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Mikey R

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16 Oct 2008
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North Yorkshire
Hi everyone,

Im quite new here so I thought its about time i introduced myself properly and showed a project Ive been working on since last summer. Its a 5 string multiscale bass guitar. Beware, this post is a bit of a novel, so feel free to skip the text and just look at the pictures! ;)

Multiscale basically means the frets are laid out in a fan arangement, allowing the bass strings to be longer and therefore at a higher tension, and the treble strings to be at a lower tension. When I started I'd never played one so buiding one seemed like a good idea. :D

The scale length of the low B is 35 1/2" dropping to 34" on the high G.

The neck is made of some dark american birch - Ive never seen this before but I liked the look of it, and it was cheaper than walnut :)

The body is made from some native ash I got from a friend at work.

The fingerboard is hard maple.

Heres the design:

n641776339_1815492_5828.jpg


Because I'd never built a bass guitar before, let alone a multiscale one, I chose to use only inexpensive timber from John Boddys. The fingerboard was made from resawing a 33mm square x 750mm maple turning blank:

n641776339_1811653_4952.jpg

n641776339_1811654_3163.jpg
n641776339_1811655_3641.jpg


Heres a pic of the fingerboard next to the neck blank:

n641776339_1811656_4296.jpg


And glued up and tapered:

n641776339_1811662_7421.jpg


Gluing the birch top to the ash core. Used pretty much all of my clamps. In furure I'll use two piece bookmatched tops and glue the center line first:

n641776339_1811663_8185.jpg


This pic shows the neck attached to the body:

n641776339_1811668_8223.jpg


Carving the neck:

n641776339_1815535_4853.jpg

n641776339_1811670_4132.jpg


Fretting:

n641776339_1826472_3625.jpg


Before doing any serious carving, I wanted to check the action and see how it played. So I fitted the bridge pieces:

DSCN1655.jpg


And made a temporary nut:

DSCN1653.jpg

DSCN1654.jpg


I found that the action needed to go up quite alot, so I shaved some wood off the back of the neck at the heel.

Routing the pickup cavities was a little nervewracking - Ive really developed a preference for hand tools, but there was no easy way to do this - so out came the router.

Then I started with the job of carving the body using my Record spokeshave, Footprint rasp and a cabinet scraper. Since then Ive really fallen out with the rasp and shave, dispite upgrading the latter with a new Ray Iles iron.

Heres the front:

n641776339_2492405_2369887.jpg


This one shows the beveled forarm contour a little better:

n641776339_2492404_729839.jpg


The hole for the barrel style jack socket is at a slight angle, so that I could cut away from the edge and make it look at little more interesting. I started with a 5mm pilot hole. Next was an 18mm flat bit, about 12mm deep, then followed by a 12mm bit the rest of the way. I wanted a more extreme angle, unfortunately whilst drilling the pilot hole I didnt get the angle right. But I think its turned out Ok.

n641776339_2492414_1491292.jpg


The electronics cavity:

n641776339_2492403_2815603.jpg


That native ash is hard stuff - next one will definately be made of something softer! Its just so hard to shape it properly!

Next job will be sanding. My cheap rasp has left some really deep scratches, so I'll need to sand those out with 80 grit, then work my way up to 220 grit. I really want an Auriou rasp, but Im not sure I can justify spending that much.

Im still undecided on the finish - I want something quick and easy, so I might try some wipe on varnish. The other option is water based acrylic laquer.
 
Wow! Mike - multi-scale? Fantastic - how did you hear about that? The fret job looks "interesting" :lol:
Cheers
Philly :D
 
I'm also following this one with interest. I've been using some Auriou rasps myself - they are excellent, it's just a shame about the costs. :( Classic Hand Tools have knocked 10% off until the end of the month though... :wink:

I've also heard good things about the rasps at Workshop Heaven. They're a fraction of the cost of the Auriou ones. I think someone also said they're made in China? Either way, they are 'hand-cut', which gives that irregular pattern for clean-cuts and less clogging. :)
 
hand stitched I think is the word Olly. I need some for my compo project and will probably go for WH's
 
Philly":yia1la5o said:
Wow! Mike - multi-scale? Fantastic - how did you hear about that? The fret job looks "interesting" :lol:
Cheers
Philly :D

Hi Philly, Im a bit of a bass geek, so its the kind of thing that gets discussed when we get together with other bass geeks...

If youre interested, look up Novax and Dingwall. I think one of those companies does a Tele style extended range guitar that may interest you :D

It wasnt that tricky to do, the only problem is, once you have cut the frets you are totally committed to that fretboard geometry - you cant even modify the string spacing at the nut and bridge unless you want to do some REALLY hairy maths.

OPJ":yia1la5o said:
I'm also following this one with interest. I've been using some Auriou rasps myself - they are excellent, it's just a shame about the costs. :( Classic Hand Tools have knocked 10% off until the end of the month though... :wink:

Im thinking of getting a 12 grit one as an early birthday present this month...

OPJ":yia1la5o said:
I've also heard good things about the rasps at Workshop Heaven. They're a fraction of the cost of the Auriou ones. I think someone also said they're made in China? Either way, they are 'hand-cut', which gives that irregular pattern for clean-cuts and less clogging. :)

Thats interesting to know - I might supplement the fine Auriou with a less expensive medium grit one.
 
I use the chinese rasps from workshop-heaven, for the price they are excellent. I used them to shape my neck and contours with little fuss and a smooth enough finish that only needed a tickle of sandpaper to bring to a polish.
 
ByronBlack":3crzhw7j said:
I use the chinese rasps from workshop-heaven, for the price they are excellent. I used them to shape my neck and contours with little fuss and a smooth enough finish that only needed a tickle of sandpaper to bring to a polish.

Cheers! Which grit did you use?

The #5 medium grit are 200mm long, which seems like about the smallest size that would be nice for a neck. The fine ones are a little shorter. But I dont know about good rasps... which would you recommend?

EDIT: for that price, I'll just get both :D
 
If they're anything like the Aurious then, you shouldn't need to go near the very coarse grits. I've found the finer ones cut just as quickly and, of course, leave a cleaner cut with no breakout when working near an edge or against the grain. I think the finest I have is 10G? Could probably do with some finer still. Coarse rasps are best for rapdily removing removing waste, not for finishing to a line.

Tom, thanks, "hand-stitched" was precisely the term I was searching for! :D
 
I finished up the bass at the weekend, heres a shot:

5656_120502391339_641776339_2983783_1383606_n.jpg


Ok, not entirely finished, just waiting for a couple of control knobs and a control cavity cover, but its all working and sounding good. :)

Lots has happened since the last update, but mainly sanding and finishing. I lost a little patience with the sanding, and didnt do as good a job as perhaps I could have done. :(

I also found that the Rustins water based Worktop Oil dries with a very slight yellow tint, which isnt the best look for ash. If I were to refinish the bass a few months down the line, I would either use the General Finishes water based PU varnish, or the wipe on oil varnish.

Has anyone tried both these products on ash before? Once dried, are they pretty much the same, or is the oil varnish still more yellow then the water based?

Anyway, thanks for reading. :D
 
Very nice, Mike!
As I said before, I find the multi-scale thing very exciting - might have to have a go soon!
Best regards
Philly :D
 
Waka":ev2a96yl said:
Mike

Looks really nice, I have to say putting it all together looks rather complicated.

Theres a lot to bear in mind when putting it together, but provided the playing surface is accurate, the rest can be fairly free-form!

On a solid body instrument, theres no conmplicated joinery, the only tricky cut is fitting the neck into its cavity, the rest is all butt joints. Its not like hand cutting dovetails!

Philly":ev2a96yl said:
Very nice, Mike!
As I said before, I find the multi-scale thing very exciting - might have to have a go soon!
Best regards
Philly :D

Check out the fretfind calculator: http://www.fretfind.ekips.org/2d/nonparallel.php

The whole multiscale thing has been the subject if much debate and argument, with a few companies filing US patents for methods of laying out the frets. It definately makes interesting reading, but as far as I can tell nothing was ever patented in the UK - methods cant be patented here anyway - and the US patents expired a few years ago.

Novax hold a trademark on the term "Fanned Fret" though, so just call it multiscale and you'll be ok. :)
 

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