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New Fenderbird build started


Jimothey
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Started a new build today its going to be a slab body fenderbird 

Again the body is made out of a reclaimed scaffold board

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(I can't remember who posted the pic?) but its going to be like Taka Hirose from feeder's bass but I'm thinking of doing it Matte White instead of black with a maple/maple neck probably not matching headstock tho

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But without the bridge cover and I cant decide if I'm going to go for a MM or a Mudbucker style pickup?....... 👍🏻 

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30 minutes ago, Si600 said:

I've always liked a Thunderbird body, but despised the headstock design. My Peavybird will be starting soon, promise.

Maybe.

I feel the same way as you the headstock is awful! I'm thinking with a tele style headstock the weight will be reduced so it might not want to neck dive as much?..... 👍🏻 

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15 hours ago, Jimothey said:

But without the bridge cover and I cant decide if I'm going to go for a MM or a Mudbucker style pickup?....... 👍🏻 

Agree on the bridge cover, it doesn't work on that body shape for me (though I can see he's trying to do 8astard son of Telebass/Bird) 

If it were mine I'd go for some kind of chrome covered pup, an MM style or anything with exposed poles or a flat plastic cover wouldn't look right. Neck would have to be a reverse P bass style, or a banana headstock. But this is just my taste... And designing basses is not my profession. 

Looking forward to see what you produce. Does the scaffold board body reproduce the sound of steel toed boots comping up and down it? 

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2 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Agree on the bridge cover, it doesn't work on that body shape for me (though I can see he's trying to do 8astard son of Telebass/Bird) 

If it were mine I'd go for some kind of chrome covered pup, an MM style or anything with exposed poles or a flat plastic cover wouldn't look right. Neck would have to be a reverse P bass style, or a banana headstock. But this is just my taste... And designing basses is not my profession. 

Looking forward to see what you produce. Does the scaffold board body reproduce the sound of steel toed boots comping up and down it? 

Thanks any input or idea's are always welcomed! I'm not sure whether to do a tune o matic Bridge or just a standard fender type?

The headstock is probably going to be Tele style

This is the pickup I'm thinking of going for? 

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Yeah using old scaffold boards is great for playing sole!! 😁 

Edited by Jimothey
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I had a thought maybe even an epiphany of sorts why go to the hassle of trying to make an reclaimed damaged old scaffold board look half decent ready for painting by filing and sanding and more filing and sanding etc instead I'm going to embrace the rustic charm of the timber and finish the body in a kinda barn wood (as I really like the barncaster look!!) style with slightly relic'd hardware bit like the fake barrel top guitar builds I've done. 

I've started doing the body I'll take some pics tomorrow for your opinions....... 👍🏻 

Edited by Jimothey
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Indeed the "Barncaster" look would be fantastic and a bit rugged looking. I agree with a Telebass neck with maple fretboard. 51'P control plate for simplistic V & T keeps that earthy appeal. I'm not so sure about the  EBC4 Mudbucker in that position with 34ins scale as you may run into string/ pole piece alignment issues. One idea , to maintain that unusual rustic look, maybe to use a single Warman MM pickup. Great versatile pickup.

Looking forward to following progress. 

Edited by JohnDaBass
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1 hour ago, JohnDaBass said:

Indeed the "Barncaster" look would be fantastic and a bit rugged looking. I agree with a Telebass neck with maple fretboard. 51'P control plate for simplistic V & T keeps that earthy appeal. I'm not so sure about the  EBC4 Mudbucker in that position with 34ins scale as you may run into string/ pole piece alignment issues. One idea , to maintain that unusual rustic look, maybe to use a single Warman MM pickup. Great versatile pickup.

Looking forward to following progress. 

For some reason you don't really see alot of barncaster basses and I like to use reclaimed timber so it seems a natural style for me to do, I did think about a MM pickup at first and did a mockup of it originally.....👍🏻 

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(That is just a neck off another build) 

I didnt know if I should go all out barncaster and have a number plate pickguard? 

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Edited by Jimothey
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Nice shape...

Like the idea of a tele head stock... maybe reverse tele?

Like the chrome pickup, dont like the bkack MM, looks to modern.

Dont like the bridge cover.

Bass tune o matic would look nice, but unsure about amount of adjust for intonation... would need to be bang on fittment

like the old P control plate, i also like a strat jack... have you considered an Ibanez Talman plate (strat jackish and single hole for a stacked pot V n T - they do a flat n curved option..but may be plastic!.)

like the wood n danish...

not sure on the numberplate scratch plate... great idea, but not me... maybe a bit gimmick.

Edited by PaulThePlug
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I'm going to tarnish the pickguard so it will probably end up having a lot of different colours in it but I don't know if I should make the control plate out of galv aswell of have it tarnished chrome?? 🤔

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I'm thinking that it might look better with black hardware so it will tie in the pickup aswell?.... 👍🏻 

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And I think I'm going to bin off the pickguard it doesn't look right to me with not having the raised middle section? 

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Heres a quick mock up of the body its going to be a 5er and the MM pickup I've got coming is a sealed one and the neck is going to be all Matte Black,

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Oh yeah and I thought it looked a bit too plain so I added some fake branding forgood measure..... 👍🏻 

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