French Bass full restoration

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

Personally, I don't think dimensional stability on a 2mm wide piece of whatever is anywhere near as important as the dimensional stability of the 14" wide pieces of maple its glued to! Even if it is (properly seasoned) wood that shrinks and expands more than maple, it is only a very small percentage of its own dimension, and a small percentage of 2mm is a tiny fraction of a small percentage of the maple, if you see what i mean. And the long-ways shrinkage is insignificant. I'm more concerned about it "taking" hide glue but I haven't yet met a wood that can't be glued with hide glue very well. I'm sure they exist but i haven't found it yet.

I have not personally seen the need to de-resin (or de-oil!) ebony before gluing. And none of my fingerboards have fallen off yet.

The only problem *I* have with purpleheart is the revolting colour. How anyone can love it, is beyond me :-)

Over time with Ebony glued to maple you can feel the glue joint edge. So, something like the back of a bass is not like a fingerboard that can be replaced over time. The center strip of the back must stay for life and by the age of this or any other bass, we are talking 100s of years. Mostly, I see strips of maple being used on maple backs. Nothing fancy but it works. If you want dark, walnut works just fine. Having a bit of experience with all of these woods mentioned, I think maple or walnut are your best choices and colors to work from.

[Matthew Tucker]

All good points Ken.

On the other hand, a fingerboard is a much bigger chunk of ebony, glued to a smaller chunk of maple. So the movement is going to be more significant there.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

All good points Ken.

On the other hand, a fingerboard is a much bigger chunk of ebony, glued to a smaller chunk of maple. So the movement is going to be more significant there.

Lol, for sure but to find out, you might have to live a bit longer than the rest of us.

[Matthew Tucker]

Don't worry Ken. I'm planning to!



And May the Fourth be with you.

[Chet Bishop]

Well, Matthew, I had missed almost all of this great thread, so I have spent the time to sit and read through every post. Very engaging, fascinating stuff.

I'm looking forward to seeing the final product. I hope to begin another bass this month, but there have been a number of developments lately that might make me postpone again. (Sure hope not-- it has been five years sunce I finished the last one...)

Press on, my friend!

Chet Bishop

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Matthew, how's that neck coming?

[Matthew Tucker]

Not much change since you last saw it at Oberlin!



As you may recall, after gluing the bits together again



I let Robbie loose with his jig



and before too long the mortise was formed.



then we cleaned up the nice grafting block you sold me



made some more fluffy shavings and chalk dust



and fit the neck nicely into the mortise





It made it back here with the rest of my tools and tonewood, in one piece and without grief from customs officials



and is now on my second bench waiting for the weekend when i can crank up the bandsaw to cut some new cheeks.