Rexel Matador

On a bass with a P pickup set directly into the top (no scratchplate) does shielding the cavity actually have an effect? My understanding is that cavity shielding should create a closed faraday cage, which would not be the case here. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

TSOL gradually shed all their original members, who eventually reformed and got sued by the new line-up when they tried to tour under the name! Also I saw "Guns 'n' Roses" at the Leeds Festival in 2002 when it was just Axl, Buckethead et al. Against all the odds, it was brilliant.

As a relative novice myself, I have actually found that power tools are much scarier than using hand tools. As long as you learn how to get them good and sharp, carving with chisels is not as hard as you might think. Just a thought, and it all depends on what's appropriate for your needs, but my point is, based on my experience, I wouldn't rule out hand tools based on the idea that it's harder than using power tools. Also making shavings is so much more pleasant than making dust!

No pictures yet - maybe later - but just an update to say I've reached the point I reach every time where it's not turning out as perfect as it was in my head and I feel like giving up. The neck is somehow not aligned perfectly centrally, which is pretty much job #1 on a through-neck, so it'll end up looking a bit goofy. I will carry on of course - just wallowing in a bit of self pity here. I was tearing my hair out over the body shape, so I just went at it with the jigsaw and now I'm going to improvise with chisels and stuff until I have something I like.

Thanks for all the recommendations everyone - I've ordered a Tonerider. Will try and upload a video in my build diary thread once it's done! 👍

It's great to hear all the positive reviews of the Toneriders. I think I'll take a punt on them, because even if I don't absolutely love them, it's no great loss and I'm sure I'll find a use for them anyway.

Just been reading this thread and wanted to add my vote to the "just do it" camp. I have always loved the idea of luthiery and thought if only I had the space/time/money/knowledge etc. One day I decided I was going to build a bass from scratch, no matter how long it took, and my god was it worth it. The wealth of knowledge resources available on youtube alone is staggering. Crimson Guitars is a personal favourite. I amassed the tools gradually as each payday rolled around (and I'm very much still amassing, of course) and my very patient girlfriend lets me use half our our tiny spare room as a workshop, where I built myself a rough and ready workbench and put a shower curtain up to protect the other stuff in the room when I'm doing something particularly dusty. It's not ideal, but then nothing ever is, is it? It's hard, for sure, but weirdly, it's also - I think - perfectly within the capabilities of anyone with a creative spark and some common sense. As others have said already, it is certainly an all consuming rabbit hole of a hobby. Forgive the long winded post. The short version is give it a bash - live the dream 😀

Interesting - if that's true then they really have no business calling them "Ultralite"! I've checked around though, and other sites list them as 1.8oz, which is 51 grams.

Yep, I must have looked at every picture of a neck-through heel on the internet! I'm not too worried about that bit, I quite like carving - I enjoy the parts of the build where there's a bit of leeway and I can just proceed slowly until it looks nice. It's the bits where I have to be accurate to a millimetre while holding a vibrating juggernaut that stress me out! In any case, I'll probably play it safe this time and do an upper horn - both to prevent neck dive and it'll also make the neck transition a bit more straightforward to shape. I wasn't looking forward to doing the sharp angle where the non-cutaway upper bout meets the neck. I have a soft spot for tele shaped basses but I realise that they're probably fairly rare for a reason! Maybe it would work on a short-scale - something to think about for my next build - but I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual 😆 Indeed - and, as practical as it is, I can't stand that look! I didn't know about the licenced tuners, thanks - I was indeed a little put off by the prices I had seen for the hipshots.

This is roughly the body shape I'm thinking of. I suspect that not having a long upper horn will screw up the balance and create neck dive though. Would putting the strap button on the heal mitigate it, do you think?

Great advice, thanks! It didn't occur to me, strangely enough - I guess because I don't know a whole lot about pickups and didn't want to mess with it, but if it worked for you, I might give it a bash.

The one in the middle is a Squier, so ignore that 😆

I'm sure this must be the millionth thread of this kind but here goes... I built a P Bass and used the stock pickup from a 2015 MIM Fender. I absolutely love the way it sounds. The Fender now has a Quarter Pounder in it, which is fine, but not really what I'm looking for. I play heavy rock with a pick, but I think the sound I like is more a "regular" P Bass being pushed to its limit, rather than a pickup designed for that purpose, if that makes sense. To my ears, the QP is a bit abrasive - sort an ersatz version of a heavy P Bass sound. Anyway, I'm building another one now and I want to know what pickup I can get that might be similar to the 2015 P - I can't figure out if any of the available Fender pickups are comparable. Plus, I'm not using a scratchplate and a lot of Fender P Bass pickups appear to have a base plate that's wider than the pickup cover itself, meaning I can't have a close fitting pickup cavity in the top of the body. Anyway, as I can't really road test a bunch of pickups, outside of watching youtube demos of people slapping and popping all over the place, I was wondering if anyone might have any ideas.

Funny you should ask - I only thought of that once I’d done it, but luckily they won’t be in the way!

How important are bridges, really? I've never bothered with high-end/branded ones before but I really want this bass to be good. Is it worth getting a more expensive one? Recommendations? (I'm thinking through body stringing, by the way)

My first bass was one of these - circa 1993. The amp was an ancient guitar practice amp given to me by a mate of my dad's - no idea what it was. The first song I tried to learn was "Everything About You" bu Ugly Kid Joe. I switched to guitar shortly after and only came back to bass (via drums) about four years ago. And now, the band that I joined pretty much as soon as I took up the bass again is supporting Whitfield Crane in Newcastle next week! How's that for synchronicity?! Edit - just realised you can't really see the headstock in that picture - it's an Aria Pro 2 in case anyone was wondering

Truss rod is in. This bit always stresses me out. I find routers so brutal. But, all’s well that ends well. And this is a template for the neck And finally, everything glued together. My original idea of using cocktail sticks as locating pins turned out to exactly as idiotic as it sounds. Replaced them with little nails and all is well 👍

I totally agree regarding the strength. If I did do it, would be more to stop it sliding around while I’m clamping it up.

Great idea, thanks!

I haven’t done it yet, but I was thinking of maybe using some kind of locating pins/dowels. Mainly to stop it slipping when I clamp it up though - I’m confident that the glue joints will be plenty strong.

I'm glad someone said that - it's growing on me too!

Planed and ready for glueing (although I think I'll actually do the truss rod cavity first). I think I'll definitely be staining this - the wood colours are just not right - although I like the way the wings fade to match the neck just as they reach the accent strips. I think if I choose the right colour stain it could look pretty cool.

I think it's Basswood, if memory serves - I'd heard it was easy to work with and it was my first build. People say it doesn't make good instruments but this thing sings.