Jabba_the_gut

This is going to be a slow build - I'll only be doing work on it in between DIy and other builds. So a few years back at the SW Bass Bash @Rich gave me a piece of hardwood from an old window that looked like it might be useful to make a neck from. Last year at another bass bash @Frank Blank gave me a couple of pieces of hardwood that 'might be useful' to me. The pieces weren't quite big enough to make a standard body from so I put them to one side. I saw a picture of a Telecaster bass using what looked like a Telecaster guitar. which I thought looked interesting. I checked the dimensions and still the larger piece of hardwood Frank gave me was still just a little narrow. After a quick scrat through the offcuts I had, I found a piece long enough to make up the difference and end up with a body bank of a suitable size. My initial plan for this is for the bass to be passive using a Retrovibe Mudbucker pickup with coil tapping, hardware I already have (generic elephant ear tuners, Wilkinson bridge, Telecaster scratchplate, Telecaster control plate) and for it to be 30" scale (as that seems to suit the shorter body size). There's a good chance something will change along the way but this is something a bit different for me! So first up, I cut the man piece in half and tried the offcut to make up the centre section. I thicknessed all three pieces to 45mm then flipped the two halves to get the grain running in opposite directions. The centre section was tried with the grain running quarter sawn in between the two wings. This ended up with a block big enough for a Telecaster body. The offcut for the centre section has turned out being very similar to the wings which is a bonus. I've dried clamped this to make sure it all lines up. I've also thicknessed the neck wood. This has highlighted a couple of small faults in the wood but nothing that can't be worked around. Next task for this will be to glue the blank up and to make templates for the body and neck but this may have to wait for a little while as I have another mini bass build in progress.

Absolutely!

Just for reference, the basses I've built so far have been between about 37 and 42mm. As you say, main reason is to ensure there is enough to bolt the neck on. I am building something at the moment that is 45mm thick but that is the thickest body I have ever done - generally 40mm is my aim as it seems to suit my builds. It's also worth considering the thickness from a playing and aesthetic point of view depending how thick the neck is or how high you want the fretboard over the body. Weight of a bass hasn't really bothered me but I don't gig two hour sets!! I seem to remember @Andyjr1515 making one bass that was really thin bodied - around 25mm if I remember right!! The body you are making is looking really nice - I'm looking forward to seeing this one completed. That is lovely grain on that timber you have chosen for this and I think it will look superb when finished. What's your plan - to make it thinner then check the weight and if it is still above your target then to do the chambering or will you chamber it anyway? Cheers

You could put mealworms in it too.....

Also in Staffordshire is https://www.woodwiseuk.co.uk/home/

New truss rod?

@Stub Mandrel Sorry - missed this post. I quite like the Wood Veneer Hub for veneers - they have some nice stuff and quite reasonably priced I think. Fancy wood tops are quite pricey - it isn't difficult to spend £100+ on some exotic top. As for body woods, there often isn't a particularly cheap option if you go down the route of the usual luthier supplies (typically £50+ for a body blank, £25+ for a neck blank). There are generally some decent UK wood suppliers that sell neck and body blanks that are already at the right thickness and are dry. The other option is if you have some form of timber/diy shop nearby (not the big chains). I'm quite lucky as I have a handyman diy shop locally that stocks woods like sapele and sometimes things like ash that is reasonably priced. Always worth a look to see if you have a saw mill or timber supplier local to you - these can be quite well hidden - I've come across a couple of places right on my doorstep which I knew nothing about (turned out a guy who works for one of them lived a few doors down my road!!). The other place I came across was a local cabinet maker - again worth a shout as they might be able to help you out or point you in the right direction. Someone did once suggest to try the local recycling centre as they has seen some quite nice wood there!!

That looks lovely - something quite a bit different. The single, big volume control looks just right on that with the way you have done the scratch plate - follows the lines really well. Nice one!!

There are three types of Titebond (Original, II and III). I've always used the Original stuff (red bottle) and never had any issues with it.

The board will fit nice an easily when you clamp it without glue. However, when you add the glue it slide about all over the place; getting it to stay in the correct place is like nailing a jelly to the wall. You'll need to do something to locate it securely. When I've done this with a new neck and fretboard I would drill a hole the same diameter as a small tack in the slot for the nut or the first fret slot and a second hole in a fret slot near the heel. Then I'd clamp the neck and board together without glue and knock the tacks part way into place. This leaves a location hole that the tacks will go into when the glue is applied - when you clamp the glued board and neck together the two tacks are enough to stop it sliding. When the glue is dry the tacks can be removed and the hole is covered by the installed fret. We need to think of a method like this for your fretboard and neck that already has the frets installed......thinking......

Does this effectively push this down the route of replacing the truss rod with a like for like item? I'm not sure of another method of making a neat and accurate slot without using a router. I'd be concerned that doing it by hand could weaken the crack in the neck further.

I'm not sure if it got mentioned earlier but a typical two way truss rod is 6mm wide with a 7mm diameter nut. As the channel width is 5mm then this would need to be widened as well if a two way truss rod was to be fitted. For me, that would need some form of jig making to enable a router to cut this as it would need straight edge to use as a guide.

I'm still thinking that a two way truss rod would put more force at the nut and heel compared to a single acting as that would seem to me to putting all of its force down the length of the neck to bend it. Just my thoughts as I've never tried this! I like the idea of routing a channel in the back of the fretboard and gluing in a new wooden strip in the bottom of the fretboard to use a two way rod. I think this would give a little extra thickness at the nut providing some additional strength. What this would do though is raise the position of the truss rod adjust by 3mm - would this the foul on the truss rod cover?

And that stripe goes all the way from one end of the bass to the other so lining up a skunk stripe of the correct width would be another challenge!!

Another option to consider and potentially doable but as @3below said, you would most likely need an assortment of jigs a the back of the neck I round, the route would need to be accurate, you need the router base to avoid the heel of the neck etc. It would also mean a complete refinish of the neck.

I'm just wondering if there would be an issue using a double acting rod as it is designed to bend to oppose the force of the strings - it would potentially put pressure on the back of the neck at the nut and heel and possibly split the wood if it is that thin. A single acting rod would be applying compression down the length of the neck to prevent it bending as far as I can tell. Again, not something I've tried, just a thought!

That's a really handy tool but not cheap!!

If that is the case and if it looks like the diagram there might be a chance to remove some wood around the rod so there is enough to get a nut and washer on. If, if.....never tried it myself though!!!

A couple of random pictures from the web of typical truss rods. Apologies if I'm posting something that everyone already knows. This is a single action truss rod This type will only tighten to counteract the force created by the string tension. One end is fixed typically in the heel of the neck and the other has a nut and washer on it. As the rod is fixed it doesn't turn but tightening the nut applies tension. This is a double action truss rod This type has a fixed beam with a couple of threaded blocks on that are welded to the beam. The threads are opposite hands so when you turn the threaded rod it becomes longer or shorter than the fixed beam so bends and can apply pressure with the strings or against them. I don't know what type of rod your bass has in it but the first impression would be a single acting rod with the nut and washer missing - I might well be wrong though!! Be interesting to see what others think.

There are typically two types of truss rod; single action and double action. Depending on the type might determine whether the thread should rotate or not. It might make a difference as to whether this could be solved without taking the fretboard off. I’ll try and find a couple of pictures to explain this and post them later. Cheers

That would be interesting....

One very last little bit to this build, I made a truss rod cover from a leftover piece of ebony. As I decide not to put a logo on the headstock as I think it would have been too much, I decided to put a little mother of pearl logo on the truss rod cover. That's it, job done. On to the next! Cheers for the comments and feedback - much appreciated! Take care.

Really nice - draws your eyes in and the black/chrome/yew works so well.

Here's a picture from a different angle. You can see the join on the back of the headstock - the other end is halfway between the first and second fret line.