Jared McMahon
07-26-2011, 4:53 PM
I've started my first instrument build. It's going to be an electric bass, neck-through design with hard maple and padauk laminations between khaya wings. The shape is going to be vaguely Rickenbacker-like. The work is blended, with rough stock prep on a bandsaw and the cavities and truss rod slot likely cut using a router, and the fine smoothing, shaping and other operations done using hand tools.
My initial impression of luthiery is that each individual operation is straightforward but having all the components come together accurately is going to be the real trick. Either way, it should be a fun exercise.
Below is a pic of the neck laminations roughly sized. I spent some time over the weekend planing them with my #4-1/2 and #7 to remove the saw marks. I also spent a fair bit of time tuning my bandsaw and realizing most of those saw marks never needed to happen. :O
203146
My initial impression of luthiery is that each individual operation is straightforward but having all the components come together accurately is going to be the real trick. Either way, it should be a fun exercise.
Below is a pic of the neck laminations roughly sized. I spent some time over the weekend planing them with my #4-1/2 and #7 to remove the saw marks. I also spent a fair bit of time tuning my bandsaw and realizing most of those saw marks never needed to happen. :O
203146