Acoustic bass guitar build

[jeffhigh]

Second stage of top bracing
The primary, secondary and tertiary braces are planed to height and tapered
CF tow and epoxy is applied to the top surface and the UTB (morticed for the brace ends) placed over

[jeffhigh]

Soundboard glued to rims
$6 of side mass added next to tailblock (for acoustic benefits and to balance neck)
Just going to install some piezo's then close up

[jeffhigh]

All closed up, I'll come back and do the binding later
Guess I should make a neck now

[Trevor Gore]

I've been following this with great interest, Jeff. How does it tap out?

[DarwinStrings]

I am a bit curious about those weights Jeff, what are they and how are they fixed?

Jim

Don't drink Drive....it's a washing powder

[Nick]

That is one big arse body (depth-wise)!! But I'm loving it Can't wait to see & hear the completed bass Jeff, hopefully it ticks all the boxes for your design intentions.

[jeffhigh]

The Tornavoz is giving me an air of around 62Hz at the moment, lots of fine tuning required on completion I'm sure.
Yes the body looks big, it is dreadnought depth but only 12mm wider than my classical shape
The weights are thirthy 20 cent coins Jim, set in epoxy in holes drilled in blocks of wood.

[Trevor Gore]

Great stuff, Jeff.

At least you have a minimum sales price now, .

[jeffhigh]

Neck in progress
Scarf jointed head and heel block glued up and truss installed
Koa headplate
Gidgee fretboard radiussed, slotted and tapered
Steel reinforcement to floating tongue installed

[DarwinStrings]

Looks like you mix you glue by weight, maybe I should try that too, please don't take pity on the guy at the bus stop that asks for your loose change and give him the bass Jeff.

Jim

[jeffhigh]

Drilling the mounting hole on the lathe
And a preliminary assembly
About all I'll get done before heading to Hawaii

[Trevor Gore]

About all I'll get done before heading to Hawaii

Doesn't David Hurd live in Hawaii?

Is this going to be a tilt neck, Jeff (screw adjustable neck joint) and is that the reason for the steel under the fretboard extension? How deep do you go with the steel?

[jeffhigh]

Yes, this will be a tilt neck. It is basically P bass scale, width and length 20 frets
The neck will be set in to a pocket about 6mm deep meeting the body at fret 17 , no need for a cutaway
The bridge basically ends up at standard CG position
For this one with a small overhang I have just inset a 85x32x 2.5 bar flush with the underside of the fretboard.
For longer overhangs I use 3.2 thick inset about 2.5 and have the truss rod a bit lower to clear

[Trevor Gore]

Thanks, Jeff. I'm doing a tilt neck at the moment and have left myself the option of a metal insert under the overhang.

[jeffhigh]

French polishing with Hard Shellac
Into the home stretch

[jeffhigh]

Decided I wanted a little more overhang on the fretboard (for looks) so added another 2 frets
The board is reinforced underneath

[jeffhigh]

Bridge positioned and pinned
Outline scribed and finish scraped back to bare wood
Vacuum clamped for 30 minutes Hot Hide Glue, just a little squeezout to remove

[nnickusa]

Looking great. i particularly like the soundhole treatment. Don't come looking for me if I copy it off you, OK?

[jeffhigh]

Together and strung up yesterday
Hopefully this will be a VA Spectrum
63.9,140,225

[Trevor Gore]

Nice job, Jeff. The T(1,1)2 seems to have come out somewhat lower than your original expectations, which is probably not a bad thing. Did you go lighter on the bracing or top thickness (or both) to achieve that? Are you getting the volume and balance you were after?

[DarwinStrings]

I am a bit confused about your use of the word "hopefully". Is the weight of the tornavoz having a big impact on the T(1,1)2 as well?

Jim

[jeffhigh]

Hopefully was because I was not sure if I could get the image of the spectrum to show after converting from tes to smf to jpeg!

The T(1,1)2 is lower than I expected, I used 7mm braces with top thickness determined using f midway between classical and SS and the edges thinned around 0.25mm.
That, with the side mass loading and possibly the mass of the tornavoz is probably pulling it down.

Volume and balance, not sure yet I think it will be adequate acoustically backing most guitars, that will be one of the things to do on Video.

No Closeup pics yet still got some cosmetics to do but here it is next to a standard classical

[slowlearner]

Very nice.

I'm really looking forward to hearing it. We need clips!

[DarwinStrings]

It certainly looks the biz Jeff, that neck looks like it was made for that body.

Jim

[ozziebluesman]

That is a great looking bass Jeff.

I have enjoyed watching this one evolve.

Cheers

Alan