Tools and Fixtures

8-strings of Power

When you order something we've never made before (like a 31 fret 8-string bass), you don't always get the first one we build. Lots of times we make practice pieces, like this fingerboard, to make sure we get it right.

			Steve made this master fixture to assist him in building the tools to make the bass, and then to make the bass itself. The router sits on an aluminum sliding shelf and allows a variety of fixtures to be used.

The project box even has all the shims we used. They are all made from scrap neck wood.

Speaking of scraps, Steve kept a few pieces from the neck core. He's thinking of making his wife a nice box with some of this wood.

This is the fixture for the body. You can see where the hollow areas are and about where the fingerboard fits in.

One of the trickier areas is fitting the bookmatched to center top around the fingerboard. Steve made this jig to help him accomplish his task. The top is first jointed and glued together along the center. Then the exact size of the fingerboard pocket gets routed and voila! a perfect fit.

Here's the body, fingerboard shaping and peghead jigs assembled. It was like a little preview of things to come the first day Steve set all these together.

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