Wademeister Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 It may be a little early to start this thread but I don't want to miss anything along the way. I still need to get some wood for the body and the top, but otherwise I'm ready to begin cutting. It will be a fretless five string bass. Or bass. The bass bass. The fretless five-stringed funky fish if you like. Here is the final drawing nailing down the concept and making sure everything will fit. Here is where the design work happened for the most part. I did do some pencil sketches but I didn't spend much time on that. Here is the CNC router where I will be doing some of the cutting. I'll cut out the body, neck and head outline, the pickup holes and drill the holes where the bridge will mount and that's about it. I'll also use the router to make a template for drilling the peghead. Shown on the router table is the donor bass that has the pickups and preamp along with 5 new Hipshot Ultralight chrome "Y" tuners, truss rod and the wood that I have so far. The fingerboard is lignum vitae and the neck wood is hard maple and black mesquite that will be laminated together for a 7 layer striped neck. I have access to a bunch of mahogany that I plan on using for the body, but the hunt is on for the cap wood. I've been looking at quilted maple, lacewood, and sycamore as possibilities hoping that a translucent finish and some careful staining will give a bit of a scaly feel to the finished instrument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevan Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 Am I the only one who does CAD with a white background? LOL Looks cool, man. Keep us updated on the bass...ummm...the bass....uhhh...that stringed instrument you're working on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 YES!!! And so the dream that all bass modders have had since the beginning of time has begun... good luck man! Just wondering, with the figured maple, are you still going to do a "realistic" paint job? Also, what's your plan for the back of the neck, finish wise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 Whattaya think of this one? Maybe a little expensive but I really like the color. I don't want my fish going red on me, and the grey part will cut out for the fingerboard... The neck will be natural finish to show the stripes and my "special" neck/head joint. Don't ask!! I'm not going to explain it, but it will be obvious from the next set of pics. I won't be going for a full realistic finish with this. I will work with stain and colored trans finish to make the fish skin feel, Check out ritter basses, I love their look!) and the head and fin areas will be painted a metallic color to match the stained body the best I can before doing to trans finish over it all. I decided that I want it to look like a real nice guitar more than like something I rescued from a taxidermist's trashcan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 That looks pretty wicked, I hope you build it, I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 I'll do 'er up! Got this pork roast in the oven that is just KILLING ME! After dinner I'm heading up to the shop to start in on the neck. I think I'll order up that wood I posted too. Does $40.00 sound like a good deal for a top like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 No Doubt and I love the design......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlexVDL Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 Am I the only one who does CAD with a white background? LOL Hahaha no, me too. But sometimes I use grey, which is better for the eyes i think. Shows any yellow or cyan colored lines better. BTW this is the first fish bass(guitar) that I actually like!! I'd love to see the finished result! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 i like it too but i am not sure why...i usually don't like that sort of thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maher Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 looks great! cant wait to see it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigtommyb Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 Wow! I want 1! BigT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
american_jesus Posted August 15, 2004 Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 you should get some very highly quilted maple for the top, with a nice tight pattern to appear as scales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2004 Hey AJ, how's it going? Been trying to get on G.com but they seem to be down. Have you got a link for their new forums? I can't seem to find the darn thing!!! Looks like I'm going with the myrtlewood on this one. Thank you Ebay! I liked that grain a lot and the color is just about perfect in my opinion. I looked at a lot of quilted maple on ebay and elsewhere but found none that I liked and could afford at the same time. I probably spent too much on what I got but it hit me as being just right. There is also some real nice sycamore out there but I couldn't find any specific pieces. If I run into any of that before I get too far, I may put my myrtlewood on the shelf. Another nice possibility would have been lacewood or leopardwood, but I'm concerned about filling the grain on that stuff. It's from the oak family so I wouldn't be surprised if you could blow bubbles through that too. nice lacewood pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted August 16, 2004 Report Share Posted August 16, 2004 you dont like those plastic ibanezes eh? can't blame ya. I hope you already owned it though....er that you didn't buy it just for the stuff? Cool bass. Where'd you get the CNC machine...haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted August 16, 2004 Report Share Posted August 16, 2004 That is incredible! I was sniping Myrtle on e-Bay today, I bought three pieces from the -same- seller both before and after your piece came up. You lucked out I didn't bid on that, I would have sniped you! ...but I was buying thick, quartersawn pieces, not booked pairs. When I saw your link I said damn that looks familiar! I went back and checked the times of my wins and sure enough, yours was right in the middle. Small world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2004 you dont like those plastic ibanezes eh? can't blame ya. I hope you already owned it though....er that you didn't buy it just for the stuff? Cool bass. Where'd you get the CNC machine...haha. Tell me more... I'm new to playing bass, but I like my plastic Ibanezes pretty well. I actually bought that one because of all the harmony central reviews on it. I don't think I've seen better feedback on anything even remotely in the pricerange. There is a gasoline smell to it though and a bit of a dead spot in the neck, probably because the neck is so rediculously thin. After some looking around for pickups and electronics and all I figured that stuff was going to run me around $300 for what I wanted. I ran into an EDB605 (5 string version of the same bass) in pieces for $120.00 and bought that for parts. Turned out to only need some adjustment and reassembly which I did, so I now have a fine 5 string that I like better than the 4... SOooooo.... In your opinion, do the electronics suck on these things? I thought they sounded pretty good, but I admit I haven't listened to very many. So far I'm happy with the sounds I can get out of them and thought those elecronics would be a fine and economical transplant for the project. We got the router from MultiCam of course! haha... you can get one for about 60K. Sounds like a lot maybe but it's made that money back many times over. Drak! I ALMOST mentioned that auction before it was over but was paranoid about tipping anyone off, lol. Thanks for not grabbing my planks! So let's see what ya got! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted August 16, 2004 Report Share Posted August 16, 2004 I actually think the electronics in those basses are pretty slick. Im just not a big fan of the plastic. And also because the bodies are so light on some of them, the balance is neck-side, which i also dont like. They play pretty well, but I think that Ibanez's wood basses are far superior. The ergonomic back shape on the newer basses (both wood and plastic) that they "borrowed" from Warwick please me much. $120 is excellent for any bass, especially if it was an easy fix. I'd take that price, haha. SO you must run some sort of wood business if you've made more than 60k using that thing ...what do you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2004 I run a machine shop that used to be part of an aircraft cabinet shop. We're still connected with those guys, but their part of the buisness has a different ownership now. I use the router mostly for cutting parts from sheetmetal, like this one... And we do some engraving and actually do still make some stuff from wood. The router has been very useful to me though, and has allowed me to handle some jobs that others had to turn down. Nice to be versatile! I'm surprised you thought the basses were neck heavy MGK. I wouldn't say mine are. In fact, I would say the the plastic bodies are pretty heavy. I was surprised at how heavy the 5 string was with no neck attached. Maybe after I finish up the freakfish I'll make a nice fretted home for the 5 string components I have which are also currently residing in plastic. The only thing I really don't like about the Ergodyne basses is that smell. It's not all that strong, but every once in a while I catch a whiff of it and...EWWW. It's just not right for a guitar ya know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted August 16, 2004 Report Share Posted August 16, 2004 The pieces I bought aren't really fancy, just quartersawn Myrtle to use for the sides of my archtops. They were a good deal and match the Myrtle I already have perfectly. I'm very glad I didn't nick your pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 Made a bit of progress! I have the neck laminations made up and have begun gluing them together. One pair at a time! Ugh...well the "special joint" is pretty complicated and the best way I could figure short of drilling holes in everything for alignment pins was to glue them up in pairs so I could see and adjust each intersection as I progress. It's going to take me a couple days to get the neck all glued up. The laminations are pretty thin and wobbly so I clamped them to a very straight piece of brass barstock for glueing. The lams... You can see that I have scarf and lap joints working together, pretty much making the maple grain go around the corner. I'm not sure it's going to look as interesting as I had imagined, but it should certainly be strong. Here is the first pair clamped up and next pair ready to go. 7 layers so I guess I'm in for 6 rounds of neck glueing! Yeah it's messy for sure and the pieces aren't lined up well at the body end, but there is a lot of extra to be cut off. Part of my lamination goal was to let the wood bow as it liked put it together in its relaxed state. So far so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
american_jesus Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 cool. let us know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 A bass bass. That is hilarious. Just think of all the fishing songs you could play with that. "Salmon chanted evening" "I lobster and never flounder" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalefish Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 I gotta say something here or else I can't be calling myself Stalefish.. Seriously, though, that's a pretty cool design.. Creative, if anything.. I like it!! By the way, I've been playing one of those Ibanez basses quite regularly over the past year or 2 and I can't say I've been very impressed by it.. Sounds.....synthetic.. Something like that.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 By the way, I've been playing one of those Ibanez basses quite regularly over the past year or 2 and I can't say I've been very impressed by it.. Sounds.....synthetic.. Something like that.. DOH! I guess I could still Ebay the 4 string bass and buy some Bartolini stuff with the proceeds. I doubt I'd get over $300 for it though (they go between $250 and $300 mostly from what I've seen) and that will leave me a good bit short for a two pickup system with preamp I believe. Got any suggestions for nice versatile and quiet pickup systems for under $300? Looking at the line drawing and my wood photo some more, I'm getting the feeling that a regular trans green to black burst will work well on this animal without getting overly elaborate. Anyone care to toss out a simple photoshop rendition for me? Or a link maybe where I can get a free proggie to play with that stuff? Of course then I gotta learn to use said software, ho hum... Either way, I'd be very grateful. I'll have a couple more pics and questions in a bit. I'm still up at work and the camera is at home. Naturally =P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Well it's coming out rather screwed up looking but it will be ok. I missed alignment of one of the lams and it shows bad. Still structurally fine though so it will be painted over. Bleah. Hey, it's starting to look like a neck though! Looks nice from the end I think, but again messed up. I should have had wider lams on the outside because a couple of these are going to get pretty thin up near the nut. I think I'll paint the whole back of the neck black! Oh well, at least it should be strong. The wood came to me flat cut so I had to rearrange it. Ended up with a decent quarter after all. So about this truss rod thing... I can just cut a groove in here with the table saw to install this, right? I'm guessing I need to put the end right about where I have it sitting now, does it look like the right spot, or a good spot? Also, the rod is a tiny bit smaller than the flat base of the truss rod assembly. Do you put a quarter inch groove all the way down, or do you make it narrower down where only the round part lays. I probably don't need to worry about this one rattling if the tension is off, because it's not straight anyway. Looks like they ran around the shop whacking stuff with it for a while before they sent it to me. Oh by the way, the neck has a real nice "bonk" to it. Feels lively at this point! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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