bassman

I say go for it- I am about halfway through a fretless bass build. I was a bit hesitant because of the odd nature of this beast as well. It is not a neck thru as my others have been, however it is a semi hollow, bolt on, undersaddle transducer only- acoustic style bridge, headless, and made from some killer wood. Just take your time planning that neck angle and also make sure that you leave some room for post "angulation" adjustment. I think the best way to take of the excess material from the "neck protrusion" in the body would be to build a jig where the router would level everything out. You could also do it by hand as most imperfections in the leveling would be hidden by the top, as long as you keep the visible glue line planes level... do you know what I'm saying? Good luck

pics of top being glued together. My Webpage

funny how the width of a few fine pencil lines that we use to keep things in line can add up when- we dont center them perfectly in the first place or we dont follow the very center of them oncde they are there. I wish I had some suggestions for you but I am not to familiar with hard tail bridges- basses are my thang. good luck to you though.

I am in the prcoess of building a fretless bass much like an electric, but with only a peizo acoustic saddle transducer. It is also headless and an original design, if I cna come up with some advice for you on what not to do I will definitely let you know... here are some progress photos. My Webpage Yes it does have a sound chamber- and it was freehanded and a bit sloppy as it will never be seen.

Wes, No it is not to late, I have not routed the pocket into the actual body yet, only a template. The top wood alone for this bass cost $150 (amboyna burl)- after all is said and done I will have invested about $700 in this one- I cant help help but use the best of everything on my projects. So this is an experimental design yet I do not want an experimentally dangerous design flaw to ruin this thing for me.

Wes, I am not painting the top, it is burled, if the fit is tight and clean might it cause any problems for me down the road?

I just tried the suggestion that I gave you. The results are outstanding, it worked wonderfully on a scarp piece of oak, I decided to go all the way throught the oak and ust use it as a template for the real thing. The template pocket is tighter than any I have ever seen. I understand you concern for your rounded heel, I almost rounded mine- I decided against it because of what you are now facing. Of course I had to chisel the corners out of the pocket, no biggie there. Good luck, Peace Ryan

I almost did this for my current project- however I ended up making it a bolt neck- which is a first for me. I see no major problems with doing this and I have really put a lot of thought into it. Peace, Ryan

Thanks guys... Kyle, I bought that top from Gallery last Jan or Feb.- it is damn sweet. I just made a template for the neck pocket and man is it tight, hopefully it will translate well onto the burled top with no tearout. I am sort of considering routing the pocket into the maple body- attaching the top and then robo sanding the top to match the body core pocket, problem is that I have no drill press. I could certainly do it by hand- but I want it perfect you know!? Peace, Ryan

First of all, I have built 21 neck thru basses, and zero bolt ons. Having said that I am nearly at the stage of routing the neck pocket for my first bolt on bass, my thoughts were to use the neck and build a template around it on the body with a very straight material (the very common method). But in addition to doing this I would make to "template" just a bit smaller by either lining the inside of it with a few strips of tape or some other very thin material (using a slightly oversize router bearinng or bushing would acheive similar results). I will experiment on some scrap. My hopes are to acheive an extremely tight pocket (duh)- I may have to work it incrementally up in size before the neck will actually fit. If you are able to try something like this before I am please let me know what you encounter. Peace, Ryan

fretboard wood is from woodcraft. It would have been enough for two- but after straightening it dead on- not possible. It is a prefectly quartersawn piece. Peace, Ryan

Here are some photos of the process... Edit : probably obvious if you pay attention, but the chalk outline on the top wood was put there by the wood provider and has nothing to do with my design- my design is penciled on there but not visible in the photos. My Webpage This fretless bass will have a bolt on birdseye maple neck with a cocobolo fretboard. The body will be 2 piece maple with sound chambers, and an amazing 1/4" amboyna burl top. A fishman matrix natural I undersaddle transducer will be the only pickup used- in conjunction with supplied fishman active preamp. It will have one passive tone control and volume. YEs, it is also headless, and the bridge will be contructed out of wood and bone in the style of an acoustic. I will post more pics as they are taken- only as lifes other responsibilities allow. Peace, Ryan

ABM headless sytem- for basses at least- but that is all I build so far. Yeah, yeah, I know headless "looks funny" and all that- but let a bass player who has been complaining of shoulder pains play one for a bit. They balance like a dream- and even if they bass weighs the same as most (mine tend to weigh less) they have the illusion of being light since the weight isnt put at the long end of a lever. Beyond that going headless gives you a shorter axe, more stable tuning- no keys to be knocked out of place- and a level of precision with tuning (40:1). Strings change quickly- and many companies now make double ball strings- and you c an use normal strings as well. Peace, Ryan

You can certainly make them adjustable. Each string can have its own saddle, like a metal bridge, each sadlle has a rectangular foot print large enough to support string pressure with out "falling over". Each of the saddles sits inside of a routed out channel in the wooden bridge, it can slide either direction within that channel to adjust the intonation. The bridge is glued down, but each saddle is held into the bridge by string tension. For those who like to use different string gauges at different times you could simply have many different saddles to change the action. It would be fairly easy to go ahead and just make a whole bunch of saddles for action adjustments. Each saddle would be the same shape, only sand a bit more off the "footprint" of some. This is the approach that I plan to take in the future- however this would be a pain to use with piezos, so for my current project I am sticking with a single saddle for all the strings. Peace, Ryan

It seems to be to long @ 2 3/4". I could only shorten it a hair, and it would still be to long. I still have no idea what you are trying to explain to me- it looks like you could just install it like a regular pot- only it is way to long- another extreme size than wont work for me- either to small or to big..... PEace, Ryan

Ampeg SVT IV Pro... damn sweet versatile and powerful. I had the 4004 SWR, volume nor tone impressed me at all- I ended up blowing it after about four years. I only paid $350 for it so it was worth the money though. I think that a tube preamp is the way to go. Eden has some stuff out there as well. PEace, Ryan

thanks for all of the replies. The Doctor, You got it right- I need the threaed portion to be able to pass through a ~1/4" top and then through an acoustic style bridge- so that the controls will be built into the bridge- thus uncluttering the face of the bass. I really do not really understand what it is you do to extend the threaded section, parts numbers and/or explanations of greater detail would be wonderful. Thanks and peace, Ryan

Distorted vocals yes, if only the result of screamingly bad singer and a crappy PA... blast beats? The rest of the band was stoked when we plpayed with Bloodlet in MD. The rest of the band said we were grindcore- so i went with it. Peace,Ryan

A random orbiting disc sander witha variable speed control would be your best bet. Dewalt, portercable, milwaukee, etc. they are all pretty good. Check online reviews to find out which ones have won "editors choice" or something of the sort for some woodworking magazines. Peace, Ryan

no luck there... what I need is a volume and tone knob stacked- passive control for an active preamp- hooked up to a fishman matrix I. The key here is that it must have a long threaded shaft. Peace, Ryan

Ill check it out... Thanks, Ryan

After much searching I have not been able to find a stacked 25k pot with a long (3/4") shaft. If anyone thinks they might know where I can get a hold of one it would be appreciated. Peace, Ryan

I think you will be fine with such a thin body, make sure you have ennough room for the electronics though. With such a thin body you can really make a cool gradual gradation from neck to body thickness, try taking the taper actually onto the back of the body a bit, feather it out across the back following the lines of the body. Peace, Ryan

I prefer a very wide space between neck and bridge jazz pickups. This way you get a bit of extremes from each pickup. However for slappers a pickup at the 30th or so "fret position" on a 24 fretter can be in the way, but I have slapping well enough alone for many years. Currently I am "prototyping" a bass with only an undersaddle transducer, fretless of course. Peace Ryan

I built my first bass totally from scratch Feb-May 2003. Then I built 20 (necks from carvin) basses Jan-April 2004, while I worked full time at Damman Basses, a very small operation. While the Damman verticals are not for everyone- while I was there we sold one to both the bass player and fiddle player for Dave MAthew's Band. Miscellaneous repairs on my instruments and those of freinds/acquaintances. Execution of "prototypes" of some new designs are in the works. I have high hopes for constantly improving my designs and woodworking skills. All the while I am dreaming up ways to make building more efficient so that I might be able to sell future basses at prices that are not insanely high- musicians certainly are not the wealthiest people-Dave Mathews Band members are a few of the exceptions to the rule. Peace, Ryan