I spent the entire weekend running about, and yet accomplishing little. The fence is still (STILL!) not complete, thanks to the weather, and so I was not able to get any work done on the bass.

I think my goal for this week is to join the facings - meaning there will be sanding, gluing, clamping and praying. The Hiscock book has detailed pics and instructions on how to join facings, so it shouldn't be too daunting...(crosses fingers).

I'm still trying to scrape up the money for the body core - $73.90 for 1-1/2 inch thick one piece mahogany, shipped. Once I receive the blank wood, I'll glue facings and work on carving the body. Then I can concentrate on the rest of the hardware I will need.

This leaves:
Tuners (probably Hipshot/Wilkinson compact R2L2)
Neck (????)
Pickups (Still looking into these - definitely going with 2 passive soapbars, but still looking at a possible preamp)
Bridge (looking for a good high-mass bridge that aesthetically pleases me)

Open questions:
Laminate a 'stripe' wood between the facings and core (a black thin veneer?)
Neck - build or buy?

Crikey, I'm exhausted. Spent most of the weekend building a fence - practicing my woodworking skillz for when it really counts...:)

I'm still waffling on body material - pricing mahogany and ash. debating whether I want to attempt to make the main body blank myself. I came to the realization Friday that the wonderful mahogany I picked up 2 weeks ago will be completely useless: it's only 3/4" thick, which means I would be stacking laminate layers in order to get to a workable body thickness. I tried to do some research to see if any builders use multiple thin laminate layers, but so soap - and laminating multiple layers on top of the mahogany seems fraught with peril.

So, I'm back to Square 1.5: I have my facings, but no core.

I may have to take a jaunt to Forest Products Monday to see if they have any mahogany that would be workable: I'd rather go with a one-piece core for stability, but we'll just have to see.

In other news, the tool appropriation is coming along. I picked up a block plane and spokeshave, and am loaded for bear with sandpapers of varying grits. I'm keeping my eyes open for a plunge router, hand rasp and electric finishing sander.

The Miracle of Photoshop....

So - here's a mockup of what the Winter project body will look like....

The core will be mahogany, the front and back facings will be spalted maple (is it pronounced 'shpalted', or 'ssspalted'?? whatever.) with a layer of black veneer between the core and facings.

Still working out the details - hardware, neck, etc. - but it's a good visual start.

EDIT: Okay, the top pic is if I rotate the maple top 180 degrees. This way, it shows more of the spalt, but doesn't have that matching center spalt area right behind the bridge. Decisions, decisions....

So, this is what the top of the new bass will look like. 1/4" Spalted Maple, bookmatched facings. I'm still debating about the rest of the wood - my mahogany core is 3/4" thick, and adding these on, we're at 1". I need to get the body up to 1-3/4 inch or approximately 40mm thick, so I may get some 3/4" maple for the back. The problem is: where to get it.

I could also tweak the laminate sammitch a bit - add some dyed black veneer between the spalted top and the mahogany in front, and between the core and whatever wood I use for the back. Sort of an 'accent line'.

I'm really starting to think a maple or ash - 3/4" - for the back, and also the lighter wood would help match the spalt of the maple. (also be 'affordable'...ifyaknowwhutimean...)

The long-awaited 'Harbor Freight Parking Lot Sale' was today. Of course, it was raining and cold, so it turned into the 'Harbor Freight cramabunchapeopleinthestorelookingforbargains Sale'. Of course, nothing I could afford was on sale, and everything that *was* on sale wasn't useful to me at this time. The block plane I'm after is in stock, so I may have to pick that up this weekend at some point. That would bring my inventory of woodworking tools to exactly '3'.

Between Boodah (the woodworking fiend) and Guido, I should be able to score just about everything I'll need to get going, once I scare up funds and supplies. I even found out today that a co-worker has a belt sander, a small planer, and access to an industrial planer - and offered their service up! So - after supplies, a couple of Dremel bits and glue, the only thing I should be spending money on is lumber.

This week's Facepalm...brought to you by "Craig's Guitars".

So, over lunch I decide to take a jaunt over to a local lumber company, which specializes in craft and exotic woods, looking for lumber for the Winter Bass Construction Project (tentatively titled 'Nine-Finger Johnson's Homemade Bass Gee-tars').

I wandered around, asked a few questions, and then rambled into the 'exotic woods' section. Wonderful wood - Bubinga, Curly Maple, all sorts of exotic species - but nothing in the thickness I need.

Specifically, I'm looking to build a bass with a 1-1/4" core of mahogany (for heft and tone) and 1/4" facings on the front and back (for 'teh purties').

well, long story short, I wrapped the dimensions around in my head, pulled a Willy Wonka and reversed them...and ended up with a $20 dimensional piece of mahogany that's 1/2 inch thick.

I'm trying to figure out how to use it - maybe a laminate sandwich with another 1/2" piece somewhere down the line - but we shall see. It might be a $20 lesson in 'measure twice, cut once, and make darn sure you have the dimensions written down AND reference them'

Maybe....AdSense wasn't such a good idea, after all.

I happened to look at the front page, trying to get ideas for what I can change the layout to, or how I can freshen up the look, and Sweet Mother Of Bill Bixby! Ads, ads, everywhere!

I may have to reconsider this. Is it worth the potential $0.05 I could earn when that one person stumbles onto the site, clicks the shiny link and actually visits an advertiser?

Am I that willing to feed the mercenary part of my being?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
So - after stopping and starting, starting and stopping, I am resolved to make every effort to maintain this on a regular basis. There's plenty to write about, and I haven't put thoughts down in far too long. It's probably going to take some time to get back into the groove, but it'll worth it. Just like folding laundry.

The main reason I decided to take (yet another) stab at this is my latest fixation: building a bass guitar. Since 'The Band' has been meeting informally, making noise and kicking ideas around on an infrequent basis, I've been taking my bass playing more seriously. And - whenever I take things more seriously, that usually means one thing: I spend money on STUFF.

Be it Magic cards, camping equipment, fishing gear, home improvement, painting, writing, model building, poker, web design, fly fishing, basket weaving - you name it. Whenever I get 'inspired' or excited about something, I have always thrown buckets of money at the gear that may or may not be necessary. It's an obscene form of OCD (excuse me, CDO) that I've suffered with since I was a child.

Case in point:

When Tony and Rob asked me to start playing again, I had my Trusty Jazz bass, a cord, and little else. The Jazz had been relegated to hanging on the wall in the family room - a display piece, more than anything - and I had no amplifier, a basic strap and one lonely 1/4" cable. No amp, no other gear - not even the machine that goes 'ping'.

Tony told me he had an amp available, as had Robert, so all I really needed was the bass. Since the Jazz had been little more than decoration in the last 10 years, I gave it a thorough setup, cleaned it, and got it ready to play.

2 months later, I had acquired the following gear:

GK Backline Combo amp
Boss Bass Chorus pedal
Boss GEB-7 Equalizer pedal.

And had replaced the pickups in Teh Jazz with DiMarzio Ultra Jazz humbuckers, and added a Hipshot D-tuner for drop-D tuning on the fly.

Fast forward to today - 6 months after the first Reunion Practice, and my gear now includes:

Boss TU-2 Tuner
Boss BF-3 Flanger
Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive
Boss LMB-3 Bass Limiter/Enhancer
Danelectro Cool Cat Tremolo
Boss RV-3 Digital Delay/Reverb
Dunlop Crybaby Bass Wah
Digitech Whammy
Custom Powered Pedalboard
OLP Music Man Stingray 5-string

...and there's yet more gear on my list.

what i'm REALLY Jonesing for, however, is a new bass. (yes, I know I just got one.) Unfortunately, the bass I want is no longer being made - the Wal Mach II Custom. Prices on the secondary market for used Wals routinely push $5000 - $6000, and there is NO WAY I'm gonna be able to afford that in my lifetime.

So - the next best option is to make my own. Which is my winter project....

ADSENSE IS ENABLED. BE VERY AFRAID.

...after ignoring this for too long, I'm going to get cracking, redesign it, and start posting again. with Winter looming, and tons of things going on, there's no reason *not* too.