Beer of the Bass Posted August 9, 2010 Share Posted August 9, 2010 (edited) I liked the idea of an 8-string to fill out the sound of a 3 piece band I play in, but am perma-skint at the moment, so buying one wasn't happening. I decided to pick up a cheapy 4 string precision copy and convert it as cheaply as possible. I ended up with one of the "Johnny Brook" basses, secondhand for £30, which ought to be crap, but played nicely and sounded good unplugged. With a pickup upgrade, it'll sound fine. I've added four guitar tuners on the headstock, keeping the original tuners but plugging two holes and making a somewhat unconventional 5+3 layout. I've also kept the bent-bit-of-tin bridge, and filed new notches in the saddles. I made a new nut from some plastic scrap I had lying around. I strung it up today, and amazingly enough it seems to work! The neck appears to be standing up to the tension (with the truss rod tightened a bit) and my hacked bridge seems workable. Tomorrow I'll tweak the nut slots a bit (they need lowering) and take some photos. Fingers crossed the neck won't go banana shaped overnight... Edited August 10, 2010 by Beer of the Bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted August 10, 2010 Author Share Posted August 10, 2010 The neck is still as straight as when I strung it up yesterday, so I think this experiment has worked. It's kind of crude compared to some conversions I've seen on the the net, but I didn't want to throw lots of time and resources at a £30 bass! My photography is crap, though I'm sure you get the idea. I opted to go with the rickenbacker stye reverse stringing as I felt like it would suit my right hand style. The 4-saddle bridge is surprisingly not too bad for intonation. The E and the A pairs sound out of tune beyond the 12th fret, but I can live with that. The next things I'll do are to get a better pickup and give it some sort of cosmetic makeover, as the white on white is a bit nondescript... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatEric Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Nice one, I'm well impressed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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