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Posts tagged one string
Bailey custom one string bass-7/7- assembly and set up
Apr 20th
…’One is more not four’…
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- The one string wonder…
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- Maple neck and mahogany body
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- Recessed neck anchor screws
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- Two output jacks for piezo and midi
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- Just the one tuner…
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- Simple but beautiful and a lot of fun!
The One string wonder is packed up and ready to be sent out today so Andy will receive it tomorrow, all being well. It came out pretty good just a few minor niggles which got ironed out along the way:
When first plugged in it sounded distorted. This was easily remedied: the ‘one’ piezo saddle was connected to the wrong pin on the ‘Ghost’ preamp. It was connected to the pin for the g string which is a lot thinner. The preamp must be balanced to the gauge of each individual string, so the thinner ones sound the same volume as the thicker ones. The higher gain was causing the distortion, once I corrected this it sounded great.
There was some minor fret buzz. I had cut the nut too low, known in the trade as ‘blowing the nut’. I made another one but there was still a little fret buzz. It was slightly difficult to level the frets as there is no truss rod fitted to adjust the neck. In the end I levelled the fretboard with the string on and tuned to pitch. Easy enough, as there was just the one string I could work around it and very accurately remove the high spots. After this it played great too!
It has been great fun to build something so completely different to anything else I have done, I have grown quite fond of it, just looking at it makes me smile and I will miss it being around. Back to Part 1
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Update 16:08GMT
The courier just came- One stringed wonder is winging its way there now!
Bailey custom one string bass-6/7- making the body
Apr 7th
…and stringing it up for a test…
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- The body is marked out
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- neck-slot
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- Rear cavity and battery box
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- Neck mounting screw holes
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- Recessed neck anchor washers
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- The neck is screwed on for the first time
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- Marking out the output jacks
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- ‘Stitch drilling’ for the midi jack
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- A 22mm hole is drilled for both outputs
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- The rest of the waste is removed with a chisel
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- Tools used to fit the output jacks
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- Test fitting the jack sockets
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- The finished holes for the output jacks
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- A small sanding block was used for cleaning up the square hole
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- Marking out the individual string saddle
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- A slot is made for the piezo wire
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- A hole is drilled through into the control cavity
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- The drill pops out in the control cavity
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- The nut is fitted
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- Strung up and tested
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- Carving the body
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- Sanded and sprayed with sealer
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- The front of the body
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- The neck and body are hanging to dry
The bass will get another coat tomorrow then hang for a while to dry. We are still waiting for the acoustiphonic volume control. It is expected in about 10 days so we will have to wait till then to find out what it really sounds like.
Meanwhile I strung it up ‘in the white’ to check all is OK and it looked great. If you remember: There is no truss rod in this neck- I was pretty sure it would be OK as there is only the one string but I wanted to make sure it didn’t bend too much under string tension. As it turned out it hardly moved at all. Result…
Next time I write about the ‘one string wonder’ it will be finished!..Part 7
Bailey custom one string bass-5/7- making the neck
Apr 1st
One trick pony- April fools! No its not…
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- The neck is ready and frets have been cut
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- Hammering in the frets
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- Snipping the fret ends to length
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- Filing the fret ends flush
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- Filing an angle onto the ends of the frets
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- Close up of the frets
I hammered the frets in and then ran a bead of super glue under the end of each one. This locks the frets in position. If the ends are locked in place the fret cannot move. After nipping to length, the ends of the frets are filed flush to the wood, then an angle is filed onto the ends and finally smoothed over with a sanding block.
Although it will only have one string this certainly will not be a ‘one trick pony’. Its going to be full of them. It will sound like an acoustic bass but also have to capability to control any MIDI instrument or computer and use whatever sounds they contain. Pretty cool. Next week I’ll be working on the body and stringing it up (shouldn’t take long) for a test. Then it will be ready for a finish…Part 6
Bailey custom one string bass- 4/7- making the neck
Mar 24th
A tip for inlaying into maple
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- Drilling the holes for the abalone dots
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- Left: no sealer, furry edges. Right: the wood is sealed first, crisp edges.
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- The hole is filled with super glue
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- The abalone dots are pressed in with a piece of scrap hardwood
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- Tools for installing the abalone dots
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- After the dot has been sanded
Sometimes when drilling into softer woods the edges of the hole can look a little rough. The wood can be torn by the drill as it enters, leaving a furry edge like in the second picture above.
To avoid this a coat of sealer is applied first and allowed to dry fully before drilling, resulting in a much crisper/cleaner hole. This would be true whatever style or technique was used to inlay the piece- it doesn’t need to be a round hole.
In this case 6mm abalone round dots were used and the same size drill to make the holes. The hole is filled with super glue and each dot gently pressed in with a scrap of hardwood. The inlay should stand just proud of the fretboard surface, so it can be sanded flush after the glue has dried.
When all the abalone dots had been glued in the fretboard was sprayed with matt lacquer. This must be fully dry before I can install the frets so that will be next week…Part 5
Bailey custom one string bass-2/7- making the neck-1
Mar 14th
…Do not adjust your set…
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- Tracing the headstock
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- Here are the neck and body blank sitting on the drawing
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- The fret slots are done and the neck cut out
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- The headstock has been cut out and thicknessed
Finally managed to slot this one in to the schedule. You may remember the design day when Andy visited to work out the spec….
The neck is now ready for fretting, inlays and carving, the body blank has been thicknessed so it is ready to work on.
There will be no magnetic pickup on this instrument – just a piezo built into the (one!) individual saddle/bridge which will sound like an acoustic bass and also have midi capability. The parts have all been ordered and should be with us in the next few days. I will post some pics when they arrive.
I thought this was going to be a really quick and easy build, obviously it is compared to some, but it has still had me scratching my head a few times, mainly with elements of the design.
How wide and thick is a one string bass neck? Will it need a truss rod? Are my eyes going funny?
Only one way to find out…watch this space…Part 3
