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CNC self build bass


budget bassist
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I also stripped the neck and refinished with a single coat of tung oil - it's come out really nice. A sort of soft matte finish, nicer than the poly satin finish that was on there before.Looks a bit more natural.

[attachment=172907:IMG_4395.jpg]

[attachment=172908:IMG_4396.jpg]

I also drilled the hole for the side-mount jack and countersunk it, though I won't post photos as it's not hugely interesting. I'm just waiting for the black dye to turn up now so I can get on with finishing it. I also have some maple on order for the neck.

Edited by budget bassist
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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been messing about with finishes for the last couple of weeks, hence the radio silence. I couldn't get the stains to work right, the ash was just really porous and wouldn't soak it up, even with grain filler on there, so I gave up for now. I'll be experimenting with it some more though for sure, I'd like to get a decent stained finish done at some point.

So here's where I am now, filled the grain with black filler, to make it 'pop', as you can see, and then just put a coat of tung oil on there. I think it looks awesome! I'll probably put a few more coats of oil on and call it done. There are some light marks though that I couldn't see before the oil went on, so I'm tempted to sand it back and get it perfect, even though they'll be mostly obscured... I'll decide tomorrow.

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This has been a while coming, it's not 100% finished - electronics need work, and I'd like to have matching hardware at some point, when funds allow! I also need to make my own neck, that's getting there, I need to start machining it though. Maybe in a week or two.

I have the thing built with the OLP neck anyway, and it plays pretty nice, though it could do with a proper set up.







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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

[quote name='88reaper88' timestamp='1420943908' post='2655401']
Just an idea; Why not fibreglass the polystyrene body and actually use that? Might be an interesting experiment tone-wise :)
[/quote]
Interesting idea, might be worth a try! Almost seems a shame to have 'wasted' all that machining time on it.

This has really been on the back-burner due to not having any money and/or time. I've tried a few prototype necks, but none have worked out. I should have better access to a router again soon I'm hoping and can continue this project. But as I say, time and money are a factor, and I'm trying to spend as much time as I can at the moment earning. That said, I have a few other projects going on concerning CNC/advanced manufacturing, and if anyone is interested in these, I would be happy to post a few of the less IP-sensitive details, though I am trying to keep a lot of it under wraps at the moment.

That being said, I've just agreed to play a gig for a reggae covers band later this month, so this thing really HAS to be finished. I've ordered a very cheap chinese 3 band pre for it, and if that doesn't arrive in time, I'm just going to wire pickup to jack.

Edited by budget bassist
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  • 6 years later...

Making a slightly delayed return to this after several years of life upheaval. Some of you may remember me?!

 

I did eventually finish this and gigged it a few times. I can't actually remember what state this thing is in since I haven't seen it in a few years but I'm hoping I can get it shipped to Canada where I'm now living and hopefully pick up playing bass (and guitar) again for the first time in about five or six years.

 

Here are a few of the last photos I took of it. I seem to remember it playing and sounding pretty decent!

 

IMG_4549.thumb.JPG.a2df71b12fe51420f2d04dbc4ade39b2.JPGIMG_4545.thumb.JPG.a546758a0e0395d490161c0d908ea50f.JPG

Edited by budget bassist
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just seen this thread - no bass content to contribute (except to say yours looks very nice!) but it reminds me that I used the Ellesmere Port Fab Lab a couple of times around the same time as you, in my case on a paid basis for some work stuff - it was a really good concept and staffed by really helpful individuals, but sadly it shut down as I think their funding ran out and they weren’t getting the user numbers to justify continuing it. 
 

The Manchester one is still going…

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18 hours ago, nekomatic said:

Just seen this thread - no bass content to contribute (except to say yours looks very nice!) but it reminds me that I used the Ellesmere Port Fab Lab a couple of times around the same time as you, in my case on a paid basis for some work stuff - it was a really good concept and staffed by really helpful individuals, but sadly it shut down as I think their funding ran out and they weren’t getting the user numbers to justify continuing it. 
 

The Manchester one is still going…

That’s a real shame, the I remember the guys there being super helpful and accommodating as you say. The Fablab model as a whole is ridiculously useful to so many people, I just think most don’t know they exist or where to start.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey budget bassist, great to hear from you again, and nice to see you aren't leaving music/bass playing behind, your bass turned out great 

You have also re-ignited my curiosity in FabLabs, and I see they have one in Plymouth, which is both interesting and dangerous 😏

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On 19/12/2021 at 03:05, rubis said:

Hey budget bassist, great to hear from you again, and nice to see you aren't leaving music/bass playing behind, your bass turned out great 

You have also re-ignited my curiosity in FabLabs, and I see they have one in Plymouth, which is both interesting and dangerous 😏

That’s great to hear! I’ve also found one local to me that opened in October this year and it’s got me thinking about the neck I never managed to finish on this project, amongst other things…

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My bass turned up yesterday - thanks dad! He shipped it to me from the UK for Christmas. 
It looks like I put a 3-band 9v preamp in there. It works and sounds pretty good but I need to figure out how to relocate the jack socket and probably put some foam around the battery. 
The bass could use a good setup, the action is pretty high and I’d like to replace the bridge eventually but it works for now.

 

Photo with an ampeg ba110 that I managed to pick up for $20 not working. Looks like somebody had pulled out the headphone jack while the amp was on and made it go bang. Just sanded the contacts a touch and works perfectly.

 

AEF5C58C-F58F-4F78-A3C2-74660FB92EDC.jpeg

E476E551-78C4-4186-BFBA-1DAAA0375530.jpeg

EE368A1E-C876-4B51-BDE2-E1317DDEFA90.jpeg

57C3342F-D226-4594-BE3E-E1E21B4264F3.jpeg

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10 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Indeed, the output jack location is ... strange.

Yeah... I drilled the hole for a barrel jack like you might find in a warwick and I guess this was my temporary solution to use the jack that came with the preamp. Surprisingly it's not actually in the way when sitting, and I think I may have even gigged it like this.

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  • 1 year later...

I'm bringing this thread back to life somewhat. I've been playing the bass a little more lately - it didn't get much time last year due to other projects. For anyone that's actually interested, I built a squaredrop camper - thread here. It's becoming obvious that I like projects and building things then...

 

While playing recently, I decided that the Chinese preamp is a POS and needs to be replaced. A colleague of mine I think might have an older Aguilar preamp to donate. I sourced a barrel jack so I can hopefully relocate that to the hole I drilled in the appropriate location. I also decided that I'm not a huge fan of the single pickup.

Back when I built this thing I was mostly playing either metal or funk and modelled my sounds after the likes of Flea, Dave Ellefson of Megadeth etc. and really liked the aggressive, nasally bridge pickup sound. These days I'm playing a bit more dub, reggae etc. and really wish I had a neck pickup, so I might attempt to fit one. I'm thinking another MM pickup to keep things matchy matchy. I'll likely try to find a Fablab to laser cut a template for the pickup cavity and hand-route the hole with my cordless Dewalt router (that thing is really nice, recommend one to anyone doing this type of work). Shouldn't be too hard. 

 

Once that's done I'd like to source a nicer bridge and the body could use a fresh coat of oil, it's starting to look a little dry.

 

Will try to keep this updated as I go. Now to start shopping for parts...

Edited by budget bassist
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And I put this excellent lightweight bridge on my Rebellion Jazz Bass, it's a great plus compared to an original MusicMan or a simple budget one like yours.

 

https://www.ampshopbassexchange.com/product/albridge-parts-m20b-music-man-style-4-string-quick-release-bridge-for-jazz-bass-or-precision-electric-bass-guitars/

 

The new version is not a quick release model.

 

It's this:

 

793121831_RebellionJazzBass(13).thumb.jpg.cfc7ee7656bdf99bbcf7feeeb75c0e2f.jpg

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