The Scroll Shop (Ed of H's Shop Thread)

[cozmik_cowboy]

This one has been a big job Paul, bigger than usual. And that's the reason I put it on the backburner for so long... just because there's so much 'bench time' involved. To keep the trains (regular work) running on time, I can't tie up the shop that long, so I have to plan blocks of time for these big overhauls. And I can't possibly charge by the hour or they simply wouldn't get fixed. I'll end up just charging a rounded-off number for this one when I'm done. (I did tell the guy upfront he could just buy a new bass for what he'd have in this job...) Still no way in the world I'll come out with the amount of time I have put into fixing this bass, but like I was telling someone the other day, a hopeless case like this is where you sometimes learn where your limits are. There is value in that knowledge too. Part of me wanted to see if I could actually fix it. And the other part of me just wants to get it done and get paid, and get on to the next one. I'm happy it's turning out well. After last night, it's really taking shape.


Stay tuned.

If it hadn't been taken down, this is where I'd post a link to a photo journal I used to have bookmarked of a rebuild of a Martin M-36 that had been run over by a car; in the immortal words of Arlo Guthrie, "they wasn't leavin' no part untouched!"

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

Inching closer to restringing, this step was necessarily a little bit trickier than usual. Ordinarily I'd be trimming finish back to a cut line, and sanding down to bare wood, but in this case, the finish at each end of the neck was new and fresh, leaving a ridge at the edge where tape was. The neck's finish (what little there was) had to be removed from between these two points, and the badly roughed-up maple neck needed to be smoothed out while keeping the profile uniform. You have to be very careful about not sanding 'dishes' or 'dimples', or accidentally whittling a neck too thin or slim when doing this. My Pops always says it's a lot easier taking wood off than it is putting it back. (for the record, you can put it back, but it's very hard to do!)

I took a few action shots again with the phone in the windowsill... what's happening progressively- you'll see the starting point with the tape pulled, then where I tape the new finish up to work back to it with the abrasives, then I peel all the tape and buff the whole thing with 0000 steel wool, rubbing off that little ridge of new finish. After raising the grain a couple times with a damp towel, and de-fuzzing, it's time for the finishing wax. I use this MinWax product on bare wood. Application is simple; just rub it in crossgrain in circles, wait 10 minutes for it to cure hazy-looking, then buff it off.

I was just about to put those shiny tuning machines back on when I realized the inside of the pegbox could really use 5 minutes of attention. I'll brush in a fresh coat of black enamel before mounting them. This is a very small detail that makes absolutely no difference mechanically, but makes a huge difference aesthetically. That black background with the brass rollers and a new set of strings is going to make me smile.

I'm taking a couple nights off, (got to pull shifts at work this weekend) then got a 1/4-size bass coming in from Fret Mill Music for setup. I'll be back on the King next week. Probably finish up next weekend.

[rv_bass]

Nice work!

[edwardofhuncote]

Just a little show-n-tell tonight.

This is a banjo (well, parts of a banjo) Dad and I built a few years ago. Our serial numbering system works like Alembic's old one did; the year is first, the sequence number is second. Hence #11-27 was whittled out and wrought together in 2011, and was our 27th effort.

The resonator is burled walnut, inlaid with maple, and mother of pearl accents. I also inlaid pieces around the walls which are a 13 - 5/8" diameter bend. The neck is a locally harvested board of black walnut we made several necks from over the years. The reverse of the headstock is inlaid with wood too... I was tasked to do something kinda' like a Style 5 Gibson for the order. (Google-image it) I remember it was tricky, but I must not have planned to ever repeat it because there are absolutely no drawings of this pattern in my files. Totally out of character for me... I keep everything. This was not my first wood-into-wood inlay, but it was definitely one of the first. I cut out the four-point stars for the fingerboard inlays, and our trademark honeybee logo out of pearl, but Dad had his buddies at First Quality Music Supply (now basically defunct) cut the script by laser. This is an oil finish, by the way.

Anyway... enjoy a look at my Ol' Man's workbench tonight... he took this one in for some TLC. I think it's a good example of what we could do together back then. I'm up to my hindparts in work for the store right now because my real job has been kinda' heavy lately. But so help me, that King bass is checking out this week.

[David Houck]

Very nice!  Thanks for sharing. 

[cozmik_cowboy]

As I have mentioned to you before Greg - I really need to figure who to rob to order a Honey Tone banjitar!

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

I hope after Pops retires later this year we can build some more together, Coz... we've worked on a couple side-projects, but nothing to put our name to. There are parts enough in the shop now to build about a half-dozen more Honeytone banjos, two of which I had planned for 14" cello-banjos, a 4-string and a 5-string. It would be easy enough to adapt the plans of a CB to a 6-string GB... something to think about. 

[cozmik_cowboy]

So, hit me up on e-mail & let me know a ballpark figure, so I can figure out if it's at all feasible, will you please?

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

Gotcha'. 

[edwardofhuncote]

One more small step... or two.

Posted the other day, the inside of the pegbox made me sad. That situation has been improved upon with some black enamel, and it was time to remount the tuners. Love how the brass rollers show up against the black background. It'll be even better when strings with the bright multi-colored silks get wound on them.

I polished up the original rosewood string-nut, and glued it back in place, and was about to mount the endpin/footrest/tailpiece assembly when I remembered there are a couple clean-up issues yet to be addressed down there. Remember that drumstick we found? This improvised tailgut made me smile. Most of the time, I find a simple twisted coathanger wire, but I have found leather boot laces, and a few other things that would surprise you. (I know they surprised me) Anyway, someone put some thought into this threaded rod, but missed the execution... it wasn't going to break in a million years, but I can do something a little nicer, and adjust for the afterlength at the same time.

Gotta' make a hardware store run today. Pictures from last night's work...

[growlypants]

Man, that pegbox looks downright professional!!

[pauldo]

<anticipation>


 

[edwardofhuncote]

More progress today. It occurs to me I get more work done in the shop when I don't have to report in at the real job... funny how that works out! And the coffee is waaay better. So is the music. The general atmosphere is lighter, come to think of it. 

Today's project was the wire hanger that holds the tailpiece. On finer upright basses, this is called a tailgut, and is meant to be adjustable for what is called the strings' afterlength. Now this is going to sound a little bit crazy, but the little piece of string that stretches from the bridge witness points, back to the tailpiece also resonates, and can improve or impede the sound of a particular instrument. Or it can make absolutely no difference at all to people ears. The formula for setting this distance is to start at 1/6th of the scale length, as this is will produce a note two octaves and a fourth above the open string's pitch. On most basses, the scale ends up being something around 42", so the afterlength should be about 7". Yeah... I swear y'all, it's a real thing, but it's not the end of the world if you miss it by a whopping whatever on a plywood bass with a wire hanger. I went to school for a while just to make sure it wasn't bull-squeeze. I do at least make a good-faith effort at getting the proportions somewhat close to right, but they lost me at two octaves and a fourth. Not. In. My. Shop.

Once again The King foiled me... when I was fitting the new wire hanger to the old tailpiece, I could see more sadness... the rosewood had busted out long ago. That's why someone had rigged this crude contraption. I couldn't let that go... my Dad says it's easier to take wood out than it is to put it back, but it can be done. Yep... (Thanks Pop!) Probably no one will ever even see this repair, and likely wouldn't recognize it if they did, but I felt like it was worth doing. They might just wonder why in the world somebody went to all that trouble, then drilled all the way through a tailpiece. Let 'em wonder... I'll be proud of that fix for a while. So anyway, nothing more complicated to making a wire hanger than threading the brass rod with a die, and bending it into the shape necessary for the job. Pliers, vise, fret hammer, etc.

After it was done though, the roughed-up footrest plug was making me sad... I had to work on that too. I cleaned it up, shot a couple coats of black enamel over, then I quit for the day.

Pictures are in chronological order.

*I have 1/4-size bass in here right now that is cute as a button! Pics later. (easy-peasy setup job)

[David Houck]

It does indeed look better. 

[pauldo]

Gee I love getting your take on things.  Every entry is like a glimpse inside of Gregory’s head!   

Setting the strings after-length makes a lot of sense and could/ should bring out the best resonance of the instrument.

[Preface] The below statements/ questions are “what would be ideal” without money or time restraints.  I believe you mentioned earlier that the time and resources put into this King far exceeds the agreed upon payment by it’s owner.  That being said, your craftsmanship is commendable.


So 42” scale length is the norm for a 3/4 size upright?  And 1/6th of that length is 6.67”.

The nut starting measuring point is obviously at the fingerboard edge and the tail piece measuring point would be the point where the string breaks across it (towards the bridge side).  But pray tell, where on the bridge would you measure?  The middle of the bridge or the opposing side of the bridge as referenced to nut and/ or tailpiece?

Wouldn’t it be desirable to use something more flexible than a coat hanger for the tailgut?  Let’s say a guy has old electric bass strings laying around and used one of those with crimpable ferrules to set the final length... crazy?

Paul (who had a very long week paying meticulous attention to detail in the machine shop and now transferring his anal retentive OCD to a fantasy about his Knilling Bucharest upright)