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Inside the Shop
Page 5
This is where you'll see MCS guitars in progress.

Clammy's Arachnid Ultra Bass

                                                     

Arachnid Ultra neck-thru blank

                                                                                   

Plexiglas routing template
Laid up neck-thru body blank

                                                                                

Body blank with template
Headstock temp

                                                                                

Slowly but surely taking shape

                                                                                

Hangin' out in my office.

                                                                                

Carbon fiber rod stiffeners to help keep the neck stable.
Bullet hole inlays, cool.

                                               

White binding next. :-)

                                                           

This inlay will look great when it's finished. The board still needs to be leveled, sanded, dyed and the inlays polished.

                                                                                 

Well, Sal is done with his part and now it my turn. I'm going to cut and bevel the headstock next.

                                                                                 

                                                                                 

OK, cut, shaped and beveled.
Ab "Tribal M" COOL.

                                                                                  

Wow, the body bevels really make a big difference. We're gettin' close. :-)

                                                                                  

The belly cut. Yeah.......comfort.
The "TREE". :-)

                                                   

Due to the size of the bridge I had to bevel the bridge area by hand. The rest of the body I did with a router and a 45 degree roller beveling bit. When bevels are even all the way around the body a roller bit is the best and easiest way.

                                                    

OK, we're nearing the completion of the "wood" building stage of this axe. When this bass is finished it will truly be one "PURE EVIL" looking axe.

Thanks for all your patience and understanding Clammy. :-)

                                                    

OK, since this is Arachnid Ultra #1, I have to make all the routing templates. Arachnid Ultra #2 will be considerably easier because I won't have to make the shape temps or the cavity temps.

You'll notice I have the "cavity temp" and the "cavity plate recess temp" stacked. I did that so it would be easier to see how they work. You rout the “electronics cavity” first and then the “plate recess” second. It's not absolutely necessary to do it that way, but that's the way I do it.

                                                                                   

Once you rout the cavity, it's easier to place the "recess temp" properly so there will be enough room for the electronics cavity plate screws.

                                                     

You need a router with a collar to rout the "plate recess". You need to compensate for the collar when you are making your template. This is true of all templates when you use a collared router.
I also shaped the truss rod access area with my "die grinder" There is a pic of my die grinder on the "Tools" page of this web site.

                                                      

I also laid out the electronics and drilled the bridge ground wire hole. With this design the ground wire has to go into the pickup cavity first and then to the electronic cavity.
I did a lot of work on the neck, heel, binding and fret board today. I shaped the neck into the binding, crowned the finger board, smoothed out the side of the binding and cut in the headstock and heel. However, it's not finished yet, there's still a lot to do.

                                                      

Gratuitous pictures for Clammy.
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