Building the uber-J. Part Eight.

It's all in the head. And in the neck.
The last eight days were spent mainly working on the neck and headstock. Granted, I managed to slot in a few days idling by the beach. But I think I deserve that, after two months in cold London/Prague/Paris/Milan. Late spring my ass.

The neck is really hard work. Sand, check, re-sand, re-check. Repeat till you're done. Take a closer look. Repeat all of the above. Avoid taking another look if it's dinner time.

It is a great pleasure seeing it come to life under your fingers and blisters. I so understand those who do this as a full time job. I kinda start seeing my retirement plan here.

Anyway, I wanted the neck to be thin but not flat in the center - a thin D shape. The lower part from the 7th fret to the end is slightly more tapered than the upper part - akin to that of my old Tobias. Not so noticeable, though.

After testing the position of the neck scarf a few times I found it a little too low. To be exact it was below the center line of the 1rst fret. Now it's a little above that and it feels just right. The smooth feel of the ebony under my thumb is phenomenal - and I haven't used any fine sanding paper as yet. I just love this wood. It should be made mandatory for sheer thumb ecstasy.

I have devoted yet another day to the headstock. In the overall economy of the project it seems like I'm lingering on it way much. But I am so very happy with the result! I'll do the final touch ups next. There I go again...

Some more time was spent shaping the neck pocket and heel. It still felt a little too big. I don't rule out more touch ups.

I know, I know... it should all be decided beforehand, on a locked down master plan. And it is. Almost. Sure enough the next Uber-Jay will be exactly the same. Almost ;)

To me doing this is an ongoing creative process. I won't change my mind on the overall direction. Only, the deal I made with myself does account for few digressions.

OK, I'm digressing. Where was I?...the body. I dedicated one full day to sanding the body back and giving the lower horn a sharper, more defined line.

Hopefully, the pictures below will do justice to the grain and texture of this Asian wood. To me the grain itself would be already enough to make it beautiful. But the flame all over it...oh boy!


Next week: Routing the electronics cavity; Drilling holes for the neck joint and on the headstock. Working on the cavity cover, which I believe it's going to be in wood. Any guess as which wood? ;)
I have a little inlay in mind - which shouldn't take me more than a day to do. I should be able to finish all this by next Friday. If I don't screw up too much, that is.

Thanks for reading this far.

O(=<

Building the uber-J. Part Five.

Back to work, with a vengeance.

I've got to say this: it's good to be back. I came back from Europe at the beginning on March and I've been stuck with a lot of work until last week. Then I've been stuck with one week off to the beach ;)

Now I'm finally back and hungry for more sanding, sawing, routing and all that Jazz. er.... ;)

My hiatus wasn't in vain though. I have finally found answers to a few issues I had left pending and I am going to line them up as the project unfolds - I'm sucker for drama, sorry ;)

So, the last few days have been dedicated to reshaping the body a bit. You might not be able to see that in this pictures, but it is slightly smaller.

The lower horn is now starting at around the 21st fret. Which means I had to re-shape the contour of the back.

I am leaving the shape of the neck joint untouched till I am done with the neck. Eventually it will be a lot smaller and less chunky than this.

Now that all the parts are finally here, I will start routing. On the masking paper I have marked down the position of the two p-ups (Bartolini) and bridge for routing.

I am using the same p-up placement as J basses made in the '60-'70 and from '82 onwards, which to me produces a more balanced sound than that of 70s models . I'll leave it there for now and take care of the neck.

Deciding on the shape and size of the headstock gave me headaches. I finally settled on this.

It is considerably smaller than the original J and there are quite a few important (IMHO) touches I am going to add later on.
So bear with me for the time being.

I must confess: sanding the fingerboard radius is not one of my favorite in-door activities. But I always try my best to see the beautiful side of things.

This is the fingerboard with frets' slots, still flat before sanding it to the radius.
As my mentor Jeffrey says: Until the center line is gone.



















So there. One and half hour later, the line is gone. The radius is 14, quite a bit more flat that the old J. For this neck I have settled on a 40mm width at the nut and 55mm at the 22nd fret - which is a lot narrower than the original 70s J.
These are the routing for the truss rod and pick-ups
They just needs to become a little smoother.

I have taken the last picture with the fingerboard sitting on the body, just to see the effect of Birdseye Mable on Macassar Ebony. Even at this rough stage...boy, I love it! :)

Commercial break. Stay tuned. :D

Lesson learned: My ol' Jaydee taught me.

After 23 years the fingerboard of my old Jay Dee Supernatural and its truss rod had to be replaced. In the meantime I had entered this dangerous phase of my life when I want to know basses inside out - the most recent by-product of it being the upcoming Uber-J ;) - see the progress in archive on the right.

























I wanted to do it myself, hands on and, under the guidance of a luthier I know, I took on the challenge.

First thing I did was to remove the old Ebony board - and almost my left thumb while at that.
It's one tough MFSOB of a job! It's hours spent heating up the old wood, trying to take it out only to see it cracking into tiny pieces which you'll have to deal with one by one - with pain. Believe me, after one hour of that you will want to pay whatever the guy's asking.

And here's Lesson One: Building instruments really is hard work and that costs money.

But I finished the job. Doing this forced me to notice and ponder over tiny things which a player doesn't necessarily need to know, being mostly focused on the 'feel' of the thing as opposed to the way it works. I learned how to choose the wood, prepare the fingerboard, decide the radius, bind it, glue it, choose the size of the frets, fret it, er...re-fret it, oil it.

Playing on a fingerboard I know this well is a feeling I haven't experienced so far and it is affecting the way I play this bass.

And here's Lesson Two: God is in the details.

Together with replacing the old truss rod with a new double action one I wanted to add stiffness to the neck. So I considered adding two graphite rods. Hence the chilling question:

"Do graphite rods affect (negatively or positively) the sound of a wooden bass which was not made with graphite rods to begin with?"

It's a honest question, if you ask me. Many have argued over it since graphite first appeared in the bass universe. You know those 'headless vs headstock' or 'sound-of-wood vs sound-of-electronics' kinda debate? There you go.

To know for sure - or close enough - the only way is to have two identical wooden basses, one with and the other without CF rods. Of course there is no such a thing like two identical wooden basses. Ah ah ah. So the next best thing is to take a chance and do it to a bass you know very, very, very - did I hear very? - well. Like mine.

Which is exactly what I did.

Now I cannot speak as a builder because I ain't. But I am a bass player, I can tell you that. And my answer is a humble, resonant, rounded 'hell no'. Nope, niet, pas de tout, nein.

I couldn't notice any difference at all. Same strings, same amp, same player etc. The bass sounds the way it always did. Maybe my neighbor's cat hears something I don't. But, as far as I'm concerned, if I can't hear it it isn't there.

The graphite rods did however make the neck beautifully straight, stiff, and believe me, absolutely impervious to the humidity level of a tropical rain forest during the rainy season. But that is a side effect I can happily live with ;)

End of the debate, as far as I'm concerned.

So, my Lesson Three is: What seems to have a point in theory might not have one in practice. Do it and see for yourself.

























The Best for last: Lesson Four.

I wanted to add a few personal touches to my Jay Dee, but was intimidated by the old fear of spoiling the market value of the instrument. But I really, reeeeeally wanted to add an inlay myself and most importantly fix a few details which were key to my playing pleasure.

So I did the inlay. It took me two months. It might not be a masterpiece of perfection but I like it and I learned a lot, especially Lesson One all over again. Inlaying is one hell of a job which requires patience, precision, time, dedication, a sharp eyesight and good taste.

Then I added an oval shaped Ebony/Maple to fill the gap between fingerboard and body. It works with my slapping technique, which requires 5mm max distance between strings and body. For the same reason I had to file the edge of the fingerboard's lower angle to a smooth rounded shape right down to the neck. It just works for me. You can see both modifications in the picture above.

And here's Lesson Four: If it works for me I'm gonna do it. Screw the market value.
What I have learn easily compensates me for the monetary loss - if! Plus, I ain't gonna sell this love after 23 years :) Which brings me to the Special Wisdom Prize

Special Wisdom Prize: The Lesson of a lifetime.

I bought this bass brand new in 1987. I my early years I wasn't in the position to own more than two basses. To buy this one I had to sell my Music Man Sting Ray - a '77 I believe...yeah, don't say a word ;) (Fore the records, the second bass I had at that time was a fender Precision fret-less class '73. Ask me where that one is now, please?)

Years later when I had more cash to spare I tracked down the owner - it wasn't easy, the bass had changed hand a couple of times! - only to see it disappear again, for good this time.

And here is the lesson: Never sell a great bass.
Not even to buy another great bass. Sell your car, sell your next 5 years worth of booze, sell your ass if you have too. Later on, you'll never miss them as much as you will miss that great bass you once let go.

Thanks for listening

>=)O

ps: In case you asked, I sold the '73 P to buy a Wal Mark I fret-less - a gorgeous bass, not from this Earth. It will follow me into my grave. Wood smells good underground ;)

Building the uber-J. Part Three.

More body work and starting the neck.

















Today I have worked on the neck and on the body. The clamps are gone and the edges of the body and top have been sanded. I chose not to have veneer between top and body and to do without bindings. In a way I don't want to stray too far from the simple character of the J. Later I will round the edges.












I've been torn between the different types of Maple available. Some are truly gorgeous. In the end I decided to go for the humble simplicity of the Rock Maple. Again, an homage to the J frugality.

These are the laminate woods before and after the sanding, now ready for being glued. I decided to make it a three pieces laminated neck with Makassar Ebony as the central wood. After so much 'paying respect' to Mr. FJ I wanted to add a little rebel touch ;)
Be as it may, The Ebony should both stiffen the neck - which is going to be a lot thinner than the original FJ - and echo the body top.

This is the neck clamped. Nothing to add. Just sit and wait. Till Monday...









This is the fingerboard, partially sanded - Birdseye Maple, another little mutiny ;)









I have started shaping of the body. You can see how deep the chest recess is. I play with the bass fairly high and don't have a belly to speak of. Thus, the contour has to follow the shape of my chest.
















Shaping it was a crude job. I'll finish on Monday...probably. You can see the pencil mark on the lower horn. That wood will have to go. Many basses deal with the problem of playing the high position by changing the shape of the horn into a slimmer one, further away from the neck. That works and it almost always looks good. But on a FJ I think it'd be ugly and I pledged to keep the front look intact.

By shaving off the back of it I plan to give my left hand all the space it needs without changing the shape of the horn. I think it should work. If you pay attention to the way the horn interferes with the left hand you'll notice that in reality the culprit is the back, not the front.

Can't wait to put this theory to a test.

>=)O