Jimothey

The Jag bass is almost finished just got to sort the electrics then setup....... 👍🏻 

Got the body and neck pocket done today....... 👍🏻 

My little boy really wants a bass so I've decided to try and build him one! 

Being only 7yrs old he struggles with a standard short scale so I got given a crappy Burswood 3/4 sized guitar that in going to convert into a 24" scale bass 

So I started off with a template of a standard sized P bass then scaled it down till it looked right also making sure the neck pocket size is correct and the scale length will work out right too..... 

It did come out quite a bit smaller...... 

Here's the donor guitar

And here's what it will hopefully look like? 

The body blank is gluing up at the moment so hopefully I'll get started cutting the body tomorrow........ 👍🏻 

Just purchased joblot of tuners, knobs etc from Pat

Very helpful, the stuff was well packaged, fast delivery, very smooth transaction would happily buy from him again!!....... 👍🏻 

I got the top cut today which I'll use as my template, and cut the pickguard I still need to fine tune it and thin it down but I couldn't resist doing a mock up......... 👍🏻 

This build is now going to be a 5er instead with a single soapbar pickup with chrome hardware 

I'm gluing up the blank now its Pine back with Oak top, the pine is going to be stained a bit darker I've got some tinted Danish oil that is a medium brown so hopefully it will look quite nice the pickguard is going to be ply again more than likely stained black....... But who knows...... 👍🏻 

There's a change of plan with this build its going to be a 4 string with the MM pickup and chrome hardware 

The 5 string neck and soapbar pickup are now going to be used on the P-Rick build because I think the neck dive was going to be awful with this being a 5er

Im going to do a mockup in the next few days..... 👍🏻 

Sounds like its going to be another lovely bass.......👍🏻 

Pm'd

2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I love the look of jaguar basses

 

I'm pleased your workshop's done. Lots more goodness to come, I'm sure. 

So do I! I'm thinking of doing one with MM pickup aswell but I really need to start selling them and not keeping everyone I make........ 🥺

Hopefully now I've goty bandsaw, thicknesser etc it should make my life a bit easier...... 👍🏻 

I think this looks better?

I'm going to darken the top down so it kinda halfway between what it is now and the pickguard colour as I think its a little bit too light? 👍🏻 

Oh yeah and I've made and mocked up my firecaster build I would put it on guitarchat but there never seems to be anyone on there!!

49 minutes ago, Richard R said:

I see what you mean, it's "nearly but not quite..."

Maybe if the body was as-is, but the neck was the colour of the lighter wood on the body and slightly reliced. That would maybe tie it together better?

I think trying to sand off the finish of the neck will be an absolute ball ache because thats a factory finish! So I think if anything the fretboard will have to go black or a lot darker but I am partial to a black neck tho! I'm thinking of trying to make it more like this...... 

I just don't like the way the body has turned out so I'm definitely going to sand it back to bare and rethink the finish....... 👍🏻 

I keep on looking at it and I just don't think it looks right! So I think I'm going to sand the body back to natural and polyurethane it instead thats for definite! but I'm now thinking maybe make it an all black neck?

Thats a job for tomorrow so I think I'll sleep on it! But can I have peoples opinions please........ 👍🏻 

I didn't like the pickguard light wood so I've darken it down a bit and sanded the top back a bit............ 

Just soldering and a set up to do then on to the next...........  (its a firecaster guitar 🤫) 

Here's the links to the type of cnc I'm building 👍🏻

I don't know if this will be of any interest to anyone....

After watching a fella on YouTube make his own cnc machine, Me and my dad have decided to build one which is going to have a 700mm x 700mm useable cutting area we we're going to try and go a bit bigger but there is lack of space in the workshop but I've worked out I will be able to do a bass neck on it going diagonally from corner to corner we've worked out the parts will come to just over £400

I'll be using it for guitars and possible signs and stuff and my dad will be using it for his model railway stuff 

With that in mind I've started trying to design some 3d models that I can convert to gcode and cut on the cnc, I haven't got the money to buy a copy of rhino or fusion 360 so I've started doing the 2d svg designs in Inkscape and 3d modelling in freecad which is still a steep learning curve! but to make life easier someone has designed a dedicated workbench for building guitars its called Mars Guitar Designs and as long as you label the parts on the 2d drawing body and headstock eg. contour, midline and pickups/control cavity etc correctly you can easily do design like this...... 

(This was just a bit of messing around doing a Meteora style bass) And once its like that you can adjust the parameters of the neck eg. Scale length, heel and nut dimensions, amount of frets etc

I'm still learning so I'm still trying to figure out a few things like how to add arm and belly carves and how to radius the top edge.........👍🏻 

We are ordering all the parts this coming week so I'll post updated pics as we go along..... 

Here's the Jag bass I thought I'd try a ply pickguard but I'm going to try and get it roughly the same colour as the fretboard? But I'm not sure if I'm even going to have a pickguard? ....... 👍🏻 

I've started remaking the body for my Jag Bass its being made out of the same floor joist as the 51 p build 

Its going to be a Mark Hoppus style again with a 1 piece pickguard with split coil pickup

The body has been glued up and cut out I'll take some pics when I go back out to the workshop........👍🏻 

Well this build is almost finished just got to do the electrics and set it up! 

I sanded it back a bit so it wasn't as dark, the burning process has left it with some nice texture........

And finished it in a few coats of satin poly, I'm quite happy with hoe its turned out......... 👍🏻 

Ooohhh gotta love a new tool arrival! I've just had to replace the belt and blade on mine but haven't had a chance to use it yet! 

That looks awesome! 👍🏻

I think the inlays look really good! IMHO I think if they weren't in the black they might have got lost I think it makes them pop a bit better..... 👍🏻 

Can I have them please I'll pm you 👍🏻

5 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Supply and demand allows the makers a little profit. Nobody is putting a gun to anyone's head to buy so I fail to see your concern.

What are you going on about? Your completely missing the point or are you just trying to be argumentative? Read the OP then comment on what I have written 👍🏻

1 hour ago, Downunderwonder said:

You got the last bit right. Certainly cheap basses have come a long way since 1969 but you're still looking at polishing something that came out the back end of a cow to get a gem like object.

What that I'm talking out of my derrière? It was more of a hypothetical idea 

29 minutes ago, Boodang said:

Well, I've got a Squier Jazz, not expensive, plays very well especially since a pro setup and new pickups. I've also got a not cheap Sei custom. No amount of tinkering with the Squier is going to get it close to the Sei which has a custom asymmetric neck and fingerboard profile. Apart from the exquisite finish on the Sei which the Squier could never match at it's price point, the custom element of the neck profile and body make it fit like a glove and that's something a generic bass like the Squier is not going to achieve. 

But if you don't like a asymmetrical neck and you like the neck profile on a squier then is the more expensive bass better quailty no not to that person a custom made guitar is only worth the money for the person who commissioned it quailty and the value of something are two completely different things, everything is only worth what people are willing to pay for it! Would Wal's and Fodera's cost so much if people stopped buying them?