Dirge for november Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 (edited) Hi Guys, It's been quite a while. I'm back (I hope) So there I was, a guitar player that wanted to be able to record some bass playing along to his creations. The goal of this project is the making of a bass that is easy to build, low on costs but high on mojo. Mojo in this case coming from some decent quality parts and build materials. Things that make it cheap and quick to build: Just one pup No frets Body wood: bamboo, I had some leftovers Neck: Maple with some rosewood Tuners: Oldschool nickel Schallers Bridge: Wilkinson with brass saddles Finishing: None, except for some tru-oil on the neck most likely Pickup: Not sure yet, but to start of I have an '80's (i think) active Ibanez set of 1 j-bass and 1 p-bass A mockup of what it might end up like looking: The Materials including the template, but excluding the neck blank (because I forgot to put it in the pic): Because the guitar is just a tad to big to get out of the bamboo I have, I've adjusted the lower (used to be upper) horn as such: Edited July 25, 2012 by Dirge for november Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Preparing the fretboard: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Sawing the two body halves: The result: The other half is the same, so no use in taking a picture. Tomorrow I'll start routing the inner channels (the ones that will be sandwiched between the halves). Also I might rout the channel for the trussrod and fix myself a template for the headstock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 I like your fret(less) markers. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Thanks. Shouldn't tell you this, but the reason the 12th has three and the higher fretmarkers two, is that I accidentally while forgetting to think, centerpointed two dots on the 15th fret. So I ended up doing a couple more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Thanks. Shouldn't tell you this, but the reason the 12th has three and the higher fretmarkers two, is that I accidentally while forgetting to think, centerpointed two dots on the 15th fret. So I ended up doing a couple more Happy accident. It gave it some additional character. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Hand sawing the fretboard up to size. Took me about three hours of irritating work, but I'm happy with the results and doing it by hand makes me feel good when i'm done: Jigsawing the headstock template (did the body template the same way): Headstock template (unsanded) and fretboard on top of neck blank: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Routing the trussrod channel: Sawing the neck roughly to shape: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 The rough results: Template screwed to headstock: Headstock routed (first pass) Sawing the neck to thickness: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Chipping away with a dull chisel: Just did the same with the headstock but haven't uploaded the pics yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Some more chiseling: After some surforming of the headstock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 The trussrod in place. The headstock roughly surformed to thickness: The fretboard is now clamped to the neck, waiting for the glue to dry. The pic of that somehow failed, but you'll see the results pretty soon anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff St. Germaine Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Looks really good. I like the offset dots! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Some of your build techniques are very similar to mine. We both use minimal tools to work the boards down to what we need. jointers, planers and sanders would be great, but I don't have them, so hand sawing, jigsawing and chiseling are used instead. I have found that a circular saw makes neck shaping much simpler, since its easier to cut a long straight line than a jigsaw. Same with body cutouts, you can use the circ saw to chop away most of the excess body, then the jigsaw doesn't tend to wander off. I really like the backwards logos on the headstock. 1 cool point for that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted July 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Thanks! Indeed I have minimal tools. That way things get ugly before they become beautiful. Haha the Headstock logo is just the mockup, but I'm thinking of doing something similar. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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