My First build: DHB-5F 5-String Semi Hollow Fretless Bass

[BigJesusTrashCan]

So,

I now have my DHB-5F and I'm super excited. Things I need to research:

• How to get black sunburst effect

• How best to protect the ebony fingerboard from roundwound strings

• Logo design and application - I have no idea what to call it yet - any suggestions welcome (not doing my surname, though)

That list may grow, but is all I can think of at the moment.

[wazkelly]

Ebony is usually one of the toughest finger board materials you can get and may stand up to round wounds where rosewood probably wouldn't.
I modified a cheapo fretted bass to fretless and sealed the rosewood board with CA glue which is pretty much a better grade super glue. What a pain that stuff is to work with and will never go there again. Would have been better off using a lacquer or Tru Oil as i paid plenty for a set of D'addario Chrome flat wounds which don't leave any marks on the board from playing and reckon not overly aggressive use of rounds would be ok too.
The fretting of a note shouldn't require much downward pressure however doing bends and vibrato will drag the strings in an abrasive manner that could do a slight amount of damage.
I would initially try rounds on the untreated ebony and see how it goes. You can always lightly sand if marks start to appear.
Cheers, Waz

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[BigJesusTrashCan]

Ebony is usually one of the toughest finger board materials you can get and may stand up to round wounds where rosewood probably wouldn't.
I modified a cheapo fretted bass to fretless and sealed the rosewood board with CA glue which is pretty much a better grade super glue. What a pain that stuff is to work with and will never go there again. Would have been better off using a lacquer or Tru Oil as i paid plenty for a set of D'addario Chrome flat wounds which don't leave any marks on the board from playing and reckon not overly aggressive use of rounds would be ok too.
The fretting of a note shouldn't require much downward pressure however doing bends and vibrato will drag the strings in an abrasive manner that could do a slight amount of damage.
I would initially try rounds on the untreated ebony and see how it goes. You can always lightly sand if marks start to appear.
Cheers, Waz

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Thank you. That's great info about the CA glue. I have also modified a cheapo bass to fretless. It is rosewood and I pounded the crap out of it. The band I was in was influenced by Birthday Party and Bauhaus.

I love the growl of roundwounds on fretless (think "Wherever I lay my hat" by Paul Young or anything by The Police or "Rise" by Public Image Limited). I get that flatwounds would be gentler on the fingerboard, but that isn't the sound I was going for.

I'd have to sand it occassionally, but it got to the point where the C note (third "fret" third string) would always buzz too much and the groove was too deep (only like 1/4mm or so, but that is enough).

I spoke to a couple of people and had a couple of suggestions thrown at me:

• Carnauba wax - appear to toughen the wood, but did not help with groove

• Shellac to patch up the groove - I tried that and it looked like it would work but I did the next thing as well

• Epoxy Resin - works really well, but is incredibly messy to deal with and will need sanding back

On the Epoxy Resin I used - wait for it - a Marine Epoxy! Bot Cote. I went to a woodworking trade show and spoke to a Luthier there. He told me to check out Bot Cote. So, it turns out you can get colours for it as well. I added some black to it and it actually came up quite nicely.

But now, I was getting a slight buzz around the A position on the 4th string. So I gave it another coat - that was a mistake - because now I'm getting a really bad buzz on the G string around the 6th or 7th fret position.

Having checked out PitBull site and this forum, I now know about the Radius Block - I need one of them and I should be able to resurrect, yet again, my FrankenBass.

It turns out you can sand and then polish Resin to give a mirror finish - which you can get if you just leave it - but on a slightly curved fingerboard that isn't a great idea - it is very viscous and will flow everywhere which is why it is so messy.

But at least now I know that CA glue seems to be a problem. Maybe if we use the low viscosity version?

I'll try and get a photo of my FrankenBass's fingerboard as it is now and when I get the radius block (I'll be ordering one soon with a bunch of other stuff) I'll try post and after shot.

[wazkelly]

CA is just like resin, in fact even more watery and seeks out the lowest point and anything curved is therefore a real drama.

I reckon ebony will hold up just fine. If not, I would use a laquer that could be sanded back and re-applied periodically.

Most uprights are unfinished and seem to stand up to lots of playing, granted they are probably flat wounds but still would see plenty of hard wearing use over time.

[Brendan]

+1 for CA being a pain - have tried it twice and got one reasonable outcome from it - same as for other coatings on the body - lots of really thin coats and then sand it back.

Not tried anything else. Ebony should be hard, but then so are roundwound strings...

[BigJesusTrashCan]

Ok, so it has been a while since I got my kit. Here it is:

[BigJesusTrashCan]

So, I did the mock build and setup a rough location for the bridge. As this build is an archtop with a floating bridge, I just needed to get some idea about where the bridge was going to go.


Checking that the bridge at 35"


Checking the approximate action with this setup:

[BigJesusTrashCan]

At first I was trying to decide whether I would paint or stain it. After seeing Brendan's AG-1F(?), I decided on the DingoTone Black Stump.

I got my stains and I figured, I'd procrastinated enough. So I stained the front of the body:

[BigJesusTrashCan]

After about a week I tackled the back of the body:


I used some Frog Tape to mask off the beading:


Which appears to have worked(?)


I do have a question though: What is the best way to deal with the beading. It was next to impossible (for me anyway) to tape off the beading on the front. I noticed that in the instruction video for applying stains, Dingobass appeared NOT to mask the beading (or I can't tell that he did). So, when I applied the stain to the front, I didn't mask it. So I got some stain on it. I was able to get most of it off with acetone, but I suspect that there is a better way...

If one of you guys could point me in the right direction, that would be most appreciated!

[Fretworn]

Usually you Polish the binding with 0000 steel wool first. It will often then resist stain making it easy to sand off later. You can scrape the binding clean with a sharp blade once you have finished the staining. You have to be careful not the slip and scratch the finish though.