After another brain-numbing week in WaterWorld, I didn't get much done up here in my shop. I do come up here in the evening sometimes, just to chill out and ruminate, but unless I feel very focused I don't pick up tools.
Today's projects picked up where last week left off; the Washburn 5-string lined fretless conversion in progress, and the 1940 Kay O-100 bass restoration.
The defretted Washburn neck has been inlaid with maple fretlines, and flushed up, finished sanded back to a smooth radius. I was able to mask off the neck below the fingerboard and file/sand the fretlines off flush to the edge. Didn't know how that would go, but I figured worst-case I'd have to either brush some finish on, or take it all off evenly. It's turned out nice. My customer isn't sure about the original side dots, whether we need to move them. They wouldn't bother me, having the visual cues from the sidelines anyway, but I'm prepared to do it if they make him dizzy. I think we're all different in this... some people's eyes are drawn to different things. I remember Mica was really worried they had put my bronze side markers in the wrong place by locating them in the center of each 'fret', but that's actually what I prefer. It wasn't however, a problem for me to adjust to the fretless Distillate that had only bronze side markers at the intervals, and of course, on the exact spot where a fret would be. Anyway, we'll just have to wait and see. For now, I'm happy with the contrast between the maple and walnut fingerboard here.
I'm about ready to reassemble the old Kay, with all the internal work done. There's still a bunch to do, but the next thing is to put the top back on. Trick is, this old bass has been apart for so long, that it's literally lost its shape some... meaning the ribs (sides) have relaxed, so that they dont match the shape of the top anymore. It happens... and it's partly my fault. So I have tapped it into place under the neck joint, and dry-clamped all five of the solid pressure points firmly, and by loosening one point at a time, massaged the ribs back where they go. I'll leave it like this until I'm ready for glue. When we glue it up, there'll be these specialized clamps I have made that go all the way around the entire body. It's a two-person job, when one of them is this warped. I'll probably get Ward to help. I'd get the Ol' Man to help, but... uhhh... well, him and his little doggie got better things to do than play in sawdust.
I'm going to quit for the day and go play some guitar. Because I can, for a few weeks maybe.
