I started off by installing the two-way truss rod in this Extended Range Bass and double-checking the headstock design..

then a few things of beauty arrived.. a 20th anniversary Ibanez, it has pretty lighhts in it but weighs way too much..

and the fingerboard just doesn't match in with the rest of the instrument!  I will be building a replacement neck with much cooler inlays that will help the whole thing blend together!

an 8 string Novax fan-fretted beasty!  Soooo comfortable to play despite the extra strings!

not very pretty though, what can you do.. functionality over looks is sometimes the way to go!

this Ricky copy has had some nasty things done to the tuners.. in other words the holes were routed for much bigger tuners and the the originals replaced, leaving gapeing holes and tuning posts that leaned over and looked like they were about to snap!  Not good..

I replaced the ferrules with larger ones to fill the holes correctly

and then, using the original smaller tuners, taped metalic tape around the posts to come up with the correct size.  The tape was sealed with epoxy to make an almost impregnable material and we have a fully working, cosmetically sound, bass guitar!

And then on to the ERB, half of the fingerboard will be left perfectly flat to accomodate the tapping style of playing.. and the guitar side needs a 9 1/2 inch radius to help with bend etc.. here I plane the camber by hand. 

after it is double-checked the whole fingerboard is sanded through the grits to give a great finish

and the fret positions are marked in place

and laboriously cut

a small triangular file is used to round over the edges of the fret slots, this helps when banging the frets in and also reduces grain tear-out when the neck is refretted

every fret is glued in place for neck stability and better tone transfer

and then the fret ends are snipped and filed over to a comfortable angle

and here's what she's gonna look like

I must say I'm having a lot of fun with this project

and it's all glued in place!

More tomorrow!

VB,

B

crimson guitars  -  redefining custom