Your Ideal Custom Bass

[Lew-Bass]

I thought I should start a new thread as I was about to describe my bass of the moment then realised it was actually just an idea that I had, so thought it was maybe worthy of a new thread. There was a similar one that died over a year ago about what your 'signature' bass would be, but personally that implies the bass would suit your personality too and I'm purely on about aesthetics and sound here.

So.. what's your ideal custom bass? Include as much, or as little, detail as you like

Currently mine is;

Body Shape: Standard P-Bass Body
Body Wood: Alder
Finish: 'Heavy Relic'd' Sonic Blue finish, matching headstock
Neck: Maple Jazz Neck (Vintage Tint & Satin Finish)
Scale Length: 33" (After reading it's much more comfortable whilst only sacrificing minimal amounts tonally)
Fingerboard: Maple
Frets: 21
Fret Markers: Black Dot Markers with Light Blue/Pink LEDs
Electronics: Rear routed 3-EQ cut/boost active circuit (Vol/Bass, Mid/Treble stacked), LED on/low/off switch
Pickguard: Pink Paisley
Hardware: Chrome

Would only really suit a certain type of gig though, so when I plan to get this spec made up for me in the future, I might wait until I have more of a workhorse bass first!

Edited October 26, 2009 by Lew-Bass

[JimBobTTD]

I would use my Ibanez SR1205 as a template and then make a few alterations. So, I would take the:

5 piece maple/wenge through-neck with SR5 neck shape
Mahogany with maple top body, SR shape
34" scale

and then go for

EMG 40TW in neck and bridge
EMG BQS preamp, with two toggle switches to the side for the pickup splits
Chunkier bridge (Badass V, perhaps?)
Ebony 'board
And, as I'd like the body's maple to be flamed, I'd like a translucent green finish please.

That is it. If I were to go custom, that would be it. In fact, that's been "it" for quite a while. Luckily for me I already have the SR1205, or GAS would be killing me right now.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Mustang just like my CIJ white one with aged pearl pickguard & tug bar but with lollypop tuners inc D-tuner and in california blue.

[Cat Burrito]

I can only see myself with a variation on a Fender P-bass. I'd go with

Body Shape: Standard P-Bass Body
Body Wood: Alder
Finish: Black or white or a cool shade with matching headstock on the cool shade (my sig bass comes in several colours!)
Neck: 1-Piece Maple, Thick “C” Shape,(Gloss Urethane Finish)
Scale Length: Standard 34"
Fingerboard: Maple probably but coming around to rosewood more in my old age.
Frets: 20 Vintage Style frets
Pickup: Seymour Duncan SPB-1 or Antiquity
Pickguard: tort
Hardware: Chrome with ashtray covers

Edited October 26, 2009 by BurritoBass

[BassBus]

That's easy. Status S2 all the way. Fretted or fretless I have them both. I love the Status neck with the flat back, it just fits my hands perfectly. The body shape I have always loved, traditional twin horn design but in a modern style. For me a design classic. The sound from the soapbar pups is great, clear and sharp but with so much depth. There is no compromise in my Status basses unlike the other off-the-shelf basses I have. Something on each of them is a compromise be it neck profile, body shape, pickups, eq, you name it there is something I would change. Not on Status S2s though.

Oh yes, and headless of course. Nothing more logical than the headless tuning system.

Edited October 26, 2009 by BassBus

[Lfalex v1.1]

A fiver fretted
35" scale
Some sort of darker tonewood as a core material (Mahogany, Walnut, Bubinga) with a Maple or Zebrano cap in a Modern Jazz shape.
A Maple neck will suffice, with either a Maple or Ebony fretboard.
I really liked HappyJack's ProseBass Jazz with its twin Bartolinis shoved right down at the bridge. I could be persuaded to use this configuration but maybe add an EQ with a full bypass.
EQ choice? Who Knows?! Too much choice!

[Jobiebass]

My paint skills suck



Shuker thing. 33" scale.
Pretty much exactly the same spec as my current one but with flame maple top, maple fretboard with blue flame maple inlays, Musicman/jazz pickups delano's. BAii bridge, ACG pre.

[BassAgent]

I made a list of 3:
[b]Fretted 1:[/b]
Jazzbass 5-string
No pickguard
No control plate
Swamp ash body
35" scale
AAAA grade spalt maple top
See-through wine red finish
Birdseye maple neck
Birdseye maple fretboard
Bone nut
Hipshot tuners
Badass V bridge
medium frets
Chrome hardware
Nordstrand NJ5 pickups
Aguilar OBP-3 preamp
Controls: Volume/balance/bass/mid/treble/active-passive switch

[b]Fretted 2:[/b]
4-string Precision
Alder body
2 tone sunburst finish
Black pickguard
Birdseye maple Jazz Bass profile neck
(Brazilian) rosewood fretboard
Medium frets
Bone nut
Hipshot tuners
Gotoh 201 bridge (chrome)
Lindy Fralin P-bass pickup
CTS pots

[b]Fretless:[/b]
4-string jazzbass
Alder body
34” scale
No pickguard
Control plate
Sunburst finish
Lindy Fralin passive pickups
Passive electronics
Epoxied rosewood fingerboard
Birdseye maple neck
Bone nut
Hipshot tuners
Vintage bridge
Chrome hardware

[Davo-London]

If you are sticking to the Fender hybrids I would go for:

Body: alder (light and mature) - Jazz shape
Colour: sonic blue with nitrocellulose finish with most of it taken off again.
Neck: Jazz maple neck with no skunk but a bit of flame - non-painted headstock.
Fingerboard: Brazilian rosewood slab aka '60-62 Fender production - this is of course illegal at the moment and so Hondurian rosewood would be fine. Something with a bit of colour variation in the grain. Dot inlay mother of pearl on fretboard and white/sonic blue LEDs on neck edge/ No binding. 34" scale. Medium width frets with smooth edges.
Nut: ebony
Scratchplate: none
PUs: Nordstrand NJSE in bridge and NP4 P-bass in neck position. Also built in midi PU under body.
Preamp: Audere pre 3 band EQ with quick change batteries in the back of bass.
Controls: P-bass controls: master vol/blend : Micro controls: treble/mid/bass (5 knobs)
Jack: On front of body. Midi connection on body side near the strap button.
Hardware: Hipshot ultralight bridge and tuners
Strings: DR Sunbeams 40-100

The bass would weigh about 7 lbs.

Dithering on: 4 or 5 strings.


Good game, was I specific enough?
Davo

Edited October 27, 2009 by Davo-London

[Metalmoore]

THIS
[attachment=35266:Thunderbird_bass_2.jpg]

Schaller 3D-5 bridge, Hipshot ultralite black tuners, maple Modded 4 string precision maple neck (like Ric5 from talkbass), Custom Wizard HB's, Audere 3EQ w/ Vol,Bal,Tre,Mid,Bass knobs, Ash body.

Got it all planned tbh, just waiting for shinhoman to start the body and already got the neck, tuners and bridge. Some small things to work out like money and string spacing before it can be finished.

Edited October 27, 2009 by Metalmoore

[MacDaddy]

[Metalmoore]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='638631' date='Oct 27 2009, 11:31 PM'][/quote]

[Lew-Bass]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='638631' date='Oct 27 2009, 11:31 PM'][/quote]

Wow, what are those grooves in the fretboard at the body-end? Also, how many pick-ups are under there?

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='Lew-Bass' post='639048' date='Oct 28 2009, 01:26 PM']Wow, what are those grooves in the fretboard at the body-end? Also, how many pick-ups are under there?[/quote]

Scallops for bending, like Sheehan's bass.

Mine is this:



With electronics fiddled with, stereo output, high cut on the neck pup, low cut on the bridge one. Stacked volumes.

Edited October 28, 2009 by Mr. Foxen

[Rich]

My Ideal Custom Bass?

I already own it

[mikhay77]

Ha ha,luckily I've got mine too,ultra slim neck,27 frets,active EMG Hz,and more woods than a porn film orgy,sits great,feels great,looks amazing and sounds amazing

Edited October 28, 2009 by mikhay77

[marcus bell]

my perfect bass would be this.
A jaydee series 1 or 4 body shape with two jaydee pickups on display, two status pickups under the surface and two marcus milerr jazz pickups under the surface and two alembix pickups. The bass would have 4 outputs on the body edge. With a jaydee selector switch for each, these signals would go from the bass into a routing station thingy, get effected and eq'd and all fed into an ashdown mk500 and a trace elliot mp11 then mixed into two ebs 4x10's and two swr 1x15's, so thats the sound sorted, the body would be made of the lightest wood available at the time, careless of apperance as i would cap the top and back with quilted maple of the finest quality, the neck woods would be reminiscent of an alembic and i would custom make the head to look like a pangborn, the fingerboard would be phenolic with front and side leds and maple binding...the leds would be red i think with the option to change the colours to blue or green or white. The bass would have a kahler tremolo arm and a jaydee rollerball nut and schaller tuners....
I bet this bass would cost so so much to make as it would include the jaydee electronics and the alembic electronics and the fender electronics all mounted on a rack easily selectable the fender electronics would be by sadowsky i think as im a fan of marcus miller

what do you guys think? X

[gnasher1993]

Single Cut body shape
5 Strings
2 + 3 tuner layout
35” scale
16” fingerboard radius
30 frets
Set neck
Abalone front and side markers
Wenge nut
Brass zero fret

Black hardware
Hipshot ultralight tuners
Hipshot A style bridge
Hipshot drop tuner on B string

Audere Classic 4B preamp
Nordstrand big single coil neck pickup
Nordstrand dual coil bridge pickup
Pickup switch
Coil tap switch for humbucker
Active/passive switch

5 piece laminate neck – wenge, zebrano, purpleheart
Birdseye maple fingerboard
Spalted maple top
Wenge accent veneers
Mahogany core
Curly Walnut back
Matching headstock laminates (front and back)
Satin finish

Yes, I've thought alot about it...one day, I'll make it happen.

[thisnameistaken]

I've never been interested in having a custom bass built. I prefer to see something that catches my eye, play it, like it, buy it.

If I had a custom bass I'd probably regret a bunch of decisions I made when I ordered it, and feel too precious about it to sell it.

Plus there's that whole stigma.

[Rayman]

I already own mine too........

[Plux_the_Duck]

ahh this is simples

I'd have two

a Roscoe LG3000 (fretted, 4-string)

- Ash body
- Flame maple top ( whole body emerald green or dark green)
- Possibly Wenge neck
- Black Ebony fingerboard
- Gold Hardware
- Classic Bartolini Pickups
- Bartolini 3-band pre-amp

AND

a Roscoe SKB3000 (fretless, 4-string)

- Ash Body (cherryburst or dark red)
- Quilted Maple top (naturalburst or amber high gloss)
- Wenge Neck
- Pau Ferro fretboard
- Black hardware
- Classic Bartolini Pickups
- Bartolini 3-band pre-amp

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='Rich' post='639083' date='Oct 28 2009, 02:07 PM']My Ideal Custom Bass?

I already own it [/quote]
+1

[quote name='Lew-Bass' post='639048' date='Oct 28 2009, 01:26 PM']Also, how many pick-ups are under there?[/quote]

1 pup, extra wound and hum-cancelling

Edited November 4, 2009 by MacDaddy

[Mykesbass]

5 string Chambered swamp ash J bass body,
35" scale,
maple neck,
unlined ebony fretless fingerboard,
Bartolini's (they just seem easy to use).
Would have had this some time back but Warmoth say they can't do a chambered body with a 5 string neck pocket.
Finish would be just letting the swamp ash speak for itself through something like the Fender Mary Kay white (unless I got whip the top off my old friend's former Sei 6 string that had the ugliest spalted maple it looked fantastic). 'til then I'll have to cary on with the EUB - problem is, everyone wants to play in E and I hate playing open - comes from years of playing rhythm guitar in a big band - all those Bb's and Eb's!
Some really nice customs on show here - nice work all of you keeping those amazing luthiers in business.

[7string]

I'm another of the lucky ones who have their ideal bass(es) already.



L-R: Conklin GT7 fretless, Jackson Kip Winger, ACG 9 string, Sei 7 string & James Tyler 4 string.


Wouldn't swap any of them for anything else.