MKGBass

cool thanks man.

you can go ahead and make your body thicker than two inches. It would probably add a lot of good tonal qualities to the guitar, however, it would be rather large, and quite possibly, very uncomfortable. I use a bandsaw to cut my bodies/necks very close to final thickness/shape. As it needs to be fairly accurate, i leave room to take off the rest with a sander and by hand. you CAN do whatever you want when you build an instrument. How it turns out will tell you whether or not its the good way to go about it. Remember, there are no rules, only guidelines, the best instrument makers often try something new and it works! Peace Mitch

sounds awesome. by 8.9k you mean 8,900 winds? In most cases that is above standard? But you say its weak?...thanks! We're winding our pickups to 8,200 but we're still in experimental stages. Did you use the Stew Mac coil wire? I checked out your website...you do quality work, good job man.

Like the wood choices. I agree on the headstock, little to big for my tastes, either that or just designed odd for the amount of wood. 2 questions...who made this for you? and SPECS SPECS SPECS?!

Stunning, for sure. You don't happen to be in the Midwest do ya drak? It snowed like nuts here last night as well. I can't even leave my house. AH. Good wood though. I want to cry, and snuggle with it, and mmmmm

I know this is probably hidden deep in the depths somehwere, and someone's going to give me a link to an infinitely long thread which i'll spend hours sifting through only to find what i dont need. If anyone knows where to buy 42 gauge copper wire BESIDES stew mac (they're out of stock), where can i get it. None of the local hardware stores have it (Lowes, Home Depot, etc...). Thanks, Mitch

This Link Should Work edit: Nevermind. edit: HA! Try this one.

Someone in the internet world hates my bass...it keeps disappearing, sorry for the problems all!

Yeah, its busted, for no reason, the hosting company took my account down. You can find one of the pics here HERE!

Does anyone know where to find a decent priced hand pickup winder (not the electric one on stewmac for $330). Either that or does anybody know a good method to building your own. Plans, links, all are accepted, thanks

They may have. My cousin works at the Home Depot and he said "Greenwood" still has traces of arsenic.

Dewalt actually makes Black and Decker now, which doesn't make cordless Black & Decker tools any less crap. As I make my money selling Craftsman tools at Sears, it is my job to know what is crap and what is not, and how to get people to buy what is not crap. Much of the Craftsman lower line is cheap. If you look at it and say "hey thats a good price," odds are that its not worth your dollar (unless of course you have the belt sander that Lex and I as well have). If you have a Craftsman plunge router and you think its crap, you must have bought the wrong router. Right now, they only have 2 versions, the cheapy 2 HP (which I have and it still works quite well) and the Industrial 3.5 HP. The Industrial (Professional) router is worth the $250 price tag if you can afford it. If i had the money, all of my tools wouldn't be Craftsman just because I know and work with the Bosch, Porter Cable, Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee tools, and the quality and construction is much better than most of the craftsman line. However I am only 18 and cannot afford to spend all my cash on the nicest of tools. For future reference, if any of you have questions about some Craftsman products you're looking at purchasing, and your not sure the salesperson you talked to (if you talked to one) actually knows what he's talking about, let me know. A lot of the sales people at the Sears stores here are undertrained, misinformed idiots. If you're not sure, get me a product number (5 digits) and I'll see what I can dig up. LGM - Craftsman offers extended warrantees on all of their power tools, that are cheap cheap (15% of the overall price). If you're spending less than $100 on any non bench tool, you better buy it when it gets offered because your tool will break in the 2 year period that the warrantee covers (its a full replacement warrantee, so you get a new tool, this covers everything down to scratching the shell). For bench tools (table saws, mitre saws, etc) you better look no less than $200. Craftsman makes only 1 mitre saw thats worth while right now, and its the 12" Laser Trac saw. As Ryobi took over the building of Craftsman tools, the tables on the mitre saws are smaller and made with less (thinner) metal. A good table saw starts at about $450. Buy the extended warrantees on table saws (they come out to your house and fix it at no extra charge, this also covers down to accidental damage, even the little stickers on the fence slide...if you don't buy it and it breaks, you're going to pay $90 just for them to knock on your door). Sorry for the book. Mitch

Thanks MzI, yes the body was self designed (The design went through several evolutionary stages, but Kirk and I decided we liked this one best). That's not the correct headstock design. The design I have looks quite a bit different, but the wood stock I have/had isn't wide enough to just cut out the right shape. The piece I used for this neck was actually even too short as well (would be considered around a 32 or 31" scale for bass). Because I was just cutting this neck out for shaping practice, I wasnt bothered by it. I've got all my woods ordered and they should be here in a couple of weeks, this is cool as I am also very excited to see it in hardwood style. The body is going to be mahogany, with a goncalo alves cap, and then the neck will be a 3pc wenge/maple/wenge w/ Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard.

definately use dimarzios

thanks again all, dave i was definately planning on doing that, since i've got enough extra wood. I already have all of the tools, so buying a neck would be a waste of money, especially since making them is pretty fun. Haha Snork I did all of that stuff you said (minus the template, just because i didnt have a short enough bearing bit at the time). The neck didn't even fit in the pocket to start with, i sanded it to fit. It's just larger in some spots because i botched the routing job at 1 o clock in the morning. Yes there is arsenic and i was definately wearing a dust mask.

Thanks guys. Haha, Litch, my friend and I have already discussed a few times how much fun it would be to find out how many strings we can put on before the neck snaps Yes I realize that pine is much MUCH softer than any wood I'm going to be using, which is why, for the body I purchased some weather treated pine. Though it's still pine, each board is more than twice as heavy and hard as untreated pine, thus, a little closer to reality. I was definately planning on getting the right bits, I just haven't yet had the time to go get some cash and make the purchase. The hardware store I work at doesn't have what I need (HA!) but there's a specialty woodworking store about 2 blocks from work that carries virtually everything you can think of. I'm probably gonna swing by next week and pick up a couple of bits that will actually work.

Here's my first attempt at throwing together a bass (out of cheap pine from the local hardware store). A few notes: 1. The neck is not routed for a truss rod because i do not have the right bit yet. 2. The neck pocket is very bludgered (see pic) because I don't have short enough bit with a bearing on it to use with my template, so i freehanded it (Mistakes were duely expected) 3. Obvious seem is due to no jointing/planing of any sort, just glue and a belt sander (High Def Pics, may load SLOW) http://scatter2.sphosting.com/Body.jpg http://scatter2.sphosting.com/FullBody.jpg ^^The above links are now inactive. For some reason or other, my account at sphosting was deactivated today (maybe yesterday). Sorry for inconveniences All input/criticism is accepted/expected

haha nyjbkim, your link worked fine, thanks for the 'fo guys. -The M of MKG

What does it mean when wood is quartersawn? Thanks

My pal and i (he's the K, I'm the M) are about to begin working on our first big project. Since I'll be doing the majority of the woods, I figured it might be a good idea for me to get some practice in before I go messing with the expensive woods. For the next week or two I plan on putting together a "Faux" bass out of cheap pine from my local hardware store. I've made a few necks already, and I haven't had any major problems yet. I've got templates for everything. I was just seeking some pretensive advise from a few experienced laborers... Any things I should be particularily watchful or careful about whilst I go about this process. As we've all heard, practice makes perfect, so I want to do it right from the start. Thanks, -the M of MKG

My workbench takes up an entire wall of my garage. Leftover Doors (Solid Oak blanks) from a remodeling project we did a couple of years worked as a perfect bench. We also removed a bunch of old cabinets and drawers from our kitchen, and everythign ended up in the garage. The doors are about 2.5"x5'x8' a piece, and theres two of them. All laid out and bolted on top of these drawers, the thing is massive (about 45 square feet of workspace). I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow with the digi camera. -the M of MKG

Way to go man. I'm probably going to be out buying a plunge router this week. I've got the same belt sander (it says CRAFTSMAN on the side, however, RYOBI now makes all Craftsman tools, and its the same thing, I know because I sell them.) I like it a lot, its done wonders for my shaping. Can't quite afford as nice a plunge router as you've picked yourself there. But working at the store you buy it from has perks. (ie, belt sander = $60). Good luck, man -the M of MKG

Nice and HUGE. My sander is convertible from upright to horizontal. I like the upright for neck shaping etc, because it gives me more control. I also got mine at a great deal, through connections (ie, i work at a hardware store = 10% discount + coupons + friends and family night = just about 50% off. :-D). Peace -the M of MKG