MKGBass Posted March 1, 2004 Report Share Posted March 1, 2004 I posted a few of the earlier pictures of this project awhile back. I've done A TON since those, so I just thought I'd update. A FEW NOTEs: I'm extremely glad I decided to do a full project from cheaper woods before I jumped in on the $300 of woods I purchased for the real "first" bass. Just the experience from one bass has made me a much better builder. And the things I didn't like about this one are now corrected on the next bass (which is in progress, and I'm EXTREMELY happy with how it's turning out). Also even though this is just sort of a practice, I plan on rebuilding the neck because there is a major flaw on the back around where the 4th fret would be. I don't think its really visible but it gets dramatically thinner around that area. It's still very much playable, but it bugs me, so I'm gonna change it. As a result of the experimental nature of this, I tested some painting on the headstock. I don't plan on doing this really at all in the future. Cheers! Full comments, negative or positive are welcome: This first on is just to see the side contouring. Quick specs: Neck: 5 pc Birdseye Maple/Bubinga/Curly Maple/Bubinga/Birdseye Body: Mahogany w/ Quilt Maple Top. Fretboard: Wenge (unfinished) Total cost of this project (minus the bridge, which I'm not using for this bass): ~$140 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renablistic Posted March 2, 2004 Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 140 dollars? no way. prove it. you've got to post where you got the stuff, and how much each bit cost.... please? oh and of course, that is a terribly nice bass, i love it. And if it truely only cost 140 bucks, it's the most priceworthy intrument EVER.... -John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluespresence Posted March 2, 2004 Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 Very Nice Work!! I love the grain line following the body contour. That's something I always look for before I start shaping. Nice headstock shape too. It flows well with the body shape. Great job!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 For you john - Mahogany Body (the original was about 4 ft long, i had them cut it in half so i could make a 2pc body) - $30 Birdeseye Maple (originally about 7 ft long) - $32 Curly Maple Middle Laminate - $13 Bubinga (Bought 1 piece, cut it down the middle) - $17 Quilt Maple top - $20 () Wenge fingerboard - $16 so...30+32+13+17+20+16 =....$128 you gotta throw somg glue in there $5 Every other part was recycled as of yet... I just received a gold plate bridge in the mail today that i purchased for $20. I'm gonna swap it for the black one tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLS Posted March 2, 2004 Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 That hot pinkish stain looks awesome! I also like the body shape, its origanal but not ridiculous. Great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 The stain does look pretty good alone. As a whole, we're not the happiest with how it turned out, but you live and learn, I guess. John I also forgot, I got all the woods from a place right by where I work. You can find them here. I do not know if they will ship woods and whatnot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renablistic Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 I couldn't find any wood on their site. So is it constantly at that price, 29 bucks for whatever size piece of quilted maple you used? Or was that a special deal? Because in a couple of months i'd be willing to send you money to buy me some of that if it's constantly that cheap, plus shipping, and a little extra "handling" if you know what i mean. -John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Yes. They sell "Highly Figured Maple Bookmatched Sets" for $20 a piece. Some of them are in shambles, and I figure if I ever need a spare piece I might be able to talk a deal with them and take a crappy piece for cheap. The rest are pretty good. Some are "flamed" and some are quilt like mine. Some even verge on "spalted" but I think the grain is just way too open to be usable on a guitar. also they're all about the size of a guitar, coincidentally. 20ish" x 15ish" x 1/4" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renablistic Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 awesome. So if i contact you in like a month and a half, you up for my previously brought up deal? -john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 no problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Yeah... This is Kirk (Not the usual poster, Mitch is the one posting 99% of the time). I was somewhat happy with that bass. I have yet to wire it or do the rest of the finishing, that's after 1 or 2 coats of tung oil as you see it now. But we're happy we did it on cheaper woods first, because that one wasn't perfect and I must say the next one in progress is SEXY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 That shape is just plain FUNKY. If it was mine I'd put it on a gold chain and wear it round my neck as a huge medilion Good work guys, so who gets version 1 and who gets version 2? You'll have to arm wrestle for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Hell of a first bass man. THats beautiful. tahts like a warwick. i can dig the neck too. very diggable bass. man i love you! we need more do-ers around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Mitch again....Thanks for the compliments. Hotrock its funny you mention gold, because we're switching the black hardware out for gold eventually (i've already put a gold bridge on it, but gold tuners are expensive!). In regards to who gets what. I'm keeping the bass you see here because I paid for it all, haha, and also because we don't think its sell worthy. The next bass we are going to attempt to sell as it will be way sexy, as kirk said. We'd like to build our own eventually, but we want to be able to afford it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Luthier Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 ...we're switching...we don't think...we are going...We'd like to build... How many of you are there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killahworm Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Not to rant or anything, but i sorta didn't like the color. specially on that nice maple top. had it been solid, i could have liked it, but it didn't make my day Real nice shape though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 not a problem...we (2 people mitch & kirk, haha lex) do not like the color either! It was semi-experimental, so now we know not to mess any longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Luthier Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Do you guys share building the instruments? Do you each have certain tools, that with both of you doing work are enough tools to build the instruments? Why don't you just build them yourself? It's just that when you go to sell one, the profits are split, and would you split them evenly? I remember some years ago, once me and my friend thought of building one together, but never did because we couldn't figure out who would do what, and how much we'd each get when it sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 This is Kirk. Mitch does all the body and neck work, and I've been doing all the electronics, finishing, pickup winding, and on that bass up there I did the finish sanding. We end up putting in about equal hours. We actually both have routers, belt sanders, and I have a table saw, pad sander, and contour sander. Besides having a router and belt sander, mitch also has a pad sander, a bandsaw, and a drill press. And naturally we both have miscellaneous tools like drills, soldering irons, etc. We're building them together for a few reasons, 1 is money, this way we not only split profits but we split expenses too, and we've spent a lot of cash so far and neither of us would've been able to do it alone, and also because we both have some time constraints. It also allows us to do instruments faster, because I can be doing finish sanding and wiring while mitch is doing all the routing and body work on the next bass. And we're hoping to get about $100 each for the following basses (we aren't selling the red quilted maple bass). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted March 3, 2004 Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 100? talk about trying to compete in a hard market. Devon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2004 Oops, I worded that wrong, we're going to try to make $100 profit each for every bass. So, the cost of materials +$200, and in cases we may charge more for labor depending on how hard the job is, but $200 would be about average I think MITCH's edit: The reason we're not trying to make much off of them is because we figure at first it is going to be hard to get the instruments out there and charge a lot at the same time. In the long run, we hope to sell our nicer instruments for quite a bit more (to pay for labor ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Luthier Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 MITCH's edit: The reason we're not trying to make much off of them is because we figure at first it is going to be hard to get the instruments out there and charge a lot at the same time. In the long run, we hope to sell our nicer instruments for quite a bit more (to pay for labor ) Where do you plan on selling them? I've been cosigning mine in a local 'Ma & Pa' store, plus I'm good friends with the owner and employees and they put in a good word for me when someone is checking out an instrument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted March 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 We plan on doing the same at a store Kirk takes lessons at. He knows the people and he's already talked to his teacher about the possibility. We also are going to try to sell a few on the TalkBass forum, as people often buy custom basses there, and love to talk about them and post pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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