Rexel Matador

I haven't forgotten the build diary I started for the Matt Freeman body, but I haven't found the right bit of wood so it's on the back burner for now. I'm going to do something much more interesting in the meantime. This bass is going to be made mostly of walnut, with a maple fretboard and some other maple detailing. 4 string, 34" scale - I'll be using it for Drop Bb tuning in the metal band I've just joined, with Ernie Ball Beefy Slinky strings. It'll have through body stringing and a similar open headstock to my last build. I'm going semi hollow again but with a more modern "f-hole" style the last one. The body will be single cut, which I know is not great for balance, but I've wanted a tele-ish bass for a while and I'm determined to give it a go. The neck will be pretty slinky and I'll try and make the headstock/tuners nice and light to mitigate it. I'm going to use two jazz pickups wired in series, out of curiosity more than anything else - probably wired to just a single volume pot - this bass will not be required to do a whole lot in the way of of subtlety. But the most exciting part for me is that I'll be making the pickups myself this time. I cobbled together a P-Bass pickup a few weeks ago, totally winging it and using a power drill for the winding, and was very surprised to find that a: it works and b: it pretty much sounds like a P-Bass pickup, albeit not an amazing one. I had no way to accurately count the turns, so did it by eye, but have since discovered an app for my phone that can count the turns by sensing a magnet stuck to the chuck of the drill as it passes. What amazing times we live in! There's not much to see except a rough drawing for now, but I have most of the wood so will start in earnest this weekend.

https://reverb.com/item/2694191-mojotone-knockout-5-string-jazz-bass-pickup-set

Experimenting with an idea I read somewhere online. I cut a neck pocket template slightly oversized and then filled it in with epoxy putty with the neck in place to make a nice close fit. Tomorrow I'll try and use this one to cut a second one sans putty, so I can be absolutely sure it won't fail when I'm routing the actual body. It turned out pretty well anyway - so far so good.

+1 I don't know if it's up to the standard of the big pricey names, but I use Wilkinson stuff all the time and have never had any problems with it. Also, when I was on the lookout for tuners, someone on here pointed me in the direction of AxesRUs, who do Hipshot "Licensed" Ultralites, for about £50 a set.

I have a Squier Matt Freeman P-Bass that I never use because it was the victim of an early attempt at "refinishing" and frankly looks a bit sh*t. Also one of the tuners is held together with superglue. But, the thing absolutely sings and the EMG GZR pickup that is currently gathering dust on it really deserves better. So I'm going to make a new body for it. My last couple of builds have been totally from scratch and to my own design, so this is a bit of a break from that level of intensity, but I'm just hoping to put what I've learned into doing something relatively simple and doing it well. The bulk of it will be a reclaimed scaffold board, to which I will add a top - something relatively restrained - no fancy flaming this time - with a layer of dark veneer in between, just for a little accent. I'll be adding a colour stain because I don't think the bare wood and the rather Trump-esque tint of the neck will go together very well. I haven't decided whether to keep the scratchplate (black) or just have the pickup and controls set directly into the top. Pics to follow in due course, naturally.

Well, here we are, pretty much done. She's a bit noisy, so I might have another look at the shielding but otherwise all is well. It's all trial and error for me anyway. Short scale, flat wounds and a thumb rest are all new to me, so frankly it feels bloody weird, but I'm already getting used to it after playing for half an hour or so. The headstock has worked out a treat though - the ramp was just deep enough. Forgive the inconsistency in the colours - the camera on my phone is crap and I was trying to get a good representation of the actual colour, to no avail. It's a lot more ribena-ish than it looks here. It's really nice, you'll just have to trust me 🤣 As always, thanks for joining me along the way. I think I need a break from building so I can actually play the things, but I'm sure I'll be back before long. I mean, I even have a spare pickup lying around so...

Sandpaper?

Here's a great video on figuring out which wire is which: https://youtu.be/zZzBPxKpvq0 And another which covers identifying north and south: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UfxQBhqen8

Thanks! Crimson Guitars Finishing Oil

We now have a neck and functioning electronics. All it needs now is a fret job and a nut and it's good to go.

I've been thinking about this lately too. I'm on build number three now and, while I'm gradually improving and they play pretty well, they're probably not of a standard to actually be sold - I am wondering what to do with them as the collection grows - I can't keep them all.

It's actually all oiled and finished but the camera on my phone is a bit rubbish (or I haven't figured it out yet) and has washed it out somewhat. I'll endeavour to take better pics in due course

The body is pretty much done. I may add a second pickup but I think I'll see how it sounds first. There's only one pot in there because my little push/pull pot adventure was not successful. I have a habit of trying to run before I can walk - so, just a straight volume control this time around. I've also done a bit more carving on the headstock. It's a shame because I don't think it looks quite as good like this but hey, the thing needs strings, so needs must.

"Didn't we deserve a look at you the way you really are?" by Shellac. It doesn't get any more simple and repetitive. 12 minutes, two notes. "Runnin' with the Devil" by Van Halen - doesn't exactly fit the bill as the single note you play for the verse is not the same single note you play for the chorus, but again, it really doesn't get much simpler!

I now see that SD has a wiring diagram for two Jazz stacks, which pretty much fits the bill 👍

Thanks, as long as it's not technically necessary, it's all good - that's what I needed to know. I'll have a look for a Thunderbird diagram, thanks - I hadn't thought of that!

Hi, I'm thinking about wiring a bass with two humbuckers, with a volume for each and a master tone. So pretty much like a standard Jazz, except with humbuckers. Every wiring diagram I see for two humbuckers, though, seems to include a pickup selector even if they have independent volume controls. I was just wondering if I'm missing something and not having a selector will cause some kind of issue that I haven't thought of.

I have no idea why I routed the pickup cavity so close to the bridge. i think I just got mixed up with all the various pencil lines I'd drawn on it for various things! I'm thinking I'll maybe need to add another one closer to the neck, but I'm not sure I want to risk cutting into an already finished body. I guess I'll just see how it sounds first - it might be ok.

Just spent about an hour with youtube and a multimeter trying to figure out the colour code of the wires in a Wilkinson humbucker. Finally got it figured out, went to fit it and there was a little slip of paper in the bag with the screws with the colour code already on it 😂 Two positives though: 1) it's cool that they do that now because judging by what people have written in various places online, they haven't always, and 2) I got it right, which means I'm gradually getting the hang of this arcane world of wiring 😀

With the body drying, and me not really feeling up to a full-on neck carving session, I've done a little work on the headstock. I had the image in my head but I just couldn't get the angles to work on paper. It took me way too long to realise 3+1 was the obvious solution. An what's more, the person I bought the tuners from on ebay sent me the extra bass side one for free! I can't tell you how many times I checked and double checked that, due to the orientation, I actually needed a treble side one for the bass side. I almost got caught out with my reverse headstock build, realising about a second before hitting "pay now" that I would need left handed tuners! Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with it. It's starting to make sense visually with the tuners in place. I still need to carve a ramp of sorts into the top to accommodate the strings running down to the tuners.

The body is pretty much done. Actually it still needs a hole for the jack, but that can wait.

I'm currently staining a maple top with Crimson Guitars water based cherry red stain. I have two options for the finish - Crimson guitars finishing oil or pure tung oil. I'm tending towards tung oil because it worked quite well on my last build and I would like this very bright stain to be slightly tamed by the tint of the tung oil. Anyway, the tung oil will need to be thinned and I assume the Crimson Guitars penetrating oil has some kind of solvent in it too. The thing is, I have a sharp edge faux binding type effect on the edge of the top and was just wondering if the oil/solvent is likely to drag the stain onto the bit of the wood I want to keep natural. Or will that not be an issue as long as the stain is good and dry? I'll try a test run on some scrap but it's always good to pick the collective brain for advice/experience. Thanks!

And it's not as if they're not capable of thinking outside the box: https://www.andertons.co.uk/acoustic-dept/acoustic-guitar-effects-pedals-di-boxes/fender-smolder-acoustic-overdrive 🤣

@honza992 Thanks! That's all really helpful. That said, I've gone for a round over type thing this time around, but my next build is already forming in my mind and it will definitely have binding, so I'll be returning to this advice