New fretless build

peterleroux · 2015-01-31T16:34:34+00:00

So this arrived in the post recently- a Mighty Mite fretless neck- maple and ebonol. Looking forward to putting it together- I've got a Bartolini quad coil a...

New fretless build

peterleroux

...and here's the end of the plank- fine grained (about 20 rings per inch), clear, old growth Oregon Pine
About R300 and I'll have about 300mm left over on the plank when I'm done.

http://41.media.tumblr.com/26ca25b2073d1d1d086369c392dfa846/tumblr_o5u23gzgIZ1sk85t9o1_1280.jpg

Wizard

Very nice.
Very fine grained for Oregon.

V8

Thanks Peter,

This thread has come in useful along with this one on talk bass : (https://www.talkbass.com/threads/dr-dimentos-ongoing-p-pup-experiment.127322/page-4 to help me contemplate if the Pbass pup in the hofner is kinda the ballpark for a pbass.

It's roughly in between the placement of a pbass and a p/j bass - which I'm happy to leave as is. Interesting Dr Dimentos comes to the same basic conclusion : closer to warm = warmer, closer to bridge = brighter/clearer.

Did you get around to the 'bronco' experiment?. There's one hanging around the gear junkie - the pup sounds pretty good to my lofi ears. There's a thuddyness to the E string, while the rest sound fairly bright. It kinda reminds me of a vintage pbass in a way?

peterleroux

So I sent drawings off this afternoon to a laser cutting fabricator to do this..

The solid timber thing hasn't worked out over the last few years, so I'm going to try a danelectro-style supawood and spraypaint body, possibly with an f-hole- will see how I like the look once I get all the parts back. More news soon, hopefully...

Tuckstir

Looking good..
am I'm reading correctly? you are going Supawood?
why lasercut, and not CNC routed?

peterleroux

Tuckstir yes, humble MDF. And I’m going with laser cutting because this guy has been responsive and has good pricing- i approached a few guys over the last 3 years about CNC milling but for various reasons they never came back with anything.

Luckily Fender designs are so modular that it will be easy to replace the body if this one doesn’t work out

Tuckstir

Haha ok.. was wondering why you wanted to smoke out a factory..
?
next time give me a shout
we Have A CNC router which we mostly use to cut Polycarb Windows

Fender designs been a bolt on.. as long as you keep the brigde position relative to the neck pocket.. you could make any design..
MMMMM fretlest Flaming flying V with F-holes. ?

peterleroux

Tuckstir
thanks, that's an interesting offer. Where are you based? I'd much rather have something in real wood.

Tuckstir

peterleroux
we based in Wadeville.. JHB

peterleroux

Tuckstir Awesome! I'm on the East Rand too. Let me see what I can source in terms of timber and then we can chat further. I've got a 'dumb' 2d set of drawings, presumably it will take a bit of work to turn that into gcode for milling. Let me think the design through and I'll be in touch.

Tuckstir

Fortunately we have software for the G-code, ?
Dxfs are good..

peterleroux

Tuckstir cool, I think I might be on track with timber- how big is the working bed for your CNC?
Would like to take this discussion offline but unless I'm missing something we can't do PMs here. My email address is my user name @gmail.com

Tuckstir

peterleroux how big is the working bed for your CNC?

I think Big enough.. 3m x 2m bed

sent you a Message

peterleroux

Just an update- I have sent drawings to @Tuckstir, who has already routed the raw lumber straight on both edges, and I will be gluing up the body blank this weekend to get it milled out- with a bit of luck I'll be playing fretless by the end of the month!

Tuckstir

Making some progress today.
peterleroux glued it up, we've skimmed it flat, we did a test run with a marker to make sure our positioning was correct

Tuckstir

here are some action shots of stage 1 the side milling,
We took of 1mm per side

V8

Tuckstir Like the way the grain runs - can't wait to see the body finished up @peterleroux!

peterleroux

...and I'll be picking up the completed body from @Tuckstir tomorrow - a bit of shaping (belly cut, forearm contour and roundovers) and some Danish Oil and it will be ready to assemble ?

Tuckstir

V8 Like the way the grain runs - can't wait to see the body finished up

you and me both..and I've seen the finish cut.. Its going to be a flippen awesome build, that grain is just drool worthy.. but I'll let peterleroux post the completed cut Pic's,

I'll have to get me some wood..

peterleroux

So I picked this up from @Tuckstir this morning...

Really happy with how it came out, and very excited to get this finished. Thanks to @Tuckstir and the company for getting this made- I still get a kick out of drawing something and having it turned into reality like this. Going down the road later on to hire a router for the weekend- after practicing on the scraps, I’ll cut the front and back round over this weekend

That crack down the front is a pitch pocket in the wood- It doesn't appear to be causing any structural problems so I'll fill it with superglue, and probably leave it exposed.

Tuckstir

peterleroux
only a pleasure hope it finishes up and plays great..

for those that are interested here are some action shots

First we machined it flat, we ended up taking about 3,5mm off.

we first did the neck pocket and pickup cavity, before taking off 5mm on the outside of the guitar, and then we cut the outer profile. leaving behind 5mm material

next we recessed the sacrificial bed material so we could accurately position the blank

back pockets done

all hands on deck

and done