Jabba_the_gut

I was away this weekend with my family for a trip to Chester Zoo. We stopped at a farm shop just outside for a cuppa and a nice slice of cake. There was an antiques place next door that had these slabs of wood - I'm told it is mahogany, and it certainly looks like it under the varnish. 45mm thick - a few screw holes but they can be avoided. Couldn't resist, had to fit a couple of pieces into the car boot as it was cheap (£25 for both bits) !!!

No unfortunately- just fine marks left by the thicknesser.

Thicknessed the fretboard today. Next task will be to route the truss rod

Routed the body to accept a single J pickup. Position turned out lovely and lined up exactly with the pre-drilled cable holes.

That's how it looks to me. A slightly different way than other solutions - I'm looking forward to giving this a go.

Absolutely! Be very interested to see it. Cheers

Hopefully, the bridge will be with me by the time of the SW Bass Bash so I’ll bring it along for folk to look at.

They do look very nice. I've gone for an 18mm spacing 5 string version in black. Will post the details on here when the postie drops it through the letterbox. Might use it for a shortie or might use it for something else.....

‘Andy, about the headstock on my bass’ @fleabag

Indeed, clamp looks very handy

Looking forward to trying this!

HI Andre - good to see you on here! Please feel free to add any details of your bridges in the thread - I’m sure they will be of interest to quite a few people. Cheers Jez

The headless systems can be really expensive- The Steinberger jobs that Hohner used can be bought as spares and are about as cheap as I have found for a 5 string. But the main problem with those is that the headpiece only accepts double ball end strings which is not an option on this short things. Hipshot do a headpiece but is very expensive, ETS do one which is more reasonably priced, but there isn't a massive choice! For the four string ones in this build are using the bridges widely available on eBay and are very reasonably priced - but they don't do a five string version. I have come across another supplier of headless parts that are comparable in cost with a decent standard headed bridge and tuners. So I've taken a punt as it looked interesting (and the guy that makes them has been helpful)..... More details to follow...

See, you're thinking about it. Go on, have a little trim...

I’ve had a couple of people ask me about 5 string version so I just ordered a headless system. Something a little different- I’ll post more when it arrives.....

Is that a no?

Just an incy, wincy little bit of a trim?....

Got to do some shaping on this today. I really enjoy doing this shape, it just appeals to the engineer in me!! First bit of rough shaping of the first half of the neck: Shaping done with the Shinto rasp, a smaller rasp and a round file: Into the vice for the second half that can't be reached with the body in place: And the neck ready to round the fretboard and install the frets:

This looks quite interesting - be interested to see the pictures of the planet wood. I recently ordered some modified wood that is supposed to look and work like ebony. I'll post on here when it arrives. Cheers

Quite possibly. I was going to use a Bran Flakes box as I think it will make the bass sound tasty, tasty, very, very tasty.....

I like these shims, "They're Gr-r-reat!"

Done a little more work on the neck - fitted the headpiece and started shaping the body line. They're the tricky bits so now looking forward to shaping the back of the neck. Had to make sure the access for the truss rod lined up correctly - that'll do nicely!

You're probably right - I tried one and it sounded a bit flaky...…..

Wish I'd seen this before I had to make do with a piece of Weetabix box.....