Dom in Dorset Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) I seem to spend a lot of time depping for a country band and fancy some sort of (at least cosmetically) telecaster bass. As usual I'm on a tight budget and so I'm using uo a few bit's I already had: A Precision body I bought on Ebay while drunk a few months ago, I used my Squier tele as a template and I'm reducing the thickness a bit to take out some of the contouring and make it more slab like. It will eventually be given a distressed blue finish. Edited September 2, 2014 by Dom in Somerset Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 I bought a junk bass on ebay as a donor , the neck needs some attention , someone really didn't want me to know who made it because they chiseled of the trade mark! As it's going to be a bit of a relic I can live with it. Tomorrow I'll take it to work and give the lower horn and headstock a trim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Do you know it's got a hole right through it.....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 A previous owner of the body added a control cover to the back, I presume so that they didn't need to remove the scratch plate to access the electronics. I have the plate , I may keep it or cover the hole permanently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldflows Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 What pick ups are you planning on using? I have the squire tele and I personally think the humbucker is the best sound and find the jazz pickup a bit lifeless.. Might be my playing style! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 It will have a regular modern P pickup, the one that came in the junk bass seems to be really good, nice powerful output and a surprisingly wide range of tones. I have no idea what it is but it has white casing. Talking of the junk bass, more on that soon, I bought it for the neck and hardware but the body turned out to be better than I thought... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 Ok, it's moved on a bit, I still need to re-rout the neck pocket and get sanding before I get the spray paint out: Incidentally, this is the junk bass I bought as a donor for neck: after removing the neck it became obvious that the body was in fact made from wood and not ply as I had assumed. A bit of stripping revealed this: So I may have two bases to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budget bassist Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Interesting that the neck has the wheel style truss rod adjuster at the body end of the neck, not many basses have those... Could it be something a bit more special than you first thought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 [quote name='budget bassist' timestamp='1410338075' post='2548194'] Interesting that the neck has the wheel style truss rod adjuster at the body end of the neck, not many basses have those... Could it be something a bit more special than you first thought? [/quote] I love those adjusters, probably the biggest advance in truss rod technology ever. I just wish more manufacturers would adopt them although I guess they are patented to Musicman? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 The neck is pretty shoddy! It looked cheap and nasty.The fretboard was coming away and it had a nasty kink towards the nut. I've glued it together and managed to adjust the truss by putting a nail through the holes and turning it with mole grips! It was massively bent and stiff (ooh er!) but I think it will survive. I buffed the headstock today, it's looking like a seriously worn relic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommorichards Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 I have found those wheel adjusters on a marlin neck i had a few years ago. Could be one of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 I'm glueing bits of the upper horn into the control cavity, I'm going to re-rout it to take a tele style metal plate. I'm also trying a cut down precision scratchplate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 (edited) It's been a good news/ bad news day. The bad news is that the neck (that I already had doubts about) is now firewood. I broke off the truss rod nut, I do have a spare truss rod and partly removed the fretboard to see if it would fit. The original truss was housed in an aluminium box section thing that meant the new rod wouldn't fit . No major problem as the neck was to put it mildly "dubious" The good news is that the body has moved on : Edited September 28, 2014 by Dom in Somerset Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alittlebitrobot Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Interesting project! I really like that finish. Good luck with the next neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 I put a bit of time in this evening and thought it was worth posing the body with the broken neck just to get an idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Done! I had a bit of a jam with a guitarist I'm starting a new project with this evening so it's been blooded. (yes those are my curtains and yes I have a red sofa) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alittlebitrobot Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 couldn't help myself! [attachment=173326:old.jpg] Looks great, though! How does it sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 How does it sound? Like a precision, which is really what it is! I may still make a special gadget to cure the neck dive, it's not too bad after trying strap buttons in different places but could be better. More on that soon (maybe) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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