, I might not need it? I'll have to do some research now.
Anyways, just chiming in to offer my support to another builder mid-build! Love the violin bass. Classy. Looking good so far.

[Rabbit]

That back is preeety. I like the red stain.

Thanx . At first glance the back does look more interesting than the front, however, looks can be deceiving. The figure of the timber on the front will make it's presence known when the varnish goes on. It's a bit like New Guinea Rosewood. Everything pops when you put on the finish.

I'll be spraying two thin coats of varnish to lock down the fibres, giving it a careful sand with 400 or 600 grit (that's going to take a while, might use 0000 steel wool) Once it's nice and smooth (again... staining raised some of the fibres), I'll mask the timber to reveal the plastic edging, and go over that with black striping enamel. It's been a while since I last striped and I don't trust myself to be steady enough with a sword brush to keep to the plastic . Once the striping is done and it's been unmasked, I'll give it a final couple of coats to lock it all down .

Thank you for solving the mystery of the pick-guard bracket! I was also clueless when I looked at my big bag of miscellaneous hardware. The body on my kit isn't as curved as yours, I might not need it?

It's your bass, so at the end of the day it's up to you how you choose to mount it. The one that came with my kit if it were screwed down and not floating, would sit against the body with no gaps. I suspect that a lot of violin basses have the pick guard are being made to be replicas of the Hoffner. I'm guessing the gentleman in @fender3x 's post may have something to do with that .

[Simon Barden]

I’d strongly advise against steel wool. I tried it recently and whilst it looks a brilliant way of getting a smooth finish at first, you find out later that you’ve got small broken ends of steel wool embedded in the finish which show up as white dots in bright light. Caused me no end of repair work. I now use Scotch-Brite pads instead (7447 and 7448 very fine pads). Same effect, no steel fibres.

[Rabbit]

I’d strongly advise against steel wool. I tried it recently and whilst it looks a brilliant way of getting a smooth finish at first, you find out later that you’ve got small broken ends of steel wool embedded in the finish which show up as white dots in bright light.

Was that on timber or on cured varnish?

[Simon Barden]

On various nitro finishes, but you can still get the ends sticking into the bare wood and then appearing in any finish you put on top.

What varnish finish do you plan to use? Poly doesn't attach well to older poly (any more than 24 hours) without the surface being pretty rough so it can key onto it, so with poly you don't want to have the old finish surface too smooth when applying the second set of coats.

The first couple of coats of anything will sink into the wood significantly (less so on the maple veneer than on the back and sides), so the surface will be relatively rough. You'd be hard pressed to sand it very smooth without sanding through into the finish and removing some stain in places. So certainly knock the peaks back a bit, but do be very careful.

[Rabbit]

On various nitro finishes, but you can still get the ends sticking into the bare wood and then appearing in any finish you put on top.

What varnish finish do you plan to use? Poly doesn't attach well to older poly (any more than 24 hours) without the surface being pretty rough so it can key onto it, so with poly you don't want to have the old finish surface too smooth when applying the second set of coats.

The first couple of coats of anything will sink into the wood significantly (less so on the maple veneer than on the back and sides), so the surface will be relatively rough. You'd be hard pressed to sand it very smooth without sanding through into the finish and removing some stain in places. So certainly knock the peaks back a bit, but do be very careful.

Yeh, I'm using poly. I've had no problem with re-coating more than 24h later, but as you say, you do need a good key for it to bite into. The main reason for putting a couple of coats on first before doing my striping is to prevent ripping up the fibres of the timber when the masking tape is removed (and yes, I have learnt that from previous experience ). I could do all the coats and then do the stripping, but then I have to mix up a batch of striping enamel with it's hardener. then you have to toss out whatever is left of the batch. Poly over the top of the enamel will give it the durability.

[Rabbit]

An ooon with the shew!

I didn't wait a week like I was going to, so sprayed a couple of coats of polyurethane on the body and neck.First coat was a bit dodgy because it hadn't been thinned enough. Second coat went one nicely. The next day I sanded it smooth. A type S ultra-fine scuff pad (equivalent to the 7448 mentioned by Simon) wasn't quite doing the job, so I had to go with 240 grit to get it smooth. That worked nicely, but does require a light touch. After wiping it down with a lint free micro fibre cloth and some post sanding cleaner, I masked off the timber on the body and neck. Here's the body masked:





And the stripe on the neck done. I continued the stripe around the head, because there was a tiny bit of bleed of the black stain from the front of the head to the side.



On the other side of the neck I replaced the white dots that I painted over with red ones.

The masking of the body is something you need to be patient with and take your time. Also important so that the plastic gets proper coverage to leave a hairs width of the timber showing. Since the red stain is darker than pale plastic, any bits that don't get covered with the stripe will show up looking ugly. .

I did a dry fit of the neck with the hardware installed and a couple of strings.



As you can see it needs some adjustment. The end of the neck lines up nicely with the neck pickup and is very tight in the pocket (it's basically a press fit ). So the question is: Should I hack into the pocket like the guide suggests, or just move the tail across a bit? Even though the tail has a free moving hinge, it turns out that there is no side to side movement within the hinge. It's just too accurately made.

Once that's resolved, the next question is glue choice. Will PVA such as Titebond be good enough, or should I go industrial with boat builders epoxy?

[JimC]

Original titebond is very conventional for the job. It has the advantage of being unglueable if some future issue demands it. I'm experienced with and a fan of boat building epoxy, but I only use it in luthiery in special cases, not regular tasks like that.

[Simon Barden]

As you have a floating bridge, it’s so much easier to move the tailpiece that trying to re-align the neck. I’d definitely move the tailpiece.

[Rabbit]

Original titebond is very conventional for the job. It has the advantage of being unglueable if some future issue demands it. I'm experienced with and a fan of boat building epoxy, but I only use it in luthiery in special cases, not regular tasks like that.

Thanx Jim . My last project was a strip canoe, so I have a fair bit of experience with both. I know with softwood , the timber will fail before the PVA will, just wasn't sure with the tension of the strings how it would fair with the maple. PVA it is then <thmbsups>.

As you have a floating bridge, it’s so much easier to move the tailpiece that trying to re-align the neck. I’d definitely move the tailpiece.

Yeh, I was kinda comming to that conclusion. The pocket in the hollow body is a box, not carved out of solid timber, so there isn't much you can remove for adjustment. The fingerboard sits a fair way above the body, so you *could* attack the neck, but that would still be fiddly. Potentially hours fine tuning with rasps and planes vs 5 seconds with a drill... I know my preferred option, but I wanted the opinion of someone with more experience. Thank you sir .