Building Bass no. 5

 Finished the last details and edging on top. It fits very nicely and easily together with the ribs. We are going to dehumidify somewhat before gluing. Then I worked on the inside of the back which was feeling too heavy and stiff.

 I shaped the bass bar. I was impressed by how perfectly it fit within the shape of this bass, according to the designer's instructions - Canadian bass maker Mario laMarre. The gluing turned out well.  I also did the fluting on one side, will carry on tomorrow. Just gentle fluting, not ski-slopes, and some thinning and shaping around the f-holes. Many great sounding old basses seem to have these characteristics, in my observations. The top is getting a nice feel.

Came in this morning and got the purfling and bass bar glued. It all looks good. The bass bar will be underneath the right place on the bridge foot. The bridge feet will be 5cm from the f-holes which is totally normal even the the f-hole eyes are wider apart than normal. The f-holes are also nicely placed in relation to the shape of the body and not too close to the edge. The little resin pocket that I filled will be hardly visible.

The bass bar is basically fitted. Then I fine tuned the outline a bit and cut the purfling channel which is easier to do without bass bar and before shaping the edge. I started fitting but only managed half way around.

 Today I cut the f-holes. The bass is starting to come to life with a Brescian character.

 Finished shaping and scraping the inside and placed the f-holes. This bass shape is so satisfying, now that the edges are clear you can see it would make a very nice pear shaped bass. Not all bass shapes do that. Also I figured out that drawing the f-holes on tracing paper and then transferring the pencil to the wood is so much easier than trying to manage the template on the arching.

Spent the day shaping the inside of the front. Itsy close now and you can get some lovely ringing tones and a deeeeep bass.

I spend the morning working details of the fit of the ribs to the back and front, then the afternoon hollowing out the inside of the top. There were quantities of pretty shavings.

Went home early yesterday because of midsummer, but came back to finish a few things off this morning. The rib garland holds its shape very nicely without the form now. The walnut stripes will be like a theme 

I scraped about 3/4s of the top. It's not the nicest work for hands but the result is satisfying. The arching is looking very nice. Then I got a phone call and after that, my hands said no more scraping. It'll be better tomorrow. I went onto to shaping the blocks and linings.

It's starting to look like a bass. The edges of the front are starting to take shape. And the resin pocket is filled.

I fixed the resin pocket and some other details, like the walnut inset under at the bottom block.

 Carried on with work from last week. The fiber shaping of the arching is one of my favourite jobs and it's really nice on the spruce. The relatively low arching seems to harmonise very nicely with the outline. The depth of the ribs will also compliment the arching. There's a resin pocket in the one corner which I'll have to fill.

The basic rough arching on the front is done, and I fitted most of the linings but didn't get to gluing today 

Now I know how the back fits to the ribs I can make the linings. I bent them today in between shaping the front. There is a lot of material to remove but it's easier than the ash.

Tommie and Axel cleaned the workshop while I was away. I came back after lunch and it was great to come back to. The back is looking good. I started working on the fitting. I can trim the excess now.  I'm also looking forward to being able to concentrate and focus on the build the next few weeks.

By the end of Thursday i was really physically tired from shaping all the work on the back, so I took Friday off, which was in any case a public holiday. Instead I worked on the presentation which om going to give tomorrow. It's almost ready. But it was good to get back to the build and finish the thicknessing of the upper part to an even 6 mm all over. Then I made the back break, sawing a channel on the inside. With heat and moisture, it bent very nicely. It will now sit under pressure for some time to make sure it is stable. This is the first time I've made a back break over an arch and it went perfectly fine and it will look much better too.

Continued hollowing out the inside.  I'm now down to between 6 and 7 mm most places and a bit thicker in the centre. Still a too much material but am starting to get a feel for the wood. It has some lovely subwoofer tap tones, and a nutty satisfying growl against the plane. The sapwood which is in the middle is a bit softer and the darker wood towards the edges harder. Which means I'll be able to thin it more towards the edges. It's just starting to he able to flex and you can feel the spring.

 Started roughing out the inside of the back. I don't do the depth holes - after a bad experience. I like getting a feel for the shape. Didn't have time to write in the numbers but I got it down to about 10mm over most of it. It's starting to feel like a shell, but still heavy and quite a bit more material to remove. I also worked more on the outline. It's not totally finished but you're starting to get an idea.

Spent the whole day shaping. Happy with the edge thicknesses so far and the arching. Started shaping the shape, done about half way. When I was tracing from the ribs I could see the bottom corners have been a little disobedient, which I'm actually pleased about as it introduces a bit of asymmetry - life, personality. The bass and I will continue this discussion.  It has come to the point where the wood is starting to talk, which is a particular sound you get when working it. And you can see how pretty the flames are.

Did quite a bit of the arching and thinning around the edges in preparation for fine cutting the shape. It's hard to take a picture of. The flames are looking very pretty.

Yesterday the whole workshop gang went to a concert at Trampverkstad (peddle workshop). An off grid woodwork shop. Magnus, who plays my 4th bass was playing with Ulrika and band. The bass is now more than half a year old and has settled in nicely. Ulrika is a delightful, captivating performer and Magnus is an excellent bassist. The bass sounded fantastic. During the interval we had a little tour of the trampverkstad upstairs. So exciting, it really me wondering how one would go about making a bass in that environment. We had very interesting discussions with Magnus Jakobsson and he gave us a couple of bandknivar (spoke shaved) to take back with us. He has so many vintage tools which people often just give him. I look forward to getting back to bass building today.