Lawrys IB-6S Fretless

[lawry]

Happy new year all.
Just got back from holidays a couple of days ago and looky what was waiting for me at the post office! I had always intended to do a 6 string fretless and when these became available I jumped at it. Now... I have only built two kits previously and this will be a significant challenge for me so I'll be asking for a lot of advice. Especially from you Wokka, seeing how you're build is quite a way in.
So, I put everything together and it fits pretty well with one minor concern. The height of the neck heel is a bit low in the pocket and There is a small gap too. I don't know whether to leave it or try and do something about it.
The spalted cap is drop-dead gorgeous but there are quite a few pits and glue marks on it. The cap is VERY thin, so do I just ignore the pits? And what about getting rid of the glue? I really can't afford to sand too much on the spalt.
As this is going to be a fretless bass I removed the frets after watching heaps of you tube videos and reading several articles. In the end they came out easily and I am happy with the result. I intend to fill the slots with a jarrah veneer.
That's it for now. The humidity is pretty high in Mackay at the moment so I will have to keep it in the air conditioning for a while.
Please, throw every bit of advice you have at me.
Cheers,
Lawry

Straight out of the box.

[lawry]

These are the imperfections. Neck heal, pits and glue.

[lawry]

And finally, mock build and the fret(less)board.

[gavinturner]

Looks beautiful lawry. I'm no expert, but from what I've read around the place imperfections seem pretty commonplace in spalted veneer. This is of no practical use to you i know, sorry. Great job with the frets though - they seem to have come out very cleanly! Very interested to see how you fill them. Much too fiddly a job for me..

chers,
Gav.

[wokkaboy]

Hi Lawry,
nice looking cap, some nice spalt lines and grain. Well done removing the frets cleanly ! Dingobass glues pot plant labels to fill the fret slots, think Tim has done this as well on his fretless midnight YB4 bass.
As to the cracks/dips in the cap, there's not much you can do, they do fill a bit with wudtone and clear, but they do come up looking like a feature, attached below is a pic of my cap after 4 coats of amber and 3 coats of clear. It isn't an issue, almost gives the cap character.
As to the gap in the neck heel I think there's 2 options. Option 1 to shim the neck so it is level with the body but this may effect the string height and not sure if there is an angle in the heel or if its level with the body ? Option 2 is to find a small piece of spalted maple and glue it ontop of the bare wood on the heel. I know its a bummer to lose the grain of the neck but may be the best option. It's hard to tell in the photos whether this is a level gap.
In the meantime I'll remove the hanger from my body and post a close up pic of my heel/body fit.

[wokkaboy]

Lawry, pics of my heel/body, my heel is slightly lower than top of the cap but shouldn't be an issue.
As for glue on the cap I'd try and sand some of it off with 180 grit paper or possibly a light use of a steel brush. Once you have colour coats on it will more than likely not be that obvious and will almost blend into the wild grain of the spalted cap. I had some similar glue on my cap and you can hardly see it now.

[lawry]

Thanks for taking the time and effort in your response, Wokka.
Looking at your neck heal fit, the heights and gap seem identical to mine in size and location. It certainly isn't an 'oh my god' discrepancy so I think I will leave it alone like you have. You only really notice it if you're pedantic (like we tend to be on our builds). As for the pits in the spalted cap, I'm happy enough to leave them too because it would just destroy it if I were to try and fill or sand them. As you say, it has character. This is a gorgeous beast of an axe and I'm really looking forward to starting it in earnest, but that's not really possible given the current summer climate. Deep breaths and patience are what is required. Thanks again mate.
Cheers.

[lawry]

Thanks for taking the time and effort in your response, Wokka.
Looking at your neck heal fit, the heights and gap seem identical to mine in size and location. It certainly isn't an 'oh my god' discrepancy so I think I will leave it alone like you have. You only really notice it if you're pedantic (like we tend to be on our builds). As for the pits in the spalted cap, I'm happy enough to leave them too because it would just destroy it if I were to try and fill or sand them. As you say, it has character. This is a gorgeous beast of an axe and I'm really looking forward to starting it in earnest, but that's not really possible given the current summer climate. Deep breaths and patience are what is required. Thanks again mate.
Cheers.

[AJ]

Looks amazing that cap lawry! Did you use a soldering iron or normal iron to heat up the frets before you removed them?

[lawry]

Hi AJ. Just a bit of heat from a soldering iron with a blob of solder on the end for better heat transfer. However, I don't think there was any glue there anyway.

And just noticed the double post above. Dunno how that happened. Must be getting senile.