Bass builds update 11

Wheee! I build more basses! And I destroy basses! after all the hard work of fixing all my mistakes, I finally broke down and tore it up and fixed all the mistakes in one big go. There's a huge slab of purpleheart running through my EB now. Yay. Almost done at this point! Almost!

Bass build update 10

Holy transformations Batman!
I ended a relationshop (not a typo).
I moved to Montreal.
I have bought power tools.
I begin anew the guitar building.

Right-handed tele special for DvR. one-piece ash body, humbucker in the neck position. custom wound pickups, custom control plate. I'll get the details from DvR soon and post them. Warmoth neck, 50's fat neck profile. Looks like it'll get a treatment of hard-core red before a nice polyurethane high-gloss finish. It's almost done.
Lefty SG-style bass for me. Coming together now. Should be completed sooner rather than later. May change bridge type.
Right-handed custom tele-bass for SvR. Hollowed out hardbody, 2-piece laminate black korina with shedua book-matched top and custom ebony skunk stripe down the front. Custom f-hole and all custom hardware. Boy is it purrrrrdy.
Next build: For me, lefty bass of some sort. Bolt-on. Black korina body. Can't decide on body shape. Either T-Bird or Mockingbird.

Bass build update 9

Did more work this weekend. I will post updated pics this evening.
I had a really fancy bridge plate carved out of ebony ready to go and a nice little routed out section for it to fit in nicely. After putting the neck on and the standing the bridge on top, I realised that it would be too high. Much too high... oh gawd. So I started routing a deeper hole... and... I got lazy and messed it up! So I took an even bigger chunk out and tried to even things out. What I got was a huuuuuge gap taken out, much like the one I took out for the faulty neck pocket. ah well.
So I installed another nice piece of padouk in there and didn't like it. So looking around the shop, I realised I had a nice little hunk of cocobolo ready to go! Voila! Now to fill in the gaps... in comes the padouk again! Put some padouk inlays on each side of the cocobolo and then I put a purplish slab of rosewood right at the tail. So the grains cross. I have no idea what, if anything, that will do to the tone, but I am learning, so I forgive myself.
In the meantime, I have been working on a more accurate method for building basses and guitars: a big jig! I will attempt to precision-build the jig this weekend. Hooray! Pics of that to come too.
Over and out.

Bass build update 8

Pics coming soon...
Did tons of work on mine and Sarah's basses this past weekend. Won't say a thing about Sarah's bass though, so tough patootie for now.
Workshop got moved to the garage for the weekend because of the rain. It was kinda fun to be working in there with the door open and the rain coming down hard. Dusty though... Red padouk dust ended up everywhere! Anywho, finally set-up the router table and tested the sanding drums I bought. IT'S FREAKIN' AWESOME! I made very quick work of my bass on that thing. All blemishes are gone, gone gone! Well, those on the edges anyways...
Laminated the padouk neck-pocket insert. It took well despite me having to throw in some glue and dust mixture to fill in the gaps (this totally works). I filled in any major gaps with more padouk and I also put in an ebony inlay bar at the join on the top of the body. It's currently drying so no pics of the finished, sanded top yet. I put the neck in and the pocket is tight enough that I can hold it aloft sans screws. And it's straight. Whew!
Made measurements for the bridge positioning and height and it turns out I have a lot of routing to do to get that ebony base-plate in there. I'm wondering if I should even bother? Could simply fill in the gaps as-is and position the bridge deeper in the body. Who knows? Pics will make this clearer, I think.
I'm very happy that I started in on Sarah's bass now. Although I can't talk about it, I've already learned a great deal and that means a lot to me. I love this learning and building process!
Ok, now I need 250k pots. Need 4 more. Then I solder!
Gosh I wish the workshop was at my own home... I'm enjoying myself so much doing this that I really need to get a few more instruments out. That's why I'm seriously considering a Carvin neck-through neck and a couple cheapie Warmoth/All-Parts/Mighty Mite necks as well. If I can build a couple really nice lefty basses, I should be able to sell them. So much work...

Bass build update 7

Sorry, no new pics at this point. Received most of my hardware. Got it shipped from Guitarpartsresource.com. I recommend them for now. Jess is very nice.
won't be spending any time building until after Sabypalooza - www.sabypalooza.com.
Neck pocket update: routed out a big chunk so I could put a piece of padouk in there. Everything fits nicely, I just have to sand the bottom of the huge cavity so I can get the laminate to bind properly. I'm thinking of making a pseudo mortar from white glue and sawdust to fill in the cracks. I think this may work well. We shall see.
Woodworking update: laminated 2 pieces of hardwood together to begin building a custom Awalé board. Should be fun.
Broken Gibson Headstock update: fixed my buddy's Gibby. Headstock snapped. Surprise, surprise. Glued it back but now have to clean up all the glue and fill in thepaint chips. Gonna use black ink on the wood and glue and cover with crazy glue in layers until chips are invisible. Fun fun fun.

Bass build update 6

Did more work on me bass. pics coming next week.
Did some shaping and scraping - heel contour roughed out, more shapping on the top and all-around. Almost done, really.
Oh... wait... yeah... messed up the neck pocket so much I have now refilled the holes and I will need to laminate another piece of hardwood onto the body and re-carve it. Boooooo!
Or, do something else... either way, I'm waiting for the bridge to come in before I re-measure and re-attach the neck.
Can't wait to get the hardware...

Looking ahead to more basses

Was talking to Steven last night - there are more basses to be built and I gotta get on it!
Next builds, ready to go:
Sarah's Tele-shaped bass. Can't tell you more than that as it's a surprise.
DvR's Tele. Plain and simple Tele with humbucker in the neck position.
New templates for me. I'll build a new SG template, a P-Bass template, a J-bass template and a Thunderbird template before doing anything else.

Future builds:
Craft a neck and see how that goes...
Lefty Tele with a righty-strat neck. Yeah, weird but it'll work.
Lefty neck-through T-Bird for me.
Lefty, 35" scale bass (not sure of body style) for me (this one's tricky - I'm thinking of ordering a completely blank neck from Warmoth and doing the fret-work myself)
2 or 3 lefty Steinberger-style, small-body basses and possibly a guitar. I may get the body wood soon on this project. Bubinga. Is very niiiiice.

Bass build update 5

Ok, lots to update although I've done no work since last weekend.
Using the rasp I'm able to take huuuuuuge chunks of wood out and I can shape the edges any way I want. Oh the power, how beautiful it is.
My order shipped today from Ohio. I hope it doesn't take too long - it's coming USPS. We shall see. Sadly, I'm missing 2 tuning heads for my bass... they'll ship later. Sarah gets all her parts though.
Next, in no particular order:
Finish carving the body
Route pickup holes
Install bridge
Carve control knobs
Install sound block
Drill grounding tunnel to bridge post
Route control cavity
Find a pleasing stain colour and apply it
Buy an oscillating barrel sander
Finish-sand the body
Apply Danish Oil finish
Install neck
Install all electronics
Install strings
Set-it up
Plug in, play.

Bass build update 4

ok, no bridge saddles on ebony. I've ordered a tune-o-matic bridge instead. started the filing of the body curves. it's all very exciting.
more to come!

Bass build update 3

So I tackled the bass again yesterday and learned a lot more about wood-working and planning. I'm obsessively going against common-sense by building a bridge from wood. I bought these beautiful pieces of cocobolo for this purpose. I also bought another ebony fretboard scrap just in case. Anywho, after scrapping 2 good chunks of ebony with the router, I called my friend Steve and borrowed his mitre saw. Now we're talking! Carved a nice, big chunky bridge from cocobolo and recessed the body so I could slot it in solidly. It looks gorgeous... too bad it's too high! Bah. So I carved an ebony bridge form 1/4 inch stock. Much better. Now I have a nice cocobolo bridge that will just have to find a home... oh no... heh. So next is installing the Fender-style bridge saddles on to the ebony. I'm going to chisel out a small track and dremel-it round so I have a small half-barrel-like shape that the saddle will fit into. I'm gonna get at the intonation a little and hopefully I won't be too far off. If I am, I'm not worried, I'll dig up some more until I get it right. After that, time for the sound-block. So I'm doing string-through and instead of putting metal ferrules, I'll be inserting a block of cocobolo in the bottom of the body. The strings will go through that block, into the body, out through the bridge and over the saddles all the way to the headstock. I'm gonna insert the ground wire in there somewhere too.
After all that? Pickups and electronics. Strings. Finishing touches. 2 more weeks hopefully before I can get started on the other 2 I have to build.
Hooray!

Bass build update 2

Pics still in same location - you'll see I routed out the rough body shape. Ok. I learned a lot. 1 - really should create a template for the neck cavity. Lesson learned. 2 - check your router bits before using. In the 4th pic, you'll notice the right body countour has a gouge in it. The bearing to the flush router bit flew off and I didn't notice. D'oh. 3 - when you feel yourself running out of patience, stop. I didn't stop and now I have to get a new piece of ebony for the bridge. 4 - Never, ever, ever try to cut corners. Luckily, I didn't.
Next steps: bridge positioning, string-through holes to be drilled, bridge carving, stain testing, paint removal from neck, body top carving. Yeah - I'm carving the top. It's a little nuts, but I want something unique.

Bass build - update

Ok, so I started this morning but I only had about an hour, so all I could do was take the Epi apart and cut out the rough shape of my SG template. While doing that, I actually discovered that I'll be able to use the tele template for a tele-shaped bass too. Good news that. pics located here.

Let the guitar-building commence

Have:

18" x 18" x 2" slab of dry, white korina. 2-piece.

Ebony fingerboard scrap for bridge-building

One big piece of masonite for template-making

Leftover bits from a Squier bridge

One fully-functioning right-handed red Epiphone EB-0 bass. It will die.

White glue and Gorilla glue

Plenty of screws and nails

Router

Jig-Saw

Drill

Clamps

Sandpaper

Motivation

Pencils

and a whole lot more...

Pics will be coming as soon as tomorrow morning. Follow me while I build myself a lefty SG bass. Final specs should be:

30.5" scale

White Korina body with matching headstock.

Bolt-on mahogany neck with rosewood board. Painted red. Custom glow-in-the-dark side-markers. Original Epiphone tuners.

2x Seymour Duncan Phase II soapbars

Vol-Vol-Tone pots with one series/parallel switch

Handcrafted ebony bridge with brass saddles (from Fender-style bass bridge)

String-through

Tuned DGCF (or lower) with bottom 4 strings of a five-string set.

Wish me luck y'all!

Australian Banks hate me.

I got a new job! Then I lost it! Yay! As far as I know, the Toronto managers of this supposedly great company wanted to hire me and offered me a job. It was a great job, too. Sadly, the Australian HO decided that I wasn’t a perfect fit (based on the psychometric testing I did) and suggested I get offered a one-year contract instead so that they could fire me without penalty should I prove to not fit the bill. 1 week of assurances that I got the job. 1 week of getting excited. Finally, on Monday, hours before being offered a contract instead, I got excited and acutally believed everyone around me that this was going to happen. What a freakin' kick in the teeth. I hate you Australian bank.

Austin day 5

It's my birthday! Hooray! Walked around downtown all day with Sab and then met up with Matt and Pam at Antone's to catch Pinetop Perkins (95 years old!) and Jimmy Vaughan and guests. What a great show! Couldn't really stand after a few hours, so we left at around 11:45 and headed home for some wine and some good conversation.
Before the gig, Saby and I ate at Iron Works BBQ. It was sensational.
It was very warm all day, too. Niiiice!

(parentheses)

While enjoying the company of friends the other night, I proposed we each write an essay on a musical topic. Well, I haven't forgotten. I'll be writing an essay on the unique use of single instrument rhythms in music. Yeah, it'll be funky. Gonna work on it soon.

d.

Bass Emporium

Hey - forgot to mention the Bass Emporium in Austin! What a great place. Ed's a really nice guy despite not having any lefties. Shame! Of course, he *did* have 2 Gibson Eb-2s... oh man. And one of 'em had a rebuilt circuit with a nice button that one guy at the store affectionately called the Thunder Button. Boy was he right! Loved it!

Austin quick hit

Cool places I went to - map here.

Allen's Boots – Shopping, boots – got nothing, but it is an Austin institution and very cool.
Cavender's Boot City –Got boots, hat and 2 shirts. All for $210!
Sheplers – Got belt and buckle for a cool $36
The Thirsty Nickel – nice place, had a few beers, caught Diego’s Umbrella there. What a band!
Wild About Music – Neat souvenir store, all music-related stuff. Got a Bass-clef pen there for Sarah.
Nuno's – Austin institution – blues bar where we caught Princess and the ATX Boys as well as Nila Kaye
Antone's – Jimmy Vaughan, Pinetop Perkins and guests. Need I say more?
Fado Irish Pub – Horrible wait for beer and food. Cute waitress, all is forgiven.
The Oasis – Entirely weird experience, good food and drinks. AWESOME view.
The County Line – fun for the whole family. First experience of Texas brisket.
IronWorks – Best BBQ I had all week.
Moonshine – Great little restaurant, fun times with Matty and Saby.
Rudy's BBQ and Country Store – Second best BBQ ever. Awesome atmosphere, superb sauce.
Maria's Taco Express – totally cool place. Thanks to Guy Fieri’s show!
Austin Land and Cattle Company – Best steak in town, I’m sure of it. Great service from Adam the super-polite server.
The Iron Cactus – decent place, got a sunburn on the patio and enjoyed pork tenderloin Mexican style.
Chuggin Monkey – meh. Cheap beer.
The Old Pecan St. Café – ok service, ok food, chipped plates and glasses.
The Leaning Pear – superb location and service. Great food, dry county! Yeesh.
Chuy's – great Tex-Mex take out. Tasty burritos.
Austin Farmer's Market – Just a great experience. Loved the bison guy.
Vaspaio Enoteca Austin – neat little place, nice little patio, mmmm, tasty lemon dessert.
Toy Joy – for kids mostly. Had a blueberry-root-beer float made with non-dairy all-organic frozen dessert.
Bella Vista Ranch – the only commercial olive grove in Texas. Need I say more?

Austin Day 4

Finally! finally it's warm! And quite warm I may add. 30 degrees baby! Oh yeah! Love it! So now we're off to downtown Austin with our wonderful guide Matt. Walked all along 6th and 5th and 4th and up and down Congress and then accross to South Austin. It was fantastic! Ok, this day was packed with cool stuff, so I'll come back to it, but boy was it ever nice out!

d.

Austin Day 3

Ok, day 3 was awesome. We drove to Wimberley, TX.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=wimberley,+texas&sll=43.665628,-79.387614&sspn=0.007311,0.013733&ie=UTF8&ll=30.003409,-98.098297&spn=0.140036,0.219727&z=12&iwloc=addr
Why, you ask? well, that's where we went to Texas' only commercial olive grove! Yep, that's right, we went to the Mediterranean of Texas. We took a tour of the farm, took some pictures and listened to Jack as he told us all about olives and olive oil.
then we tasted. Man was that stuff ever good! Some really great olive oil there and some incredibly amazing balsamic vinegar too. yeah, he makes wine while he's at it too. fun stuff, truly. Wine was so-so, but the rest was top-notch.
After the tour, we hit Wimberley proper and went to a small café called The Leaning Pear. nice place, good lemonade. It's a dry county after-all... AARRGGHH! Had a wonderful meal despite and the sun finally came out for a peek. Took some great photos of the resto too. What a lovely place.
Had Bison for dinner. Yummy.

d.

Austin Day 2

ok, I'm a little lazy... I'm just not much of a writer.
Austin Day 2: went to the market. yup, the farmer's market. Bought some grass-fed bison, a bison-hide wallet, some grass-fed lamb, some free-range pork, some Swiss chard and some whatchamacallits. also got some other cool things for the week. What a cool experience that was to walk around the market in Austin. And Matty thought there was nothing like that here! what a guy.
After the market... errrr, not much of anything really. It was pretty windy, pretty cold. We stayed in, watched the Sens' game. I took a nap. We just relaxed all of us together!

sweet.

d.

Austin - day 1

Friday - airport. walking around. live music in the airport. neat-o. I'm in Austin baby!
Matt picks us up and off we go in traffic on the highway. I'm pretty tired but Sab's laughin', so everything's right with the world. Get to the Diotte homestead greet the girls... and Pam. Pam's happy to see us of course and the other two will come around at some point I'm sure. Open a cold beer and get a tour of the house - what a lovely place! No scorpions in sight. And then just like that, we're all piled in the minivan and we're off to BBQ. Place called The County Line. Love it. Had Texas beef brisket and smoked turkey matched with coleslaw and garlic mashed potatoes. I looooooove BBQ! What a view from the restaurant, too. Wow.
It's off to bed. More adventures follow!

Monkey Blog!

I'm going to Austin, Texas in a couple days. Here are some important facts I need to hold on tight to:

I will be seeing Jimmy Vaughan perform at Antone's on March 17th.
Turn on the lights when walking around at night - you don't want to step on a scorpion.
Yes, it's ok for me to want to come back with a new bass. It's just not a great idea.
Don't tell Saby anything she doesn't need to know. Of course, writing this here is detrimental to my health, but I'll risk it seeing as she knows this already.
American beer is not good for me.
Everything is bigger in Texas.
Just because they're cowboy boots and they come from there doesn't mean they're cheaper.
I'm on vacation.

For the one person following this blog, I'll post regular Austin rants on it. I guess it'd be nice if someone else read this thing, but I haven't told anyone else, so tough bananas for me I guess.

Mmmm, bananas.

Over and out amigos