al heeley Posted November 14, 2007 Report Share Posted November 14, 2007 Witness the birth of a new bass project. A very uninspiring starting picture for what will be my most ambitious project to date, a 4-string neck-thru-body bass using a mixture of maple and walnut. Here's the core laminates just being glued together for the start of the build. Since I've never put together my own neck before, or shaped and fretted a fingerboard, I'm a bit apprehensive about making some enbarassing errors due to poor handiwork and patchy knowledge. The plan is for a 24-fret guitar, body shape sort of resembling a Warmoth Gecko bass, maple/walnut/maple neck+core, walnut wings, wenge fretboard (thanks Simo), passive jazz pickups and very minimal controls - blend pot to mix N&B pups, master vol, master tone. That's it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinny Posted November 14, 2007 Report Share Posted November 14, 2007 Looks good Al, I would dig making a neck-thru down the road, Ive got enough walnut here thats for sure. Keep us updated. -Vinny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted November 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Core glued and planed, neck profile marked on ready for cutting. This is going to be tricky without access to a bandsaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Looking good! I like the design and how well you planned out the build, I find that to be vital. In the project I am working on, if I had not planned it all out ahead of time, I would have been screwed on using tom style bridge as the stud would have been too close to the electronics cavity and actually to fix this flaw I didn't move the cavity(I couldn't), instead I moved one of the little ears inside the cavity to the spot where the stud would be that way there was enough wood there. You're right in that without a bandsaw, that will be a bit tricky. I recently needed a new jigsaw and bought a Hitachi, I never intended to spend what I did for a jigsaw considering I can do plenty with my bandsaw, but I was glad I did, that little thing is pretty great. I forget the exact cutting width it can take, but I know its upwards of maybe 3 inches. You could easily find even better jigsaws than that and should be able to cut your body well enough and router it after. For the neck blank you could table saw off the extra on the back. I never thought a jigsaw could ever do such a thick cut until recently, may not be a super vertical clean cut, but should be good enough to then take a router to and in the shaper curves of the body just make a couple holes with a drill press, so you can avoid overloading the jigsaw. Anyhow, those are just some thoughts on your predicatment as I had ran into this issue quite a bit until I got my bandsaw, which I now love. If you haven't figured it all out anyway, I hope that helps. Best of luck to you. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted November 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 Neck carve well under way, body thicknessed and truss rod slot routed. Rough shape has been hacked out using a combination of hand saw, chisels, drills, router and jig saw which has taken all afternoon. If I had a bandsaw I'd be able to have done a much better job in a tenth of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted November 18, 2007 Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 I see good things in this build's future... I love the Gecko body shape, too so I know this one is going to come out well. That neck looks a bit skinny to me. Is it just the picture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted November 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 I hope its just the pic! The dimensions will be a standard 43mm wide at the nut and 62mm wide at the 24th fret. The neck thickness will be about 3/4" (sorry, mixing my units as usual) at nut to 1" thick at the 19th fret where it meets the body. maybe the dimensions look a bit skewed with so much wood left to remove. [update] Here's the headstock shaped and sanded. Wenge fretboard from Simo trimmed and started to shape the radius, which is taking far longer than I hoped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted November 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Good progress tonight - finished planing and sanding the fretboard to radius, set the position marker dots (M-O-P), attacked the back of the neck with surform, spokeshave and sanding blocks so 90% of the shaping is done. Still not decided on the pickups. Waiting for the truss rod to arrive. Off Friday to source some wood for the wings. Very pleased with it so far, a lot of new areas for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted November 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2007 Got the wood for the body wings. They had a 30% off sale on american mahogany plus a couple of planks of Zebrano, so this shows them sandwiched together and the rough shape cut out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xDrugFreeJonnyx Posted November 24, 2007 Report Share Posted November 24, 2007 Lookin great, I love the grain on the body Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted November 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 Grain's starting to come up nicely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 Looking really nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted November 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 End-on, body wings contoured, sanded and Danish-oiled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low end fuzz Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 it is certainly a nice clean build; but i have 2 beefs; i 'personally' dont like the half n half bodies; i dunno;that just me; but why would you start to finish with oil (or anything) before everything was glued together? has this worked in the past? unless you have super fantastico glue skills the wings will not be a 'perfect flush' when theyre glued and will require at least a level sand to confrm it to one piece; the other thing that bothered me was the oil; oils soak into the wood ; which means theres gonna be oil aong your gluing surface ; that will hinder a strong glue joint; and if none of that bothers you; when you clamp your wings on using any method (aside from some kind of vacuum) theres is gonna be damage that needs to be sanded out; even cauls leave littl marks/dents but i do really like the overall design of the bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted November 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 I get what you're saying, fuzz, but the body is nowhere near finished. I just splashed a bit of danish on it to see what the grain would look like. I can't resist the preview, I'm too impetuous I'm confident none has got through to the flat planed surfaces to be glued to the neck and I'm expecting further sanding/shaping, etc. once the wings are attached. Here she is fretted and position markers fitted. First time fretting for me so a bit nervous but it went smoother than I dared to imagine. No fancy tools just a hammer with a good few folds of cloth over the head, seemed to do the trick quite nicely. Once the bridge position is finalised and the nut filed down, I can add a tiny bit of camber to the neck if I need to, before gluing on the wings. Ctrl cavity now routed plus jack socket and walnut cover fashioned from a left over piece of the neck laminate, routed down to 4mm thick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low end fuzz Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 I get what you're saying, fuzz, but the body is nowhere near finished. I just splashed a bit of danish on it to see what the grain would look like. I can't resist the preview, I'm too impetuous I'm confident none has got through to the flat planed surfaces to be glued to the neck and I'm expecting further sanding/shaping, etc. once the wings are attached. Here she is fretted and position markers fitted. First time fretting for me so a bit nervous but it went smoother than I dared to imagine. No fancy tools just a hammer with a good few folds of cloth over the head, seemed to do the trick quite nicely. Once the bridge position is finalised and the nut filed down, I can add a tiny bit of camber to the neck if I need to, before gluing on the wings. Ctrl cavity now routed plus jack socket and walnut cover fashioned from a left over piece of the neck laminate, routed down to 4mm thick. no, thats cool; im the same way; but i would suggest mineral spirits or even water over any kind of oil, for a preview; when oil starts getting around (especially a work in progress) bad things happen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted December 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2007 Body/wings all joined together now. Sanding and shaping continues. Small recess routed for bridge. Another 1/4 cm taken off the neck thickness, body/neck join tidied up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted December 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Slow progress finishing this, still waiting for the pickups before routing the cavities. Happy with the neck profile now, sanded thru 400/800/1200 grit then tru-oiled wet with 800 and 1200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyManAndy Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 I'm glad to see you're finally back in action, al! Great looking bass by the way. Any plans finish your other build(s)? CMA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted December 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Well 2 are finished, in active service and performing wel; the single cut mojo sisiters. One (walnut prs-type with gibson scale replacement bolt-on neck) was recycled and chalked up to the great learning curve. The sycamore double cut I built used the previous neck and it never really had that vibe I was after - although I was happy with how the finish and the construction went, so I've stolen the hardware back off this and it sits sulking in a corner waiting for further inspiration. For the time being, I am into basses in a big way - far less conservative lot . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 ....... For the time being, I am into basses in a big way - far less conservative lot . I hear that. I started this building obsession a few years ago with the idea of building basses of my own designs (heavy Carl Thompson, Ritter, David King influences). I have yet to finish one from scratch for myself because all of my spare time has been consumed building "traditional" guitars (LPs, teles, strats, etc) for friends. I can't wait to go a little nuts with a bass. Bass players are an interesting lot, generally quiet introverts, but often wielding extroverted instruments. Nice work by the way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted December 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Pickups finally arrived this afternoon. (GFS Jazz Pro) Got the body routed for them, lined the ctrl cavity with copper shielding and got her all wired up. She'll be taken thru her paces at tonight's rehersal. Really looking forward to hearing how she sounds. Nice and comfortable playing position, neck couldf be a little thinner up beyond the 12th fret but on the whole I'm really pleased how this one came together. Front:> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_...ey/CIMG1630.jpg Rear:> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_...ey/CIMG1632.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Looks great, and you seemed to complete this project really fast too! Is there any chance you could take a straight on picture of the front? Let us know how the pickups sound when you get a chance. And is that a pick I see? I find it easier to play with a pick, but I prefer the mellow sound of fingers touching the strings. I can't seem to do that two finger technique and usually just play with my thumb, though. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Aarghh, a pick on a bass. My only weakness! Beautiful build, great job pulling it all together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted December 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Thx guys, really enjoyed this project. I tend to use a pick on the heavier fast tracks we do, but there's some slow blues and jazzy ones we do where I use fingers for a bit more feel. Overall I'm very pleased with the tone - great sustain must be due to the maple/walnut thru-body neck and lots of meaty low end with a good clear top as well, quite a bite to it which means the tone control is best backed off to half way. The GFS JB pickups are really great for the money - the neck pup sounds fruity and deep, the bridge a touch harsh and nasal on its own, but blended in with the neck it adds a bit more attack to the tone. Very happy with the sound. Comfortable to play but maybe the neck neck carve project will see me with more confidence to achieve a slimmer neck. The action is set a little high at the moment, another fret level and set up will see some improvements there but with an aggressive playing style this bass sounds far better than I could have wished. Thanks for the feedback and advice during the build! Here's a front-on pic of the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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