Bitsa Virgin Questions

[stewblack]

Hey low end hive mind, pour your wisdom into me would you? 

I bought a cheap bass  And was surprised by how much I liked it. However its a lump. Weighs about as much as a village church. 

But I really do like the neck. How do I source a lighter body? What pitfalls should I be made aware of? 

Also the previous owner has altered the headstock by removing a fair bit of wood leaving behind a slightly odd shape. Can I graft on more wood and cut a more pleasing shape? Is that even a thing? Or is there a way to repla8the headstock? 

I know these questions make me sound like a total imbecile, but in truth I can manage to hold many tools the right way round - just about. Also this would only be a bit of fun. The bass is a cheap back up I seldom use not worth selling and I thought might be an interesting place to start out learning to fettle. 

Who knows, one day I might roll my own from scratch. 

[bazzbass]

route all the body wood under the pickguard?

[stewblack]

5 hours ago, bazzbass said:

route all the body wood under the pickguard?

Ooh. That's a great idea  thank you. 

[Geek99]

See my build thread - one thing to beware of is bodies with pickup routs that are too small, have lugs in the wrong place or are entirely not aligned 

 

mine had the right sized rout in the right place for a jazz bridge pup but the lugs were correctly placed for the front pickup 

[Andyjr1515]

Yes to both questions is the simple answer.

Ref the headstock, then yes, wood can be added back - all the structural stuff must presumably be there (otherwise it would have fallen apart already) so it is more about the practical challenges.

It would involve thicknessing a suitable piece of wood, creating a clean and matching join, without  affecting anything structurally important and then hiding or flaunting the visuals.

And yes - there are a number of ways of taking weight out of a body:

• As @bazzbass says, you can remove material under pickguards if they are fitted
• You can create a false control chamber at the back
• You can reshape the body 
• If the pickups and hardware are not too deep, you can plane some thickness off the back - this can take a lot of weight out

There are challenges for all the above and sometimes unexpected consequences (such as lightening the body then realising you bass has developed neck dive!) and the more you want to hide the evidence, the more of a challenge it is.  But it can be done. 

Edited July 14, 2019 by Andyjr1515

[stewblack]

Thanks folks. I had wondered about creating neck dive. I guess easy does it is the answer to that one. Food for thought. 

[Andyjr1515]

55 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Thanks folks. I had wondered about creating neck dive. I guess easy does it is the answer to that one. Food for thought. 

If the strap button is in line with somewhere in the12th - 13th fret area, there probably won't be a problem.  Also there are more lightweight tuners on the market nowadays.  To be honest, it is a secondary issue if a bass is just too darned heavy to play comfortably.

As a matter of fact, how heavy is it?

[ahpook]

It seems to me that you like the bass, but want to change almost everything about it.

You should love it for what it is, or not love at all.

 

[stewblack]

4 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

If the strap button is in line with somewhere in the12th - 13th fret area, there probably won't be a problem.  Also there are more lightweight tuners on the market nowadays.  To be honest, it is a secondary issue if a bass is just too darned heavy to play comfortably.

As a matter of fact, how heavy is it?

Hi about 8.8 - 9lbs

[stewblack]

3 hours ago, ahpook said:

It seems to me that you like the bass, but want to change almost everything about it.

You should love it for what it is, or not love at all.

 

Sorry to give you that impression. I like everything about it except the weight. So I thought it was a chance to try maybe fitting a new body to it, you know as an interesting exercise, or to lighten the existing body. The neck is great I would have preferred it if the previous owner had not cut the headstock down, but again I don't hate it just thought it would be fun to see if it could be enhanced.

As to having to love something or not but there being no other options, well, that's an interesting perspective and I shall think on it.

[ahpook]

8 hours ago, stewblack said:

Sorry to give you that impression. I like everything about it except the weight. So I thought it was a chance to try maybe fitting a new body to it, you know as an interesting exercise, or to lighten the existing body. The neck is great I would have preferred it if the previous owner had not cut the headstock down, but again I don't hate it just thought it would be fun to see if it could be enhanced.

As to having to love something or not but there being no other options, well, that's an interesting perspective and I shall think on it.

Sorry, I think I should have stuck a smiley on my comment.

Good on you for giving it a go at fettling the bass....I didn't mean to sound off-hand !

Edited July 14, 2019 by ahpook

[stewblack]

10 hours ago, ahpook said:

Sorry, I think I should have stuck a smiley on my comment.

Good on you for giving it a go at fettling the bass....I didn't mean to sound off-hand !

I didn't take offence. I thought you raised an interesting philosophical point.

 

 

 

 

😉

[ahpook]

2 hours ago, stewblack said:

I didn't take offence. I thought you raised an interesting philosophical point.

 

 

 

 

😉

A bit like the Ship of Theseus ?

[stewblack]

Or Triggers Broom as it has become known

[ahpook]

13 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Or Triggers Broom as it has become known

via George Washington's Axe I believe.

The Ship of Theseus, Trigger's Broom and George Washington's Axe....sounds like start of a pub crawl

 

[tauzero]

Would you like to discuss pickup replacement too? 😁

You could always address both problems simultaneously by cutting the entire headstock off and converting it to a headless bass. That means losing the weight of the headstock and tuners, and cutting a part of the body away, and replacing the bridge with a tuner assembly which will be only slightly heavier. Plus it'll look prettier and balance better. You know it makes sense.

[Stub Mandrel]

You can always turn to eBay for inspiration...

[Stub Mandrel]

Or even buy a body of the 'bay.

I made a strat-style guitar with two humbuckers and a hefty Floyd Rose type bridge and it only weighs just over 6lbs because the body wood si so light, unfortunately also a bit soft so it should relic nicely...