Kinda P-bass Build

[Lefty]

Last year I built a guitar. Now I just made a bass with the bassist in my band.

So it's a neck-thru. It's all maple. The middle piece was a 2x6. The wings were 2x4.

P-bass pickup and volume control. Pretty stellar pickguard if I say so myself.

I really like the headstock on this puppy. I call it "The Shark".

We didn't really want it to look like any other particular guitar design, but I guess it kinda came out looking like a P-bass. Does it look like something else too? Not really sure.

Like the guitar I did, this guy's got a nail for a zero-fret.

Edited April 5, 2008 by Lefty

[Geo]

That's a pretty cool project. Nice ground wire running to the bridge.

I would make some kind of trussrod cover to hide that messy routing, but hey.

Why did you use a nail for a zero fret, instead of a piece of fret wire? And how did you get the nail to stay in place? Also, did you screw the nut in place?! This is a crazy guitar!

But I like it.

[joshvegas]

you know those string trees are quite a good idea compared to original ones.

I agree with geo in all other respects and questions! a bit more time spent tidying up little bits would lift this up a notch. especiall taking in the treble cut away so it matches all the other angles on the body.

As for the headstock i either see a whale or a goat/rams head!

Edited April 5, 2008 by joshvegas

[low end fuzz]

a valient effort;

defnitly some cosmetic work could be done, but its suprisinly an intersting/intriging design, and pickguard;

kinda ghetto version of the victor wooten yingyang;

[Lefty]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Yeah, I have to admit we're messy. There's alot of rough spots but at this point we're just happy with what we got.

The nut is screwed up place. The reason we used a nail is because the pre-cut fretboard we bought had a big ol' slot for the nut. I used a nail on my other guitar and noticed it had some good sustain. So, the slot was too wide for a piece fretwire and too small for the nut we had, so we used the nail for the zero-fret and the nut for the spacing. The nut is *ghetto*ly screwed in but works just fine.

As for the groundwire, we kind of forgot about it on building. Since I'm not exactly the wiring expert, he took it to his uncle, who is. I just kinda laughed and said "whatever" when he brought it back the the exposed groundwire.

[Geo]

The reason we used a nail is because the pre-cut fretboard we bought had a big ol' slot for the nut. I used a nail on my other guitar and noticed it had some good sustain. So, the slot was too wide for a piece fretwire and too small for the nut we had, so we used the nail for the zero-fret and the nut for the spacing. The nut is *ghetto*ly screwed in but works just fine.

Ha ha, uh... you would normally cut off the excess at the "zero fret" slot and butt the fingerboard right up against your "normal" nut. But if your version worked for ya, kudos.

The ghetto-ness is what I like about this bass.

[joshvegas]

The more i see this guitar the more i like it!

it has a sort of "four strings? check, one pickup? check, Let's ROCK'n'Roll" vibe and i really like the scratch plate.

It's kinda of like a vintage japanese guitar.