durhamboy

Trying to work out how and which Fender bodies may or may not be original finishes can be pretty difficult at times. Apparently respraying bodies in the factory wasn't uncommon, particularly in the early years of the 50's and early 60's. Mistakes in finishes, particularly sunbursts were often over sprayed and owners instruments could be returned to the factory and resprayed on request, for a fee. (Though those resprays were recorded with stamps in the body, usually under the pickguards.) Impressions of neck sticks/paddles didn't always show, at least not in the same way on each body, if at all, because of the way bodies were sprayed. The front of the body will have small nail holes (commonly 3 of them) in places which would not show. The nails were left proud to hold the front of the body up while the sides and back were sprayed. Two of the bodies in the photos seem to have nail holes showing next to the bass side of the neck pocket (?) One of the things about early Fender production was that although it was factory assembly line construction, that was only up to a point. Pickups were wound my individuals, bodies were sanded and sprayed by individuals and so on. This wasn't CNC machine manufacture and computer controlled pickup winding and such. I started doing guitar repairs in 1981 and worked on a fair number of old Fenders, though I'd never claim to be an expert on them in terms of verifying originality. I made a point of learning as much as I could so as to "do no harm" when working on them, but the level of variation from instrument to instrument can be quite surprising by today's standards.

What an incredible amount of inventiveness, time and effort going into this build. While I'm sure there is considerable satisfaction from sorting out the many problems this build presents, your commitment to producing the best result possible, while retaining the uniqueness of the hand carved body is outstanding. I take my hat of to you sir.

Some of the things I tried in my first few years building electric guitars and basses included the following. Please feel free to laugh as appropriate, I do. Brass and aluminium strips in necks. (yeah brass? I know, but it was the late 70's, brass nuts, bridges, knobs control cover plates, everything was brass! The aluminium works OK though. Brass really offered nothing but weight, at least to my ear...) Quarter sawn and flat sawn sections in laminated necks to improve stiffness and resist twisting. (I'm sure that wasn't a unique idea, but back before computers and the internet and working in Tasmania, I was piety much on my own.) 30 and 36 fret necks. Fretless six string guitar necks. Tuner bridges and headless necks.Though I borrowed that idea from an local Aussie muso who made one for his own bass. I first saw it in 1971, didn't ask him when he made it. Many of these "experiments" were less than successful, made little appreciable difference, or had unforseen side effects. But they all taught me something, even if it was only not to do that again! Lots of native timbers trialed. (Tasmanian Blackwood, Myrtle, Sassafras, Celery Top Pine, Queensland Maple, and several others are excellent.) That was worth doing. I believe opposing tensions in necks is worthwhile too.

OK, not suggesting that you should aim to fool yourself, but this is a unique design with some experimental features. Consider it more of a prototype (it often takes a lot of tweaking, or several attempts to refine a new model) and take all the positives from it you can and all the things you regard as failings are things to learn from. Yes, you should be proud, but also recognize that realizing the shortcomings of the build is important. It means you have a critical eye and approach. Which means your builds and skills should improve.

That's how it gets ya. During, or after each build, some idea dawns and then becomes "something to do on the next build".

Absolutely blindingly good attention to detail. It's obvious a huge amount of thought went into the build, gotta love the control cavity detail, (battery slots with cutouts to allow easy removal, nice...) the frets are things of beauty, the extra depth in the headstock and the tuner recesses, front AND back. All round build excellence.

Very pretty. I especially like the sound holes mirroring the headstock.

Yes, give version two a shot, as you said, if it isn't a success it can be converted to version one.

You're showing an inquiring mind Richard, ever considered becoming a guitar/bass builder? Your thought about extending the "tongue" of a neck further into the body is used by a number of bass builders and companies, allowing for a more secure joint and usually 6 instead of 4 neck screws. Over the years I've tried a few different neck mounting methods, but I must admit Andy's idea of using a biscuit joint is a real light bulb moment. The incredible strength provided where even a relatively thin piece of wood joins two close fitting surfaces is surprising, which is why dowel plugs in joints are so effective. Don't you just love this forum for the brilliant ideas and great advice so readily given and shared?

Gotta love that softly triangular knob, it's so good I might have to use it as "inspiration" for some similar efforts.

I'm sure this is going to be interesting.

Great detailed description of the process Andy, thank you. Your tip about always working in a direction that doesn't risk pushing out the fret ends is something I hadn't factored into the process. Without your description I probably would have tackled my similar job just like when building a neck and not considered the possibility of unseating frets until it happened. Which would have led to some cursing and a temporary loss of equilibrium and my generally sunny disposition... 🤬

I'm watching with interest as you reshape this neck Andy. I have a second hand Allparts Strat neck sitting around that I'm planning on tapering down to a thinner width for a project and I've been thinking along the same lines as you,in terms of how to do it, but haven't taken the job on yet. Knowing your attention to detail and problem solving abilities, I'll watch how you do it first. I recon that will lessen my chances of stuffing things up considerably.....😉

Five.

I don't know if it's the same Eden, though those necks, bodies, etcetera, had been available over the years from China under the Eden name. There's plenty of feedback on the US bass form, largely positive when factoring in the price. I've been looking at their short scale fretless necks, just to experiment with that combo without investing to much time and money first time. (Always been a 34" scale player, but fingers and the rest of me are getting seriously old now.... 😕 )

another vote for curved on this bass.

Andy, just in case this might be an option? Coronado bass necks, 30 inch scale, 21 frets currently on ebay. From China of course.

My preferences have always been a diamond pattern, or a line following the contours. Usually the layout on my own builds is determined by a few factors, available space, number of controls, clear and easy access and the knobs and switches not being in the way of my picking/strumming hand or fingers.

I'd seriously investigate the heat treatment option, especially if, (as seems to be the case from the posts so far) there is a specialist outfit in the UK who do this work. Many years ago I had an early production Warmoth neck that had been stored n my workshop unused for a few years, when I finally found a use for it I discovered it had developed a significant spiral twist, serious enough that I thought the neck was beyond saving. Anyway, long story short, the neck ended up in the back of my van with a heap of scrap and off cuts destined for the tip. It was summer in South Australia, very hot and low humidity, temperatures in the van during the day regularly reached 60 degrees C for hours on end and the neck lay there for a couple of weeks. When I finally took it out to throw it away I took one final look, thinking (hoping?)that perhaps the twist wasn't that bad... The neck was now strait again! I took it home and kept in in the house under more stable conditions. The neck was still strait two years later, so became part of a guitar I have kept for the last twenty years. (I didn't dare sell it, just in case the twist returned, but it never has.) While I'm not recommending such random rough treatment as a cure, I certainly recommend exploring the the option of controlled heat treatment as a possibility. Good luck with saving the neck and retaining a much loved bass.😉

Nice looking piece of wood you've got there, some variety of ash by the look. Nice work so far too.

I'm with the Rosewood too, with the color tones in that body it looks better to me.

"Addicted to building basses", well join the club. Isn't it great? I recon that the wonderful thing about building your own is it's only cost time and the price of the wood, if it doesn't work out. (Well, builds that don't work out might not be all fun, but at least there are lessons learnt, so all good really, or so I tell myself....) This build sounds interesting, I'll be watching with interest.

Finger and thumb is a technique John Entwistle often used, though he also played with two fingers as well. If I remember correctly, didn't James Jamerson only play with one finger? Covering as many options as possible is probably a good thing, but as long as your technique doesn't restrict you, playing the way that feels most comfortable and natural must be OK.

Alpher instruments in Yorkshire made it.

Unobtainable on mine too. I had a go at building my first electric guitar back in 1976, actually I built 2 at the same time, (the first bass came a bit later) because as a student I couldn't afford anything decent at the time. At least these days a couple of hundred quid, or a few hundred dollars, gets you a pretty decent instrument, back then equivalent amount of money just got you a POS in most cases.