Part 4a - neck pictures

This post is full of pictures of this weekend's progress. I color-corrected them a bit in iPhoto, so they look a little more realistic.

First, the tuning machine holes were drilled into the headstock. Note the outline of some upcoming carving to round off he headstock.



Next, the back of the neck is carved.



Here's the incline bevel, so that the neck will tilt back from the body. This carving was a little complicated, because unlike most bolt-on neck cavities, the body that I'm using actually curves from one side of the cavity to the other.



Next, the fingerboard is attached to the neck. This was more successful than I expected, except for one point of separation. I'm not sure how I want to address that, it looks pretty minor in comparison to the rest of the job. I'll see if it affects the sound in the play test. I'm more concerned about buzzing than cosmetics.



In order to inspect the tilt of the neck, and also because I couldn't stand the suspense any longer, to see what this thing will look like put together, I attached the neck to the body.



Here's a profile view of the neck tilt. I have to say, I think it turned out OK. The other neat thing was the curve that I carved into the fingerboard. Since the back of the neck has that little whatever-it-is that borders the incline bevel, I thought it would look kind of cool if the fingerboard were to echo that same curve.



Last, here's a full-body view of the state of things so far.

Part 4 - The neck takes shape

Wow, lots of progress this weekend. I am truly surprised.

First, I carved the rosewood fingerboard blank. Even after carving, it had that little ring when I sound-tested it. It's still my theory that this ring means that the wood will be a good fingerboard.

Next, I shaped the neck. The back of the neck is now rounded. I originally thought that I'd have an angled bevel between the sides and back of the neck, but then thought that might be a little weird to feel when playing. So, in one more of a series of "hang on, here we go" moments, I rounded off the back corners of the neck.

I'd been thinking about how to angle the neck back from the body, in order to accomodate the bridge that I'll be ordering (the minimum height of the bridge has to be 1.25"). Shims? No, that little air space between the neck and the body might cause some buzzing. An adjustment screw, a la the 3-bolt Fender necks? No, same reason as the shims.
I decided to cut the incline I needed directly into the neck, starting at the heel, and moving back towards the headstock. Another "here we go", and there I went. This time, I had one the many "holy sh##, it WORKED!" moments (hereafter referred to as HSM). The incline seems to be just right, to tilt the neck backward from the body, to accomodate a healthy action, and the miminum height of the bridge.

At this point, it was time to decide, once and for all time, whether this was going to be a 5-string or 6-string cello. The string spacing, coupled with the finite width of the neck as it fits into the body, more or less decided for me that this will be a 5-string cello. If I want more strings, I'll have to make that electric viola da gamba that I've begun thinking about...

I measured out the spacing for a 5-string bridge, and cut 5 lengths of string, to see what the string layout will be on the fingerboard. As I think about it now, 6 strings would have been a little too tight for my tastes. So now I have a first set of measurements for my bridge template.

I scored a piece of heavy red oak for my tailpiece. No measurements taken on that yet.

Next, I cut the holes for the tuning machines on the neck. Not having a drill press, I had to rely on eyesight alone to ensure that the holes would be cut right. Oh yes, and since the headstock in at an incline from the neck, I had to find a way to make the headstock as level as possible. Enter a 2x4 lying around waiting to volunteer. After the drilling, another HSM. The holes were cut right, although one of the three on the left is about 1/16" out of line with its brothers.

Next to last, I drilled the holes for the neck joint. Another eyesight measurement, because remember, the neck joins the body at the incline. So, it wasn't just a case of drilling straight down into the neck. Instead, I had to eyeball the drill to be perpendicular to an approximate 2- or 3-degree incline. Now that was tough, but I was rewarded with my next HSM.

Finally for tonight, I glued the fingerboard to the neck. I'm clamping it down using cable ties, padded with old socks (yes, they're clean socks). Right now, the patient is resting comfortably. Pictures to follow, after I've removed the cable tie clamps.

Part 3a - Carving the Fingerboard

I got a lot of the checks sanded out of the zebrawood board last night.
Then I listened to it. I balanced the board on one finger of my left hand, and tapped each end with my right index fingertip.
I could hear a note, which was good, but there was no ring to it, which means that the wood might be OK to use, but it might also sound a bit dead.

I bought a second blank, of rosewood, about the same time I bought the zebrawood, and so I decided to see if that sounded any better.
I cut it down to fit the neck, and sound-tested it the same way I'd done with the zebrawood.
This time, I could hear a note, but also a slight ring after it. This means (to me, at least) that the wood should make a better fingerboard than the zebrawood.

About carving rosewood: This stuff is tough to cut, which in itself is an understatement. I've never sculpted in cast concrete, but I would imagine that the experience might be a bit like this.

As before, I'm going to take some pics and post them. I just need to get the camera in the same room as the cello.

Update 02/22: Here are some pictures of the rosewood blank, cut to fit the neck, before carving:



Here's a close-up of some interesting striping.

Part 3 - Carving the Fingerboard, 02/19/2008

Carved the fingerboard tonight. The zebrawood has some checks in it, patches where the planer made some chips. There was some checking already in the wood too.
Bummer.
I'm going to have to sand very carefully.
No pics tonight, I'll take some tomorrow night after sanding.

Update 02/20: I managed to plane and sand out a lot of the checking. Fortunately, I have a backup blank, a nice-looking slab of rosewood.

Update 02/22: Here are some pictures of the zebrawood, after carving. I think the carving went well, but there are some rough spots to sand out, if I'm even going to use this board (see later post about sound-testing).

First, the checking. You can see an example of it at the bottom of this image.

I put a couple of divits in the board. I was a little overenthusiastic with the Pocket Planer.

Now for the end grains. Check out that striping.

Part 2 - Work Begins, 02/17/2008

Here’s what I accomplished as of last night. I’ve done some steps out of order, because circumstances at the time dictated. So, I’ve decided to reorder the steps as I go from week to week, to document not only the build process in general, but also how that process changed over time.

Frankly, I was surprised at the progress I made, in one day of carving yesterday.

1. Settle on a design – DONE (I’ve finally decided to build a 6-string cello; in for a penny, in for a pound at this point).
2. Acquire the various parts for the body, neck, etc. – DONE
3. Mark the neck design on the neck blank – DONE
4. Rough-cut the neck – DONE
5. Rough-cut the fingerboard blank to fit the neck – DONE
6. Install the truss rod in the neck – DONE
7. Do the fine carving and finishing on the neck.
8. Cut the holes for the tuning machines, and fit them.
9. Do the initial carving of the fingerboard, for the radius.
10. Glue the fingerboard to the neck.
11. Finish-sand the neck and fingerboard.
12. With the neck attached to the body, take measurements for the bridge template.
13. Cut a tailpiece template (if I can’t find a 5- or 6-string tailpiece that will work).
14. Cut a bridge template.
15. String up the cello for a play-test.
16. Assuming that the play-test works out (that is, if the neck doesn’t snap in two), order the transducer bridge.
17. After the transducer bridge arrives, install it on the cello.
18. Install a preamp for the bridge. Most electric instruments of this nature have some sort of preamping, and I’m assuming that mine will be no exception.
19. Final play-test.
20. Assuming the final play-test works out (that is, if the neck doesn’t snap in two, or something else bad happens – in case you haven’t noticed by now, I’m
21. particularly worried about the neck that I’m going to carve), disassemble the cello for final sanding and finishing.
22. Final sanding of the neck and body.
23. Finishing of the neck.
24. Finishing of the fingerboard.
25. Finishing of the body.
26. Reassembly.
27. Done!

Some more pictures to show how that neck blank is slowly becoming a neck:

The headstock now has some more detail.



But wait, there's more. Look closer.




Here's a better shot of what I'm talking about. The headstock now has some backtilt, so that the strings won't be meeting the tuners at an angle (or at least they'll be meeting the tuners at less of an angle than if the headstock were straight).




This being a 6-string cello project now, I've embedded a truss rod. It's a square steel hollow rod. (or is that a hollow square steel rod?)

Part 1 - Early February 2008

Part 1: Why? Why build one, when there are lots of them available? What’s my time worth? Why not just spend the $3000 to get a really well-built, beautiful-sounding electric instrument? Well, partly because I don’t have the $3000 to drop all at once. Partly because I don’t want to rack up $3000 more in credit-card debt. And mostly because I want to play a nice instrument that I’ve built, mostly with my own hands. Well, OK, not all of it is hand-built. The parts of the cello that I’m planning to make with my own hands are the tailpiece, bridge template and the neck and fingerboard. The rest of it, the body, bridge, and various hardware, is either in my possession now, on order, or waiting to be ordered, pending a later step in this process. I’ve ordered all of the parts I’ll need, except for the transducer bridge. I can’t order the bridge until I:

1. Decide on the number of strings that I want. I’m wavering between a 5-string and a 6-string cello, but will most likely go with a 5-string design (especially since I only ordered 5 tuning machines).
2. Make a bridge template.

So, the steps to my finished cello, as I see them now, are:

1. Settle on a design.
2. Acquire the various parts for the body, neck, etc.
3. Mark the neck design on the neck blank.
4. Rough-cut the neck.
5. Rough-cut the fingerboard blank to fit the neck.
6. Do the fine carving and finishing on the neck.
7. Cut the holes for the tuning machines, and fit them.
8. Install the truss rod in the neck.
9. Do the initial carving of the fingerboard, for the radius.
10. Glue the fingerboard to the neck.
11. Finish-sand the neck and fingerboard.
12. With the neck attached to the body, take measurements for the bridge template.
13. Cut a tailpiece template (if I can’t find a 5- or 6-string tailpiece that will work).
14. Cut a bridge template.
15. String up the cello for a play-test.
16. Assuming that the play-test works out (that is, if the neck doesn’t snap in two), order the transducer bridge.
17. After the transducer bridge arrives, install it on the cello.
18. Install a preamp for the bridge. Most electric instruments of this nature have some sort of preamping, and I’m assuming that mine will be no exception.
19. Final play-test.
20. Assuming the final play-test works out (that is, if the neck doesn’t snap in two, or something else bad happens – in case you haven’t noticed by now, I’m particularly worried about the neck that I’m going to carve), disassemble the cello for final sanding and finishing.
21. Final sanding of the neck and body.
22. Finishing of the neck.
23. Finishing of the fingerboard.
24. Finishing of the body.
25. Reassembly.
26. Done!

Of course, these are the steps as I see them right now, but I see already that by thinking out the process this far, I have a much clearer idea of the path ahead of me. Up to now, I’ve been sort of just imagining and envisioning the finished project, without any thought of what I might need to do to get there. So far, I’ve done most of step 1, and most of step 2. I’ve just ordered a set of strings tonight, and have gotten shipment confirmation emails for a shipment of various other parts (tuners, nuts, etc.). The adventure begins in earnest tomorrow, when I start to design the layout of the neck on the neck blank that I have.

So here are a few pictures before I've started carving. The body is from a Zeta Strados Crossover bass. The neck blank (second picture) is Honduran Mahogany. The fingerboard (third picture) is Zebrawood.