Jabba_the_gut

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I just made a bass with a swamp ash body - nice wood to work with. As Pete says though, price has soared recently. Be interested to see what you make!!

I'm thinking of building a bass with a thin body maybe 35-37mm thick. This is a fair bit thinner than a standard bass. Is there any reason why this might be a bad idea?? Cheers

PM Replied.

I should also say that I'm enjoying playing my 4 string made with some wood from the recycle section on here, some MIM jazz pickups, cheapy bridge, £5 Schaller tuners and old Trace Elliot strings more than I am the 5 string I made with all premium parts (badass bridge Audere pre-amp, Nordstrand pickups, Hipshot tuners, swamp ash body etc.).......

Hi Rubis. It is wenge; a 7mm thick wenge top on a rippled sycamore body. Should contrast really nicely when it's done.

Building your own bass is rewarding but can also be frustrating at first!! I've only built a few but I learn something each time I try something different.

Nugget is quite right too - the parts can get expensive and decent wood isn't cheap. But there is real satisfaction in playing something you built yourself. Decent parts do turn up from time to time and you can save a fair chunk that way but you just have to be patient.

I’d always say give it a go from my experience but I’ve kind of caught the building bug......

I seem to have collected more parts than I need! I have a Musicman Stingray scratch plate for sale:
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[*][s]Black-white-black. Used (fine swirly scratches over whole surface). Has label on back M05269 which is an Ernie Ball part number. £10 posted[/s]


[*]White-black-white. Was fitted to a bass for a short while but still has protective film on it. Not sure of make but is good quality - £16 posted

Cheers
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I’ve got a precision style body, neck and scratch plate for a project if anyone is interested. I bought the neck off here a while ago and a body blank from eBay but I won’t get round to this project as I’ve been building my own basses from scratch and have enough other parts to keep me busy!!

The neck is a fairly basic one by the look of it but is true enough (I did lash a working bass out of these bits just to try it a while ago). Truss rod moves fine. There’s no nut or tuners fitted.

The body is, as far as I know, swamp ash which is pretty pricey these days. It's a three piece body. I’ve cut the neck pocket and scratch plate to match the neck and have routed the pickup and control cavity. It still needs working on (radiusing the edges and any other shaping).

If you fancy having a go at making your own bass I’m looking for £50 collected – I’d prefer not to post if I can help it.

Cheers

Jez

The lacquer is barely dry on my previous efforts but already I'm planning the next build.....this is what I'm thinking this time:

I have to say that it plays really nicely and has a good variation of sound as you'd hope with that may knobs!! The front pickup on it's own has a really nice tone to it. If I was completely honest, I'd say I should have made the neck a little thinner (still might do that) and if I was doing it again I wouldn't use an Audere pre-amp, I'd use an East instead. I almost find the Audere a little aggressive - might just be me not being properly use to it at present but that's my initial feeling. I haven't had as much chance to play as I'd like and my 'Scratch Built Bass#3' is also finished and has been distracting me but should get some time this weekend!! Cheers

Finished! Must say the neck finished much nicer than I expected - really pleased with that. Finish was with water based satin lacquer and it's worked nicely.
I'm more pleased with the neck than the body. I used Tru-Oil for the finish in the end and I'm just not that happy with it - it hasn't given the best finish no matter what I tried to do with it. Won't use it again - I'll stick with spraying instead.
This project has been about practice and correction. I practised on this whilst I was making ‘scratch built bass #2’ and learned plenty from it. I made mistakes on it but decided to carry on to see what I could correct. The design changed a bit over time due to mistakes:[list]
[*]put binding on the fret board to cover an accidental cut with the router where the bearing on the template cutter melted the acrylic template I’d made. This happened twice!!
[*]practising with the oil finish and spray finish used.
[*]headstock is the opposite hand to planned because someone was too impatient to get it cut....what was that...measure twice, cut once...!!!
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It plays nicely so job done. I’m planning on the next bass having a block inlay maple neck so this has been good practice. I'll stick a couple of photos up tomorrow.

They look really good - interesting build diary.

Just looked at the ACG site and the four strings are zero radius and asymmetrical.....mmmm... got me thinking now!!

[quote name='Bloc Riff Nut' timestamp='1375519859' post='2162413']
Hi Jabba,

That spalted beech looks fantastic by the way, great job.
I was wondering which fretboard radius you chose, if any. My ACG 5'er zero radius fretboard with asymetric neck is easier to play and more natural-feeling than my YamahaTRB 5'er.
[/quote]

Cheers for the comments.

I chose a 12" radius for this fretboard. I posted something on here at the time about flat boards and quite a few folk hadn't heard of them either - I'd only just heard of them after looking at an ACG the Manchester bass show and was curious to what people thought. The ACG I looked at had an asymmetrical neck too and I have to say it did feel really comfortable for the couple of minutes I was playing it. But not wanting to deviate from the norm, I ended up doing a radius and symmetrical neck!!

I've got another build (or two...) planned for the near future and I'm quite tempted to try this. The next build will be a 4 string - do you think both the flat board and asymmetrical neck would work for that?

Cheers again

Jez

a couple of better pictures....

Nice. Like the rack of basses you have already made.

Leiden is a really nice city too - worked there for a while in the past. Nice people, buildings and restaurants!!

Hi. Where are you located? If you are local to me I could fix the missing fret.

Cheers

Finally! Had warm enough weather and the time to finish this. I'm pleased with how it has turned out. Even the tarty LEDs look nice...though not everyone's taste!

Have a bump for a stunning looking bass. Almost makes me want to sell a couple of basses.....

Cheers - here's a slightly better picture. Thinking of sticking some of logo on the headstock so piece of paper fitted for size!!

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1371331434' post='2112735']
Tasty
What kind of bridge is that?
[/quote]

I'm not sure - I think it was off a Squier bass. It used to have a pair of saddles but I drilled it to accept four individual ones instead.

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1371329153' post='2112706']
I've got a hankering to attempt something in the style of a Rob Allen semi-hollow with a piezo bridge, you could do a hybrid a bit like that semi hollow P bass
[/quote]

Funny you say that - that is something I'm hoping to have a go at in the near future!! I've thought about a semi jazz or p-bass - like the pic at the top of the page!!

It's been a little while but I have done some more on this. Body is done, just got some shaping on the neck to do and the frets to fit. Couldn't resist putting it together though to make sure everything will line up ok.

Glad someone has gone for this. Really like the look of it and have watched it on here for a while. If I wasn't skint at the moment, I'd have gone for it!!