LukeFRC Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 (edited) New build time.... but first the background... In the beginning... Many years ago I was given this awful Vox Standard bass body - it weighed a ton. Varuious people on basschat sold me a cheap neck, a cheap Musicman pickup, cheap tuners and actually a nice bridge. etc. I cut a hole for the pickup, defretted the neck, sprayed the body with graffiti paint and the neck with ronseal diamond hard floor varnish. It all went wrong - it still weighed a ton, the finish was awful and the diamond hard floor varnish did do exactly what it said on the tin and I was unable to sand the radius back into it. It was an unplayable heavy lump of rubbish. But it was green which I like! Attempt two, and three... Many years later I try again.. this time I start off with a working bass (good start) and strip a 1990's japanese squier body. It was a bit of a mess to start with and I stripped it and attempted to repaint it. Let's just say it was such a mess that it went utterly wrong - that photo doesn't show the full horror of the green paint job, it looked the most unappetising thing ever and the "paint" stripping had revealed that body was plasticised wood covering some horrid soft stuff in the middle and it just was awfull. So I got a cheap alder body, again from someone on basschat and made it tomato-soup-red using molotov graffiti paint. Good finish except a parts where I finished - it also took a while to cure and I sat it in a case and got marks in it before it had fully hardened. Kinda missed the mark in being a stingray ... but Nice bass, fun to play, sounded good, why did I sell it? Attempt 4 a year or two back I made this... The body (ash) and neck (maple) were made by some local guy at uni when he did instrument building, the preamp is a clone of a pre EB 2 band that I made myself. The tuners are some nice schallers, the pickup is a lovely bartolini MMC, the bridge is a retrovibe stingray clone (with the inserts), more in this later and the paint is shell pink and looks good. (again Molotow) The good: it sounds amazing. Really really nice. The bad: It is a wee bit heavy and the neck is a dog. To be fair I couldn't make better but the frets arn't great and given I've got a few other nice basses there's no way I would choose to play this over them. It does sound good. The ugly: you can buy some lovely bass parts from chinese cheapy eBay sellers. That control plate for instance. That Retrovibe bridge is another chinese cheapy sold by Retrovibe here in the UK. It's a nice bit of kit, esp for the money... the downside, and a pet hate of mine, is cheap stews that the head threads as soon as you look at them. This one was so bad that not only did it thread the head, but when I tried to remove it with pliers it sheared off. Now maybe the pilot holes could have been bigger? but really awful screws and annoys me overtime I look at it. Also pet hate when it comes to cheap bikes... Edited June 7, 2019 by LukeFRC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 Attempt 5: So we need to fix the bad things with the Pink stingray. The preamp is good, maybe new pots. The tuners can't be faulted. and errr.. a nicer neck, a lighter body, a less cheap-screws-bridge.... So... someone on basschat sold me this neck... made in USA musicman - Think this will be an upgrade.... And then my BB1200 sold and I spent a bit extra on my G&L L1000... and wasn't sure if the wife would let me have more bass spending money... so I sat the neck in under the sofa bed and forgot about it for a bit... Then I saw this nice hipshot bridge on eBay at a reasonable price so snapped it up..... next some wood for a body. after a while looking around for someone who would have some wood that would be suitable I figured if I were going to do this I might as well do it properly and when visiting the in-laws in the peaks we went visited a certain Mr Shuker who sold me this bit of wood, already jointed and thicknessed for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 So good bit of wood, nice bridge, nice neck...... think I've got a build going on here! So at the start:[list] [*]I'm not going to be going quickly on this. So don't expect lots of speedy building. Hopefully avoid any major mistakes! [*]It was going to be glittery silver body... but given I've got this nice bit of wood that might stay on display [*]It's going to be string thru body, so got to get furrells in a straight line! [*]I need to decide if it's going to have the control plate or be rear mounted. And if it's going to have the scratch plate. With a less stingray looking bridge I don't feel that it has to be a clone of a stingray, but wants to have enough there that it looks good. [*]there is an option of a $$ or HH pickup setup. I kinda like the idea that if I have HH and select the outside coils I might be able to get something that gets into Jazz territory. but at the same time you loose the simplicity of a stingray. [/list] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 (edited) So mucking around on photoshop - would be grateful for opinions... 1 - control plate, no PG 2 - rear rout, no PG 3 - control plate, black PG 4 - control plate, tort PG 5 - rear rout, no pg, 2 pickups 6 - control plate, no PG - and black stain - kinda matching the neck which is black 7 - sunburst? Of course guitar finishing is a hell of a lot harder than a 30 second photoshop job! 8 - teal version of 5 9 - like 8 but with a pg Edited April 17, 2017 by LukeFRC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 I'm liking the more naked one with two pickups, or the control plate with one pickup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Twin p/up no pick guard - either naked or Teal - possibly with Black hardwear?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Nice project, I'd go for top right personally, although I also like the 2 pickup teal without the scratchplate, perhaps with black grain filler? I've started a new scratch build, a 5 string along the lines of a Sandberg VM5 and I'm hoping to stain the swampash body a dark blue/black, so I'll be following your build closely Good luck Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 Teal with no pickguard would be my choice. I love teal guitars and basses 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 Should have said no idea on colour yet - I like teal and the black would match the neck but open to anything- super quick to mock up different colours. I'm really liking the two pup with no guard or control plate - it looks stingray but also different Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 I'd go for a Black Stained version of number 5, the one with 2 pups and no pickguard. I'd also go for black hardware too That would be one gorgeous looking bass! Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 Might be able to get a second pickup - cant afford black hardwear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1492522037' post='3280897'] Might be able to get a second pickup - cant afford black hardwear! [/quote] Something to save up for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 Nah - I'm not sure I like the all black look with black hardwear. Nickel would be nice... but changing hardware is out of budget (unless someone wanted a swap) - remember this is the build I shouldn't really be doing after I spent all my bass spending money on the G&L Anyway, more mockups.... the one Eude (and me) like, chrome hardware I do like colour though: I've been really impressed with this build some german guy has done: ( http://www.kontrabassbau.at/stingray5pimp.html ) maple top obviously but nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1492539396' post='3281091'] Nah - I'm not sure I like the all black look with black hardwear. Nickel would be nice... but changing hardware is out of budget (unless someone wanted a swap) - remember this is the build I shouldn't really be doing after I spent all my bass spending money on the G&L Anyway, more mockups.... the one Eude (and me) like, chrome hardware I do like colour though: I've been really impressed with this build some german guy has done: ( [url="http://www.kontrabassbau.at/stingray5pimp.html"]http://www.kontrabas...ngray5pimp.html[/url] ) maple top obviously but nice [/quote] The one on the top, black... Although I prefer just the one pickup, if I were to use two I'd space them like you have. Looking promising! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 [quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1492552923' post='3281241'] The one on the top, black... Although I prefer just the one pickup, if I were to use two I'd space them like you have. Looking promising! [/quote] that's the big choice I've got to make 1 or 2 pickups. I'm going to set it up with switching rather than blend so that I'll be able to set it in "musicman" setting and it would be identical electronically to a 1 pup bass. Would be quite fun to have two pups too though! (and give the answer to the "why build it") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 Ref your comments that weight has been an issue with a number of your previous builds, have you got any thoughts how to keep this one light? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1492539396' post='3281091'] Anyway, more mockups.... the one Eude (and me) like, chrome hardware [/quote] We have a winner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1492555067' post='3281255'] that's the big choice I've got to make 1 or 2 pickups. I'm going to set it up with switching rather than blend so that I'll be able to set it in "musicman" setting and it would be identical electronically to a 1 pup bass. Would be quite fun to have two pups too though! (and give the answer to the "why build it") [/quote] Yeah, the 2 pickup version will me more 'special'... For my particular taste, a single pickup is best, and the second pickup I feel gets in the way a little without adding anything I want, sound-wise, really. I like it simple. But that's just me. If you're after versatility your plan looks good, especially if you add coil switching. I just avoid that sort of thing because I get distracted too easily and need to fiddle with it all. But for a more sensible person it would work Looking forward to seeing what you end up with. That piece of wood has some nice grain too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikki_Sixx Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 That's a lovely bit of timber, so sans-pickguard definitely seems the way to go. That grain needs to be seen! Looks like it would be lovely in that black finish you posted a picture of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 It is a really nice piece of wood and the grain needs to be seen. Ttrans black with chrome plate etc to contrast gets my vote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 19, 2017 Author Share Posted April 19, 2017 [quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1492584473' post='3281308'] Ref your comments that weight has been an issue with a number of your previous builds, have you got any thoughts how to keep this one light? [/quote] buy a light bit of wood from Jon Shuker? bridge is aluminium too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 27, 2017 Author Share Posted April 27, 2017 So work, weekends away and then some bug means I haven't done much more than research stuff... The bug finally caught up with me and a day at home in bed meant I could get some scale drawings done... Searching the net I managed to find some: amazing scale drawings for Precision basses, amazing scale drawings for Jazz bass... and a mediocre one for a stingray. The shape and positioning feels about right. The one negative is the plan seemed to use a 4 bolt Fender style neck, whereas my Musicman one is 6 bolts and 21 frets.... Ruler out and a load of measuring my actual neck, and reshaping slightly the upper horn and bit that bolts on and I get to this.... I think I may end up needing to do a separate battery box. We shall see. I also wasn't convinced by the control positioning so mocked it up without the other lines - I really don't think those switches work where they are.... The switches will be serial- single (outside) - Parrallel for each pickup. Then the big switch a pickup selector. The musicman pickup is kinda designed not to have anything (resistive) between the pup and the input... hmm Oh and BTW if it looks like I'm just faffing around with drawings... well I'm a graphic designer so sorry! They are also life size plots so I can switch on the lines I need, print out and stick onto MDF to make my templates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1492522037' post='3280897'] Might be able to get a second pickup - cant afford black hardwear! [/quote] Still think it would look better with black hardware... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4R-Black-nickel-JB-PB-Bass-Machine-Heads-Tuning-Keys-/272609839454?hash=item3f78d0095e:g:sB8AAOSwB-1Y24bW http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-Pcs-Right-Handed-Machine-Head-Tuners-Tuning-Pegs-for-Bass-Guitar-Black-/152347269662?hash=item23789ada1e:g:8GMAAOSwux5YR9l~ http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-STRING-CURVED-BASS-GUITAR-BRIDGE-FOR-FENDER-ETC-BK-C-/150823371343?var=450080100963&hash=item231dc6024f:g:slQAAOxy2BBSVq9u http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-string-hard-tail-fixed-bass-guitar-bridge-B17-/140669608630?var=440037564877&hash=item20c08fe2b6:m:mywssYfJu-AmOhU-GRzvO_w Sell one of the kids to raise the funds.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 27, 2017 Author Share Posted April 27, 2017 [quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1493322655' post='3287537'] Still think it would look better with black hardware... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4R-Black-nickel-JB-PB-Bass-Machine-Heads-Tuning-Keys-/272609839454?hash=item3f78d0095e:g:sB8AAOSwB-1Y24bW http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-Pcs-Right-Handed-Machine-Head-Tuners-Tuning-Pegs-for-Bass-Guitar-Black-/152347269662?hash=item23789ada1e:g:8GMAAOSwux5YR9l~ http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-STRING-CURVED-BASS-GUITAR-BRIDGE-FOR-FENDER-ETC-BK-C-/150823371343?var=450080100963&hash=item231dc6024f:g:slQAAOxy2BBSVq9u http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-string-hard-tail-fixed-bass-guitar-bridge-B17-/140669608630?var=440037564877&hash=item20c08fe2b6:m:mywssYfJu-AmOhU-GRzvO_w Sell one of the kids to raise the funds.. [/quote] some the eBay cheapies were what wasn't great about the last ittereation of the bass - so want to use decent parts (which I've got) - and honestly don't massively like the black hardwear stealth look.... as a designer in my day job, trust me I'm going to to be able to make it look good.... less sure I'll be able to actually make it though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 If you take your time, think things through and don't set yourself unrealistic deadlines anything is possible. I've been building my first guitar for over 18 months and would never have dreamed that I could produce what I have done so far. I'm currently lacquering it and am having to force myself to avoid rushing. It's a guitar so no build thread on here, but I promised Andyjr1515 that I'd post the finished photos on BC. The next build will be quicker now that I kinda know what I'm doing. You can do anything if you put your mind to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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