Jabba_the_gut

20 euros?!! Crikey!

Where do you keep finding this stuff?!!! It's fantastic!

Blimey! That really is a nice van full of wood - I like that padauk! What's the stack of darker wood?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Headless-5-string-bass-guitar-custom-painting/163536078113?hash=item2613828521:g:lw0AAOSwYS5cYFX7:rk:2:pf:0

The replacement wood turned up today - think this will make a very nice top

I love them and wouldn’t route a pickup without a template. But that’s the great thing - there’s always more than one way to get results so you use the way that suits you best.

This is the piece of birdseye maple I'm going to use for the neck. For reference, I've put both neck templates in the neck pocket to show the difference in length.

As well as the bass, I'm also putting a Telecaster together for a friend of mine. He's bought all the (very nice quality) parts from different places but they need a bit of work. The neck pocket was too large so I've infilled that and reshaped it. I've sanded and started oiling the body. The guitar has brass hardware for the bridge, knobs, neck plate, control plate and strap buttons but no jack plate. So that was another task for today - make a jack plate. I've got a few bits of sheet brass around (absolutely no idea where they came from but they have been useful!!) so I cut and shaped it to match the control plate. The irony is that this thread is for a semi hollow bass that weighs about 6lb (2.7kg) - this Telecaster body is about 8lb 10 oz (3.9kg) its own!!

Finally I have managed to get the garage cleared so I can get back on with a bit of woodwork. First thing for the day was to cut the new template for the slightly shorted neck. I used the bandsaw to cut the mdf template to within a couple of mm of the final size. Next was to use the router table with a template cutter to trim the new template to the correct size. I used the previous template stuck to the new one with double sided tape as the template up as far as the nut position, then used a smaller template for the headstock. This smaller headstock template was made but mad to to be about 2mm wider at the nut. Only a tiny bit of sanding was needed then the template fitted nice and snuggly. The short neck isn't going in this body but the neck pocket is the same size. Next task is to decide what wood to use for the neck (birdseye maple is favourite at the moment and then to slot the fretboard.

Got my new ruler yesterday. Nice.

EMG do an active blend control (http://www.emgpickups.com/accessories/bass-accessories/summing/abc.html) that might of interest. I do like EMG pickups and preamps though I know not everyone doesn't! Audere also do some nice preamps https://www.audereaudio.com/ There's also someone on the forum selling a Delano Sonar 3 band preamp with active/passive switch. Cheers

I think Axminster might have a sudden surge in interest in these looking at the above posts!! I've bought a few things from them (router cutters etc) and been pleased with the quality and service.

I was just about to post the link to Axminster then realised Andy had already done it. I have a plastic centre finding ruler, which has been really useful, but I'm going to order one of these now!! Cheers

I have been toying with pickup ideas - I was thinking of using an EMG 35 something as I did on the other shortie but that would remove an interesting part of the buckeye. The buckeye wasn't big enough for me to adjust its position to allow for pickups in advance (as I would do normally) so I'm having to work around it this time. That's the reason for looking at the J pickup, because as you say, it kind of sits nicely in the flow of the grain; positioning is all about the wood grain one this one rather than specific distance from bridge!! I'm hoping it works ok.... Cheers

I’ve used a couple of the East Piezo preamps on other builds and I really like them. As you say, nice and compact. Ive also got a Cafe Walter one that I might try though that doesn’t have the controls provided by the East unit. Cheers

Great minds think alike! That is something I’ve been considering and looking at before I route the pickup. I’ve been looking at removing the saddle blocks and replacing with a block of ebony with a piezo element in. Cheers

I'm hoping so. Will need it to warm up a bit beforehand so I can spray it! But plenty to do beforehand on this and another bass. Look forward to catching up at the bash. Cheers. Jez

A quick mock up of what I'm thinking at the moment (can always change....)

While it's a bit cold out, I'm doing the parts of this that I can get away with at the dining room table! I've cut all the frets to the right size and nipped off the ends of the tang. This will allow me to fill the ends of the fret slots to match the fretboard rather than having the slot visible. I've done this on all basses that I've made as I think it looks neater. Next task is to shape the neck - I enjoy this bit and I'm hoping it turns out as well as the last one to satisfy my engineering side! I'm looking at installing a single EMG J pickup in this. I think that will sound pretty good but will also leave the maximum amount of the buckeye showing. This is the first time I have used buckeye and really like the look of it so much so I ordered another piece for a bass but the delivery company lost it!! I'm in the process of sorting the replacement but that's for another project....

Finally managing to find some time to get on with this!! I've been itching to get on with this for a while but other more important things needed doing first. The first of these basses was 800mm (31.5") scale which was dictated by the length of the strings. The second one is going to have a slightly shorter scale length and I'm going to swap things about here a little and fit the original neck on the spalted beech body and make a new neck for the walnut bodied one. I've looked at string lengths, particularly between ball end and silk, of some short scale LaBella nylons and some D'Addario chromes which has determined rather than 762mm (30") scale the neck would need to be 750mmm (29.5") scale to suit the bridge layout how I currently have it. I've made a bass before at 750mm scale and that was really nice to play so I don't see any issues here (hopefully..!). First step is to create a new neck template in the same style as the previous one. As I'm fitting this to the previous body I'm keeping the neck tape the same as the previous neck, it will just be a bit shorter. The only affect this has is to make the neck marginally (about 1mm) wider at the nut. I've ordered a truss rod and nut to suit and now I'm just waiting for it to warm up a bit so I can go into the garage to work on this!

I used to travel with work quite a bit and often had a Hohner B2A in the car boot. I had a go on Ped's Wingbass at a bass bash and quite liked it - thought it would make a good travel bass. I decide to have a go at making one but 23" scale, which I did but then changed jobs so am no longer working away!! I'm still building a second one anyway....

Marked up the neck to put the side dots in. I remembered to do it this time before shaping the fretboard and neck (unlike last time which made it hard work!!). Marked up neck ready to drill holes for the side dots: Plastic dot strips glued in place prior to trimming: Plenty of little things to sort before I venture into the cold of the garage.

Whay!! Finally getting round to doing some work on basses again now that the house DIY is finished. Not done a lot but at least I've started.. First up was to strip another headless bridge to file and tidy up. These bridges are okay when you get them but they are a little rough in places so I've stripped the ones I've bought, filed the rough bits then resprayed them. Everything just works and fit a little better afterwards. This bridge will then go in the buckeye bass. I'm thinking of making this one passive and fitting a couple of jazz pickups. The one I took to the SE Bass Bash had a single EMG and preamp - it sounded pretty good but I'd be interested in seeing what passive is like.