Tennessee Home Equity Loan Counter
CVB-IV
ÓCustom Variax Bass – FourÓ
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Here is the plan guys.
5-Piece Maple/Wenge/Rosewood Warmoth Deluxe 5 string bolt neck. Body will be
a sandwich of cocobolo/alder/cocobolo with no pickguard. Chrome hardware. I'm
not going to shoot nitro, I'm going to shoot polyurethane this time. WARNING,
COCOBOLO DUST IS TOXIC. YOU MUST WEAR A RESPIRATOR WHEN SANDING, CUTTING,
SAWING OR DRILLING THIS WOOD.
If you have questions I can be reached at |
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Thur. Oct.
5th 2006 The donor Line6
Variax 705 Bass from Sam
Ash's
scratch and dent sale. There were no scratches or dents on this guitar, but
it did look like someone had played it for a few hours. It was not brand
spank'n new, but good enough for a transplant. |
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Fri. Oct.
6th 2006 Ordered the 5-Piece
Maple/Wenge/Rosewood Warmoth neck today. I also went
to see Golab at Exotic
Woods
and hand picked the Cocobolo top and back for the body. They will laminate
the body for me. It should be ready late next week. The Left-handed Variax
500 came today for my next guitar build. |
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Fri. Oct.
20th 2006 I got the 705 back from my bassist Bob today, so I pulled the electronics out
and here they are. You know these are some very, very, very expensive
electronics on this build. Did I say these are expensive, you better believe
they were!!!! Still
waiting on the neck from Warmoth. The body wood was ready yesterday, I went
to to pick it up today and Goulab had let the shop crew go early at 11:00
because they were slow. IÕll get the wood Monday. 1hr |
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Sat. Oct.
21th 2006 I designed the body
today. It is a off shoot of a MTD bass with a slight bit more swoosh to the
body, a 2Ó longer top horn and a 3/4Ó longer lower horn. This will not have
any body contours, just a 1/4Ó roundover on the edge. 1-1/2 hrs. |
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Mon. Oct.
23rd 2006 Picked up the wood today. This is just absolutely gorgeous. The panels are for the peghead veneer and back covers |
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Mon. Oct.
23rd 2006 I cut the body with the
band saw really close to the line, probably with in 1/32Ó. I have had some
tearout on previous builds, I was told to do climb
cuts
and to leave as little material as possible after the band saw cut. WARNING,
COCOBOLO DUST IS TOXIC. YOU MUST WEAR A RESPIRATOR WHEN SANDING, CUTTING,
SAWING OR DRILLING THIS WOOD. 1-1/2 hrs. |
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The Back |
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Tue. Oct.
24th 2006 Taping the template to
the body so I can rout the final guitar shape. Cut and sand template 2 hrs. |
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Tue. Oct.
24th 2006 I routed the body with a
template bit that rides the template and follows its
contours with out cutting the template, and then used a 1/4Ó roundover router
bit to roundover the edge. I also sanded a little to smooth everthing out. 3-1/2 hrs. |
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Tue. Oct.
24th 2006 Cocobolo / Alder /
Cocobolo |
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Wed. Oct.
25th 2006 Tonite I made two new
templates for the back cavity. The actual cavity rout template and the cover
plate recess template. The 705 electronics need more space then the 500 electronics
because the pots are all in a line on one circuit board, so I added more
space in the lower bout so the pots will be out of the way of the jack when
it is installed. 2-1/2 hrs. |
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Thur. Oct.
26th 2006 Template taped and positioned
for routing the cavity. |
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Thur. Oct.
26th 2006 Once again you use a template bit in the router that follows the template
for cutting the rout. WARNING,
COCOBOLO DUST IS TOXIC. YOU MUST WEAR A RESPIRATOR WHEN SANDING, CUTTING,
SAWING OR DRILLING THIS WOOD. |
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Thur. Oct.
26th 2006 Cavity and battery
compartment completed. 2-1/2 hrs. |
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Fri. Oct.
27th 2006 The casing that the
electronics came in besides being shielding it is also to support the circuit
boards structually. I needed to use part of the casing to support the
selector knob, so I cut the
casing to be useful for this build. 1-1/2 hrs. |
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Fri. Oct.
27th 2006 Cut in the pot holes. WARNING,
COCOBOLO DUST IS TOXIC. YOU MUST WEAR A RESPIRATOR WHEN SANDING, CUTTING,
SAWING OR DRILLING THIS WOOD. 1 hr. |
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Fri. Oct.
27th 2006 Test fit of the pot
boards. 1/2 hr. |
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Fri. Oct.
27th 2006 I think I am going to
recess the knobs a little bit. |
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Sat. Oct.
28th 2006 I used a 7/8Ó forstner
bit to slightly recess the pots as per Jeff MillerÕs informational website. 2-1/2 hrs. |
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Sun. Oct.
29th 2006 Cut the matching
cocobolo rear covers this morning 2 hrs. |
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Mon. Oct.
30th 2006 Neck arrived from Warmoth today |
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Mon. Oct.
30th 2006 Cut and glued cocobolo
peghead veneer to headstock. 1-1/2 hrs. |
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Tue. Oct.
31st Halloween 2006 Glue dried. |
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Routed, cut, drilled
& rough sanded. 1 hr |
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Fri. Nov.
3rd 2006 Routed neck pocket. 2 hrs. |
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I really took my time when I made the template for the neck pocket. As you see it came out just perfect. |
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Cut the truss rod cover out of a piece of cocobolo that was darker so I could have a little contrast up there. |
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Cut and sanded the truss
rod cover. 1/2 hr |
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Sun. Nov.
6th 2006 Routed for the bridge 1 hr. |
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Routed for the jake
plate 1 hr. |
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Tue. Nov.
7rth 2006 Stew-Mac has a help file for installing a neck bolt holes. I tried it on CV-II and the bolt holes were a little off. Well this time I decided to try my own way to align the holes. I took some drywall screws and cut about 1/2Ó off and then screwed it into the bolt holes on the neck. |
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Next I put the neck into the pocket and used the heel of my palm to apply a little pressure to the point of the screws. |
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Then you will have indentations in the neck pocket exactly where you need to drill. |
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Holes drilled. 1 hr. |
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Drilled the recesses for
the neck bolt ferrules. Almost ready to start sanding this bass, just a
couple more holes to drill. 1/2 Hr. |
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Drilled the recesses for
the magnetic cover magnets. 1/2 Hr. |
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Wed. Nov.
8th 2006 Drilled and recessed
holes for strap lock buttons. 1/2 hr. |
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I Drilled the magnet holes
and installed all the magnets that I had. I was a few magnets short so
ordered some more from Amazing
Magnets. 1-1/2 hrs. |
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All of the drilling, routing
and cutting is complete. Started the hand sanding by using some 60 grit
sandpaper and smoothing out the cuts from routing the body on the edge. After
the 60 I used some 100 grit on the edge to remove sanding scratches. 4 hrs. |
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Sun. Nov.
12th 2006 Drilled the last holes,
the ones for the bridge. 1/2 hr. |
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Sanded the top and back
with 100, 180, 220 and lastly 320. I had to tape the edge of the cocobolo
because when I would sand the sides, the oily red sandind dust would get into
the alder and turn it yellowish-orange. So by taping off the cocobolo I was
able to sand the alder to its natural color even though I know that the first
step in the finishing (sealing with sprayed shellac) will turn the alder a
slightly darker color anyway. 4 hrs. |
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The natural oils and
resins contained in cocobolo can retard the absorption of oxygen into the
finish and not allow some finishes to cure for months. So I put two coats of
sprayed shellac on to seal in the oils from the cocobolo. IÕll let this cure
for a day or two. 1-1/2 hrs. |
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Sat. Nov.
18th 2006 After the shellac cured for
3 days I lightly sanded and then grain-filled the shellac with shellac. I
have not been very successful using oil or paste type grain fillers so what I
do is fill the grain with the actual finish. What you do is spray a couple
coats of your finish on the guitar and then after it dries, with a plastic
scraper and a lot of time you put a little of the finish on a small area
about 2Ó by 2Ó and then scraping and packing the finish into the pores. You
do this multiple times in the same area until that area is smooth then move
to the next area and repeat. It took about 1 and a half hours to do the top
and about the same amount of time on both the back and the sides. After the
grain was filled I scuffed the finish with 320 sandpaper and shot one more
coat of shellac. When that coat dries, about 2 to 4 hours, I buffed the
finish smooth with 3M Scotchbrite grey (7448) before I sprayed my
first coat of Lawrence-McFadden polyurethane, and then a second coat
4 hours later. The poly is a very high solids finish and does not evaporate
away like nitro-cellulose does. So I am thinking maybe 3 total coats of the
poly. The poly looks like plastic on the guitar where the nitro looks more
like glass to me. They both are extremely glossy they just seem to reflect
differently. 9 hrs. |
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Sun. Nov.
19th 2006 After the second coat of
polyurethane dried for 12 hours, I wet sand everything smooth with 320
wet/dry sandpaper and a small 1-1/2Ó x 1-1/2Ó x 5/8Ó block of lucite. You will
find that most people say to sand with 400 wet/dry at this point, but I like
to use 320 because it cuts much faster. Be careful that you donÕt sand
through to the wood with the 320 though. 3 hrs. |
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3rd coat of polyurethane
sprayed 1/2 hr. |
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Tue. Nov.
21st 2006 Wet sanded again with
400 wet/dry before the 4th coat of urethane. 1-1/2 hrs. |
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Shooting the 4th coat of
polyurethane. 1/2 hr. |
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Tue. Nov.
21st 2006 I waited four hours and shot
the fifth and final coat. The directions on the polyurethane says to wait at
least 72 hours (3 days) and then sand and buff. I am going to wait 120 hours
(5 days) and sand and buff this out Sunday. ItÕs Thanksgiving in two days and
we have a big weekend planed so I canÕt get to this until Sunday night. IÕm
anxious to see how this polyurethane performs. 1/2 hr. |
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Mon. Nov.
27th 2006 Wet sanded with 400 then
600 then 1000 wet/dry. Next buffed with the menzerna medium compound on the buffer.
Finally buffed with menzerna fine compound, which brought the polyurethane up
to a glass finish. 10-1/2 hrs. |
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Tue. Nov.
28th 2006 Lightly sanded the neck
with 320 and then shot two coats of clear on the neck the truss rod and rear covers tonight. 2 hrs. |
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Wed. Nov.
29th 2006 Level wet sanded the
neck and covers with 400 sandpaper. 1 hr. |
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Wed. Nov.
29th 2006 Added logos to the
headstock and truss rod cover. I finally decided on a definitive logo. I used
laser
printer water-slide decals. The problem that I have run into here is that
with a laser printer, they donÕt print white (they print from a combination
of four toners, usually (CMYK) cyan, magenta, yellow and black). The cocobolo
wood is so dark that no individual or combination mix of CMYK shows up very
well on the headstock. So I went with what you see here. 2-1/2 hrs. |
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Sat. Dec.
2nd 2006 Sanded and buffed the
neck, the rear covers and the truss rod cover. Installed the neck, tuners,
bridge and electronics. Then polished by hand with Meguiars Scratch-X to
remove all the little scratches from handling the guitar all day long. 10 hrs. |
Completed.
WARNING,
COCOBOLO DUST IS TOXIC. YOU MUST WEAR
A
RESPIRATOR WHEN SANDING, CUTTING, SAWING OR DRILLING THIS WOOD.
If you have questions I can be reached at