MIMF

I am getting ready to build a zebrawood body and have been researching different finishes. I was leaning toward doing a poly finish myself. I asked my brother who dabbles in wood work what he would do. He has an Amish friend that owns a production furniture finishing plant. We have some chairs that ...

Thanks.

I am getting ready to build a zebrawood and maple P bass. This zebrawood is really heavy and I don’t want to end up with a 10 or 12 pound bass. I plan on cutting some chambers in it for weight relief. How close can I get to the top and edges and still maintain strength in the wood? 3/8”? 1/4”?

Take some finishing nails that fit the neck holes snugly but small enough that you can pull them out easily. Cut the heads off so that the nail is short enough that they will stick out of the holes about 1/16". Place them in the holes, pointed side out, and set the neck in place. Make sure the...

I have a roasted maple Warmoth neck on order and am going to build the body myself. When I ordered, I checked the option for "Standard 4 bolt" mounting holes. Just got to thinking... how do I get those holes from the body to perfectly align with the mounting holes in the neck? I was thinki...

Thinking of options for finishing.... The Warmoth neck that is coming is roasted maple with ebony fretboard. I am thinking of just using boiled linseed oil on it and nothing else. The body, I am undecided. I have an Amish friend that finishes cabinets and furniture. He can do a great finish and won'...

I think the chambering is excessive. Not much wood left in the middle layer. You might get away with it but will have to be careful because the middle layer will be delicate until it is laminated to the top or back. I will probably have to leave mor wood at the top for the forearm contour and belly...

Here is my working plan for chambering.

If you go the CNC route for the body, save the belly/arm/etc contouring to do by “hand”. That way you can stick a mock-up neck in, hang it from a strap, sit on a stool, lay on the floor with it - and really dial it in to comfortably fit your own (human) body. As for the cap.. to my eyes 3/4” looks ...

Looks really complicated. Is this your first build? I have done minor repairs, pickup changes, and a lot of setups. Never built a bass before. I wasn't wanting to build a neck, so ordered one from Warmoth. I know this is an ambitious project, but I feel that I will learn a lot and it will be fun an...

The images aren't visible to me. Screenshot (948).png Not sure why you can't see it? They are links to photos on my website. Maybe your browser is blocking the site because it doesn't have a security certificate? I uploaded them to a temp site that I manage that has an SSL. See if these work. https...

Found some Zebrawood that I like. http://www.kirkdickinson.com/BB/zebra1.jpg http://www.kirkdickinson.com/BB/zebra2.jpg http://www.kirkdickinson.com/BB/zebra3.jpg New mockup with this wood. http://www.kirkdickinson.com/BB/Black-beauty-bass4.jpg I am thinking about Zebrawood top, Black Walnut core, a...

Looking for a good source for the Zebrawood top. Any recommendations? How thick of a piece do I need for the top? I was thinking 3/4"? I don't want to use a laminate. Not sure how deep the shaping would be on the top but that would not work with laminate. Looking for a good Fender Deluxe 5 stri...

I keep dreaming about this bass design that I did a couple months ago.. I have specked out a Warmoth neck and body. I got to thinking about going to a local exotic lumber shop (Keim lumber) and finding the body woods that I wanted and trying to do glue it up myself. I have a friend with a commercial...

Overly complicated, impossible to remove in the future, and sharp inside corners that create stress risers prone to cracking. Aluminum necks have been done but largely abandoned for various reasons. Nothing beats simple wood to wood glued joints. Well, it is more complicated that is for sure. My id...

I am not a luthier and have never done more than extensive setups and bolting parts together to build a "new for me" guitar. I am fascinated by it and watch a lot of videos on Youtube. The other day I came across this video of a guy building an acrylic bass with a fretless aluminum neck. h...

I gave up on it and took it to a guy. He said that the 3-way wasn't properly grounded to the tone pot. The tone pot was connected to the output jack and the ground wire from the bridge was bleeding through the cap and the tone pot. The guitar buzz went away when the tone was rolled all the way off w...

Once you have a correctly wired cable in hand plug it into the guitar and check for continuity between the strings and the far end of the cable. The strings should only connect to the sleeve, never the tip. Yep. Bridge tests continuity to tip not sleeve. Wire is probably connected wrong at the 3-wa...

OK, thanks. That is a check that I can easily do. Will report back. Probably the guitar because we tried with 3 different working cables and two different amps with similar results. Maybe the wires from the 3-way are reversed there because I the wire at the jack is soldered correctly. The 3-way look...

Why not start by resoldering all of the bad joints? A cold joint could cause your problems. Also, squirt some cleaner in the pots and the switch and work them. After that, you can look at replacing parts. You can get the values of the pots by removing the wires and checking the resistance across th...