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New Fenderbird (Exploder Bass) Project


Jimothey
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After following @Christine's Thunderbird build it has swayed me (as I was never really a fan of them) to make my own......

It's going to be a Fenderbird but I haven't decided whether it's going to be 4 or 5 string as yet??

As I've been told they suffer from neck dive would a 4 string would be better to keep the weight of the headstock down or would the difference in weight be negligible??......... If I decide to go down the 4 string route I would string it BEAD anyway

I know this isn't going to be a popular choice but I'm going to make the body out of chambered plywood (I tried one of my friends homemade ply bodied bitsa Telecaster and his American deluxe Telecaster and couldn't tell the difference in the sound if anything the ply bodied Tele had better sustain so that got me thinking??) it's going to be painted and I'm leaning towards Yellow with black hardware and pickguard something a bit like this? With a maple/maple block neck........... 

I don't really like the 3 point bridges tha t are normally on them so I'm thinking about a tun-o-matic bridge instead and I might go active with active/passive push/pull bypass like on my Quincy, 5 string and 6 string build

Edited by Jimothey
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On 11/02/2019 at 02:14, Jimothey said:

After following @Christine's Thunderbird build it has swayed me (as I was never really a fan of them) to make my own......

It's going to be a Fenderbird but I haven't decided whether it's going to be 4 or 5 string as yet??

As I've been told they suffer from neck dive would a 4 string would be better to keep the weight of the headstock down or would the difference in weight be negligible??......... If I decide to go down the 4 string route I would string it BEAD anyway

I know this isn't going to be a popular choice but I'm going to make the body out of chambered plywood (I tried one of my friends homemade ply bodied bitsa Telecaster and his American deluxe Telecaster and couldn't tell the difference in the sound if anything the ply bodied Tele had better sustain so that got me thinking??) it's going to be painted and I'm leaning towards Yellow with black hardware and pickguard something a bit like this? With a maple/maple block neck........... fenderbird.thumb.png.caf5741a36c651997ab68fec114e032a.png

I don't really like the 3 point bridges tha t are normally on them so I'm thinking about a tun-o-matic bridge instead and I might go active with active/passive push/pull bypass like on my Quincy, 5 string and 6 string build

One of the best sounding guitars I ever owned, an Epiphone Junior LP, turned out to be plywood when I modded it.  Plywood can sometimes be on the heavy side but sonically there is nothing wrong with it at all.

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On 13/02/2019 at 15:03, Andyjr1515 said:

One of the best sounding guitars I ever owned, an Epiphone Junior LP, turned out to be plywood when I modded it.  Plywood can sometimes be on the heavy side but sonically there is nothing wrong with it at all.

I thought that it might be heavy so it's going to be chambered so hopefully that with keep the weight down a bit 

I'm going to construct the body with a 25mm ply core with 6mm front and back the 25mm core will be chambered like this.............. 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got started today the template has been rough cut just got to sand it to smooth it all off

 

I've changed the shape slightly from the original by making a more of a curved bottom of the body, bringing the waist slightly closer together which I think looks better? 

I'm not sure if I'm going to put the raised centre section in as I think I might prefer it flat topped but we'll have to wait and see?? 🤔 

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On 02/03/2019 at 00:21, Si600 said:

Oooooo, speed blocks on the raised center section. It's got to be done, and you know it ;)

I think you'd lose most of them with the pickups and bridge but I spose I could lose the pickguard and have them running down either side of the raised section 🤔

 

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The middle core is now cut and chambered I will cut the top and bottom in the next few days out of 6mm ply then start gluing it all together 

 

I'm thinking that to make it a but different perhaps go with a PJ pickup config instead of the standard pickup choice??............. 

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1 hour ago, Jimothey said:

The middle core is now cut and chambered I will cut the top and bottom in the next few days out of 6mm ply then start gluing it all together 

_20190305_131242.thumb.JPG.2987403b6f7b3892f981271954734bd4.JPG

I'm thinking that to make it a but different perhaps go with a PJ pickup config instead of the standard pickup choice??............. 

Cor!  That looks like it's going to be great.

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The body is all glued up and I've started to shape it,ive still got to glue on the raised centre and fill the body but it's coming along nicely............ 😀 

 

There's going to be a slight change of plan in not going to do this one yellow (as I really want to do a Yellow 5 string P) so I've decided this one is going to be satin Black with Maple fretboard and probably matching headstock........... 

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@Unknown_User I've sanded the top edge to 240 grit so thats why it looks smooth there has been a slight bit of tearout but I'm going to fill the edges with two-pack filler then sand it back again before I prime the body. 

It also helps if you buy better quality ply I'm using WBP but you don't need to go to the extreme of buying birch or marine ply just make sure whatever your going to use to cut the blank is sharp and not too coarse that should minimise the tearout... 

Make sure you start a thread when you start doing your build.......... 😀 

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In this type of build if you wanted 'exotic', the ply top (and/or back) could be  higher quality stuff e,g flamed etc. I really like birch ply edges in furniture, I keep thinking about this (as above) method for something semi-acoustic and large I have in mind. A very 'low rent' bass I owned in my youth (Kay? Woolworths type Kay?) had a neck made from edge on ply, Rock solid and not bad.  Everything else hmm.

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30 minutes ago, 3below said:

In this type of build if you wanted 'exotic', the ply top (and/or back) could be  higher quality stuff e,g flamed etc. I really like birch ply edges in furniture, I keep thinking about this (as above) method for something semi-acoustic and large I have in mind. A very 'low rent' bass I owned in my youth (Kay? Woolworths type Kay?) had a neck made from edge on ply, Rock solid and not bad.  Everything else hmm.

If I was not going to paint it I might have gone down that route, I agree the exposed edges of ply can look really nice on the right thing but maybe on another project??.... 

This build is more of an experiment to see how it comes out and sounds, and maybe dispel some perceptions of ply bodies guitars being inferior to solid body guitars if it doesn't turn out how I'm hoping I'll just use the body as a template and remake it out of solid wood.............. 😀 

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That was one of the reasons why I've decided to go down the Fenderbird-esque route also I don't particularly like the look of the thunderbird neck.

I'm thinking now that I can't really call it a Fenderbird as the body shape is probably closer to a not so pointy Explorer?? I spose I could call it a Exploder or a Fenlorer?? 🤨

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