Jabba_the_gut

Just got home from a lovely afternoon. Thanks again to @jebroad for organising this and to whoever donated the Ashdown compressor to the raffle- I’ll have a good try of that later. As usual it was nice to catch up with the folk I already knew and to be meet new Basschatters. As I always say, these are great events that someone has spent organising so if you are thinking of going to one, please do! There is such a variety of gear to see and try, great people and always there’s cake... Cheers Jez

Shame you can't make it but thanks for posting this - I'd written 'Bass Bash Sunday' in my calendar a long time ago...…...

What values are you looking for?

Try Banzai Music as they usually have a good selection of pots.

Oh, and that is one of my mini basses in the background that needs to be put back together for the weekend......

Just toying with a few ideas at the moment, but I have trimmed a piece of ash I had which wasn't quite big enough for a standard body but suits this. I used a piece of the same wood to make a solid body bass and it finished really nicely; very plain and simple but that was the beauty of it. Looking at a couple of ideas from a one piece bridge to another set up with individual string anchors. (not planning on this one being five string - was just using the bridge to see how it looked). I'm now thinking of using the set of Sperzel tuners on this as they are a little more compact. I'm going to see if I can get these with rounded buttons as that would suit the design a little better.

Progress has been much slower than I hoped on this. Deciding to put my house on the market and all the stuff that goes with that has somewhat delayed this. I am hoping though to find a house with a double garage meaning more workspace but these things take time..... Anyway, I have progressed with the neck. Truss rod channel routed: The fretboard has been slotted (correct dimensions this time) and glued to the neck. This has then been cut on my band saw and tidied up using the router to give the final shape. I have a log made from ebony that matches the fretboard which I think contrasts nicely. The neck is birds eye maple and if it finishes anywhere as nicely as the last one I made, should look really nice.

Cheers Woody. Glad you like the bottom lip. I made another template with it slightly larger again but I prefer this one (I’ll post a picture later). Just thought I’d try a graded version - may or may not work but got to try these things! Cheers Andy. I’ve sourced some headless clamps which are really nice so that end isn’t an issue. It’s the other end where the choice is much more limited.. we’ll see how this goes!!

I'm looking at making a headed version of the mini bass. I'm planning on keeping it at 23" scale and the same body shape as the headless one (with a very slight tweak to the lower horn). I wasn't sure what to do with the headstock so I just went for the same design I have used on my recent semi hollow basses. To my eye, it seems to flow which is nice as it keeps something in common. This design would allow me plenty of options with regards to bridges which is always the difficult thing when going down the headless route.

Love this - especially the veneer layers creating the pinstripes. Nice complementary choice of woods.

I'll be taking these to the Midlands bash for anyone to try.

Really enjoying this little basses!! I'm going to make a couple more of these but also have a couple of other ideas I'll try at some point. I'll make a slightly longer scale one (27.5") and I'm also looking at a headed version. I've done a couple of scribbles for this and I think it could look rather nice (same body shape as before but a change to the neck pocket shape). Just need to find the time, which is the hard bit!!

I've got an American Basses book I'll add to the raffle. Will have a look to see what else I may have.

Possibly try lining the holes with wood veneer.

I had noisy pots on one once. John provides some fine spring that sat between the stacked knobs - I think this provided an electrical connection between the knobs and removed the noise. Did the job for me.

I've cut a new fretboard for this bass and this time I measured twice and cut once!! The previous neck was 31.5" with 24 frets, for the new neck is 29.5" and obviously has to fit in the same neck pocket and the bridge has to be in roughly the same place. So this works out as the replacement neck being 22 fret for it to fit correctly. As the chance of me getting the intonation exactly right having not tried this scale length before I think is minimal, I'm removing the original brass inserts for the bridge and filling the holes so I can repositioning it later. I'm also going to redrill the holes for the string anchors as I have a better version I'm going to install. This is done by widening the top 4mm of a 10mm hole to 12mm diameter. to do this I have a small piece of mdf with a 12mm hole in it that is placed over the original hole. One of the string anchors is used to centralise it before clamping the template in place. This is the body with the brass inserts removed Then this the body with the holed infilled The body had also picked up a very small dent which I sanded out. I tried refinishing but couldn't get it to match so I sanded the finish off the walnut and started to finish it again. Fussy, but I want it to be right This is the body with the topped sanded and the string anchors holes redrilled.

And a superb book if anyone hasn’t got a copy!!! Lovely bass build.!

I recently built a bass with magnetic covers - I used 0.5mm thick magnets in the cover and 3mm magnets in the body. Magnets are readily available on eBay. Here's the build diary for info - I think the magnets are on about page 4.

So time to cut the fret slots in the ebony fretboard for the short scale bass. I'm using a StewMac mitre block and a GW fret scale template. Here's a picture of the slotted fretboard and a Specsavers letter. Note to self 'measure twice, cut once, look at what your doing;.... Ended up cutting slots for 27.5" scale rather than 29.5". Still, will use the board to make an extended shortie bass at a later date. Time to cut a new board!!

You can get some cheap and cheerful drills off eBay such as these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7Pcs-Extra-Long-Wood-Drill-Bit-Set-12-300mm-Woodworking-Tool-4-5-6-7-8-10-12mm/162806105922?epid=4011493968&hash=item25e8000742:g:YJwAAOSwmWNclKKx if you are are running wires pretty much the length of the body you would be best routing a channel before you put the top on. You might also want to do something to protect the channel from glue ingress. There would be nothing worse than having the channel blocked by glue once the top is on. I have used things like milkshake straws for this - sounds daft but works for me!!

Love it!

And feels very long after my recent short scale and mini basses!!! I've never actually played a Thunderbird - must try one sometime.

The Overwater is lovely but feels very long due to the bridge placement and a 24 fret neck. Your neck is a 21 fret one so will sit further into the body - have you worked out how far back the bridge will be?

It's a similar-ish shape to my Overwater (I think this is the Deluxe model - I got it in the 1980's). Lovely shape but an absolute pain to get a gig bag for it!! Edit: I got this bass off another kid when I was at school. It had fallen off a stand and taken the head off. I was going to have a go at making a bass back then so I bought it for parts. My dad glued the head back on and it's remained like that since - perfectly usable! I keep threatening to get the finish redone by the guys at Overwater but have never got round to it. Not a bad bass for £60....

Totally agree with Rubis. Routers can be viscous. Try it on scrap first and only take a little off at a time. The router can snatch and launch things across the workshop (learnt by experience!!) Always make sure your workpiece is securely clamped too. I’ve had a few issues with some cheap cutters too - get a few decent cutters rather than a selection box full of stuff you won’t use!