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Short Scale 'Thing' (23" scale Headless 4 string)


Jabba_the_gut

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6 hours ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

Yep - will probably levelling the frets and trying different strings there as well!!!

If you are doing a presentation of that can you make sure that @Silvia Bluejay captures some of it please?  No pressure.

Heeheehee.

I'm loving these two because they're so tiny.  I don't like the squishy feel of uBass strings but that would never be an issue with the mini-twins.

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7 hours ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

Last few pictures from this build. First up is the shielding of the control cavity, I've found the self adhesive copper sheet easy enough to work with. I have found two distinct thicknesses of it but both seem to stick equally well. You can also see from this picture how it would be very difficult to drill frim the control cavity to the battery box at this point - much easier to pre-drill holes before assembling the two halves of the body.

xahFlSS.jpg

I've fitted an EMG 35 DC pickup and EMG 2 band preamp. Will see how it performs before I decide if they are staying. EMG active pickups do not need a grounding wire to the bridge - there is a wire connected to the bridge but it does not connect to anything. It is just there if I decide to change to a different type of pickup at a later date. I bought a cheap box of crimp connectors so I can make up my own interconnects to suit the EMG parts. It's fairly tight in there to work - the plug together parts have made this a bit easier!

XncyDUu.jpg

I had to route a small recess into the neck pocket for the wire off the pickup. This is an older EMG pickup that does not have quick connect plugs; it has a wire out of the back of it that just needed a little more depth.

2lJEOt6.jpg

With the exception of the screws to hold the control cavity cover in place, all of the assembly is complete. It does need a bit of setting up and fret levelling but it is not too far off the mark at this point.

Only frustration is that I haven't really got opportunity to play it through an amp at the moment - that will have to wait until the weekend. I'm also still trying to finish another bass for the weekend but that still has lots to be done!!

aZ0jfy9.jpg

 

 

Both of these look outstandingly good. 

I generally struggle with the look of headless designs but this looks just right.  Beautiful basses, both of them.  The finish on the headless has brought out the beauty of the wood nicely.

I'll be interested how the EMG system performs. It is very neat as a preamp system if it does, indeed, sound OK.

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  • 4 months later...

Whay!! Finally getting round to doing some work on basses again now that the house DIY is finished. Not done a lot but at least I've started..

First up was to strip another headless bridge to file and tidy up. These bridges are okay when you get them but they are a little rough in places so I've stripped the ones I've bought, filed the rough bits then resprayed them. Everything just works and fit a little better afterwards. This bridge will then go in the buckeye bass. I'm thinking of making this one passive and fitting a couple of jazz pickups. The one I took to the SE Bass Bash had a single EMG and preamp - it sounded pretty good but I'd be interested in seeing what passive is like.

LkjLDTn.jpg?1

 

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Marked up the neck to put the side dots in. I remembered to do it this time before shaping the fretboard and neck (unlike last time which made it hard work!!).

Marked up neck ready to drill holes for the side dots:

I7xRcur.jpg?1

Plastic dot strips glued in place prior to trimming:

t2KdjhQ.jpg

Plenty of little things to sort before I venture into the cold of the garage.

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While it's a bit cold out, I'm doing the parts of this that I can get away with at the dining room table! 

I've cut all the frets to the right size and nipped off the ends of the tang. This will allow me to fill the ends of the fret slots to match the fretboard rather than having the slot visible. I've done this on all basses that I've made as I think it looks neater.

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Next task is to shape the neck - I enjoy this bit and I'm hoping it turns out as well as the last one to satisfy my engineering side!

fd4sITJ.jpg?1

I'm looking at installing a single EMG J pickup in this. I think that will sound pretty good but will also leave the maximum amount of the buckeye showing. This is the first time I have used buckeye and really like the look of it so much so I ordered another piece for a bass but the delivery company lost it!! I'm in the process of sorting the replacement but that's for another project.... 

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On 03/02/2019 at 01:33, Jabba_the_gut said:

I'm looking at installing a single EMG J pickup in this. I think that will sound pretty good but will also leave the maximum amount of the buckeye showing. This is the first time I have used buckeye and really like the look of it so much so I ordered another piece for a bass but the delivery company lost it!! I'm in the process of sorting the replacement but that's for another project.... 

Looks fantastic - for maximum buckeye visibility, perhaps piezo might be an option for the future ;)

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1 hour ago, kumimajava said:

Looks fantastic - for maximum buckeye visibility, perhaps piezo might be an option for the future ;)

Great minds think alike! That is something I’ve been considering and looking at before I route the pickup. I’ve been looking at removing the saddle blocks and replacing with a block of ebony with a piezo element in. 

Cheers

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27 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

Great minds think alike! That is something I’ve been considering and looking at before I route the pickup. I’ve been looking at removing the saddle blocks and replacing with a block of ebony with a piezo element in. 

 Cheers

:)

FWIW - if you're looking for a piezo-buffer, the East piezo pre is fantastic, and quite compact. 

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59 minutes ago, kumimajava said:

:)

FWIW - if you're looking for a piezo-buffer, the East piezo pre is fantastic, and quite compact. 

I’ve used a couple of the East Piezo preamps on other builds and I really like them. As you say, nice and compact. 

Ive also got a Cafe Walter one that I might try though that doesn’t have the controls provided by the East unit.

Cheers

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On 02/02/2019 at 16:33, Jabba_the_gut said:

I'm looking at installing a single EMG J pickup in this. I think that will sound pretty good but will also leave the maximum amount of the buckeye showing.

If you stick with the single J idea;

Laid out as it is in this image, the buckeye seems to flow sympathetically. With the pick up it looks like ripples going out from the pup itself and the angle of the neck root seems to be reflecting those ripples back.  Seriously good judgement on your part if it was deliberately that way.

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26 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

If you stick with the single J idea;

Laid out as it is in this image, the buckeye seems to flow sympathetically. With the pick up it looks like ripples going out from the pup itself and the angle of the neck root seems to be reflecting those ripples back.  Seriously good judgement on your part if it was deliberately that way.

I have been toying with pickup ideas - I was thinking of using an EMG 35 something as I did on the other shortie but that would remove an interesting part of the buckeye. The buckeye wasn't big enough for me to adjust its position to allow for pickups in advance (as I would do normally) so I'm having to work around it this time. That's the reason for looking at the J pickup, because as you say,  it kind of sits nicely in the flow of the grain; positioning is all about the wood grain one this one rather than specific distance from bridge!! I'm hoping it works ok....

Cheers

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On 04/02/2019 at 21:58, Jabba_the_gut said:

I’ve used a couple of the East Piezo preamps on other builds and I really like them. As you say, nice and compact. 

Ive also got a Cafe Walter one that I might try though that doesn’t have the controls provided by the East unit.

Cheers

Really looking forward to how this turns out :)

And if you ever get into 5- or 6- string headless projects, wow, am I going to be in trouble :P   

Really liking the body design & "flow" on this one!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Done a little more work on the neck - fitted the headpiece and started shaping the body line. They're the tricky bits so now looking forward to shaping the back of the neck. Had to make sure the access for the truss rod lined up correctly - that'll do nicely!

 

ij4djQJ.jpg?1

DZkFlew.jpg?1

Edited by Jabba_the_gut
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