Jabba_the_gut

Unfortunately not! I had two planks, one flat sawn (which I cut into two 8mm thick pieces for bass tops) and one quarter sawn piece which I haven't used yet. Crikey! Did you buy the house off Prince?..... I've got a purpleheart fretboard I might use on this (depending on which body wood I use). Haven't tried it before but could be interesting. I bumped into a tree surgeon neighbour of mine today who had some fresh cut planks of sequoia (redwood) on his truck. Looked very nice - might have to get some off him and put it to one side to dry.

Cheers for the thought anyway!

Quite agree. Most bodies I make are in the range 35-40mm. I've got a spare Warwick preamp from a Thumb bass and I need to make a deeper body when I use that as the push/pull switch on the balance/blend knob makes it quite long.

Cheers Si and Jimothey. The wenge is actually a reclaimed floorboard - I can't imagine what the house was like that it came from!!

Hi BreadBin, I'm up in Gloucestershire.

That's what I love with Basschat - when you have a problem, people will help you find a practical solution!!

It's going to be a little while before I get to build this but I couldn't help myself looking at ideas of how it could look. So I cut an outline and put it over various bits of wood I have: Ash Wenge Walnut Maple Spalted beech Map I actually quite like the map one!!

Thanks Ped. I'll have a good dig around the Wingbass website for ideas!!

That's a shame - I'm in Gloucestershire. If you haven't completed it by the beginning of May, I could take the fret press to the Midlands bass.

Whereabouts are you? If you're local to me you can use my fret press when you get round to it.

I'll be coming to the bash with my wife and kids as I did last year. My wife drops me off with the kit then takes the kids to the coast. We've changed car since last year (had a Zafira then, which you can fits loads into) so I've just tried to see what I can get in the boot of the new car. Bit disappointing as I can't get everything I wanted to bring in it. But then I had an idea. It's only about 90 mins from home so this should work for that short time as I can fit more kit on the back seats. Problem solved. See you Sunday!

After seeing Ped's Wingbass at a bass bash last year which I really liked, Bastav's Wingnut and Jebroad's 20" scale bass I'm thinking of building something very short scale too. I work away a lot for work and it would be nice to have something to play in the evening when I'm stopping at hotels but it would need to take up only a little space in the car boot. I've got one of the cheapy headless bridges in my box of stuff and a spare MM style pickup so I've made the following scribble. The bass would be 23" scale so that should be good for BEAD tuning or EADG using the bottom 4 strings of a 5 string set. No idea about woods or finish yet, this is just an idea at the moment.

I'm liking this!!

I've been watching that bass too - beautiful colour! Hope you enjoy it!

Funny - I just started building (well I've drawn it out and and sorted some parts) for a 23" scale thing. I've also been looking at using the lower 4 strings from a 5 string set to get EADG or to use a 4 string set to get BEAD but an octave up. Mine won't be finished (will barely been started as I have house DIY to do) but I'm looking forward to seeing this one. Cheers Jez

It is 29.5" scale but it does look very small in that picture!!!

Agree with Andy @Andyjr1515 on this especially with that top horn being so rounded. Most guitar tops tend to be around 5mm+ in thickness whereas the veneer will be typically 0.6mm which gives you very little to work with for a rounded edge. The semi hollow bass I made recently is sapele with a spalted beech top and very rounded edges like that Corvette. The top I used was 10mm thick to achieve that effect. Cheers

I'll be bringing that short scale bass that is on the table next to me in this picture, as it was completed about a month after this bash. Looking forward to catching up with everyone and the very tasty food!!

Looking good so far and nice to have the proper pickups for it! But like drinking and smoking, building basses can become addictive and expensive!! 😉 Cheers Jez

That really does look lovely!!

Cheers Andy. Looking forward to catching up at the SW Bash.

Plenty long enough then!

That Makita looks like a nice unit. I've recently got a Triton JOF001 which I really like. It has a really nice micro depth adjuster. I don't think you'd want something too small if you are doing the edges of a body. I don't think you'll beat a router for this task - don't even consider a Dremel or the like. They're only any good for free hand shaping or inlay work (with the precision base) in my opinion. I've also got a cheap Black and Decker router (was about £50) and that has been plenty good enough up to now. I only got the Triton for thereof adjuster and the 1/2" collet. There was a router for sale in the 'sell anything' forum. Cheers Jez

It's a bit difficult to tell from this picture but even with the bridge right at the back, can you still make a sufficiently big neck pocket?