Silky999

Lovely looking bass.

I believe the tributes were the real money makers for them so I’m not surprised that Fender will keep those going. The L2000s and L1000s gives them a good foothold into Musicman territory especially compared to the Stirling by Musicman range.

Thank you Andy…. I think its going to be a short scale with 30” neck as its difficult to find one in a natural wood body and I don’t want to have any neck dive.

I have already cut it as a normal right side bass. Yeah I have a pillar drill and fresh bit. I think using inserts and possibly a custom made walnut neck plate will stop knot having to take too much load. I’m hoping the when I route the neck pocket, the knot goes off at and angle and there will be plenty of good wood in the pocket.

I have filled it with milliput black epoxy to re-enforce it and plan to use machine screws and inserts as well. I’m hoping the knot goes off at angle so when I route out the neck pocket, it will not be a problem. Also if I use a short scale neck it will give me a few mm extra clearance as the neck pocket will be smaller. It will certainly be good practice for a lightweight Stingray body that I have been asked to do.

I am going to try and make a walnut control plate and then the option of pickguard or no pickguard

Thank you, I have narrowed the width and reduced the size of the horns. It also has a 12.7 radius round over around the body so very curvy. I’m wondering whether to keep it quite grainy and not sanding to such a high grit as I would usually. It really is very lightweight and I’m thinking that a 34” scale neck might be too much on it

So I went with A for the front. It’s a thin body (32mm) and slightly smaller than a P size so it will be an interesting project to see how everything fits. I will definitely have to go for lightweight tuners to combat neck dive. Part of me is thinking about doing a short scale.

oh yeah, I never noticed the face!

I love my Tribute L2000. Really versatile and it has has the K mod so pickups can be split, series or parallel. I put a Japanese premium G and L neck on it so it now has a more jazz bass width instead of the chunky one it had before. I kept the original in case I ever want to put it back.

Side A Side B

Oh she will be, she accepts she’s a bass widow lol

When you turn your spare room to a drying/curing room using an eBay clothes rack and some hooks lol

It will depend on what you are looking for…….specs, finish, target weight, budget, time frame etc……as an idea of starting point, a one piece paulownia blank is about £125-150, if you want it painted and nitro finish, then that needs a month to cure before final sanding and polishing so that will affect time frame. Poly clear coat would be quicker over paint. Solid colour or burst? Maybe post what your vision is? Feel free to message me.

i believe Headless wants a black pickguard if I remember rightly.

that’s how I view it lol…..witchcraft and alchemy! How do you chaps radius the fretboard? A radius sanding beam or have you made fancy router jigs?

Thank you for your kind words.

I will give them a go. Can you use them with neck plates or do they need ferrules? I normally drill a hole in the middle of the neck pocket to mount the bodies to a painting jig handle and cover with a neck plate.

Oh, I have also now realised, like you, that you can never have too many clamps.

Same as me….building basses is a hobby/side hustle which is good for my up and down mental health and something I am doing as a plan for some extra cash and keep my brain active when I finally retire lol. i haven’t summoned up the courage to do necks yet so just buy Chinese ones and modify/titivate them to bring them up to scratch. I will progress to doing them when I get a neck radius and fret slotting jig but as they say….Rome wasn’t built in a day!

How do you finding using the machine inserts instead of screws on the neck? I have a set and keep meaning to try them but worried the drilling even though I have a pillar drill lol that laminated neck is gorgeous BTW!

This one will be put together in the next few days and then for sale on here. Some idea of the specs: Sapele hand sanded Liberon Finishing oiled body Wenge neck with custom poly finished headstock shape but back of neck just sanded, oiled and waxed, rolled fretboard edges, levelled, dressed and polished frets. Hipshot Ultralite tuners Gotoh bridge Tone Emporium TE-18 pickups Bloodstone Guitarworks solderless electronics with .47uF capacitor Handmade walnut control plate Schaller Strap lock buttons D’addario EXL165 .45 - .105 strings If this bass sounds like it might be for you, it will be selling for £600 so feel free to message me to ask more questions or reserve. i will post more photos and hopefully some sound clips when I do the advert. Builds coming soon are a wenge drop top and elm body J bass with roasted flame maple neck with rosewood fretboard A spalted English walnut drop top with sapele body which has not been built yet so could be a P, J or PJ if you want to commission that one (it’s not going to be a Flying V!) I would like to get the grain swirl in sapele in the middle of the back of the bass if I can so it runs the length of the rear. Walnut will be black grain filled and oiled to make it pop then either just waxed or satin/gloss nitro depending on customer preference if reserved. this is the walnut body that I am doing for Headless at the moment to give you an idea of what oiled and poly looks like.