EricWilson

ok. let me warn you. I still have yet to finish my Jazz Bass project, and my woodworking chops are crap. BUT I can offer feedback that you can take or leave at your leisure First of all i must say awesome design! that shape really speaks to me, and if i saw it in the store, I'd buy it...cept i would do just 2 things to it. Firstly, I would make the bottom cutaway, a wee bit longer for better access to the upper frets. The way you have it is cool, but this is a personal preference of mine. And finallym I wouldnt move the controls far away from their original position. Again a matter of preference. Other than that, I have to say awesome guitar! PAZ ~Eric

I'm ot building an EXACT replica. Instead of jazz pickups, I'm using humbuckers that came from an old OLP Music man bass, and one from my old Carlo Robelli bass that got smashed at my last show. ( I have an affinity towards cheap instruments...they're cheap, and I figure, it can sound good, If my skills are good enuff. ) I think I'm gonna go with sadowsky electronics like marcus when i get the money, but for now I think I'm just gonna do 2 volumes, 2 tones, and a series/paralell switch. I was debating the leo quan badass II bridge, but, while i was surfing the net I found thishipshot bass tremolo, but i dont know if I'll go with it, cuz then i have to do more routing, and then get different tuners etc etc etc... I'm also going with an oil finish. thats about it.

if ur reading this post. the plank width is like 3.5 to 4 inches long. and marcus miller is this kick arse musician who i think everyone should listen to cuz he writes and arranges some amazing tunes.

I am a newb...I will continue to be a newb untill I'm done with this freakin bass... UPDATE: ~~~~~ 1. Got my alder raw body blanks today (yay) 2. Changed my mind and decided to go traditional(kinda): Body style: Jazz bass # of strings: 5 neck thru Fretted (yup...glutton for punshiment) 2 music man style humbucking pickups homebrewed electronics 3: aquired a purpleheart board that was to be used for flooring Here are my questions: My alder body blank came in 2 pieces. I want to glue them together, but i realized that they are not perfectly flat...one of them has a slight, but noticeable bow in it. I would assume that this is a problem my questions are is how do I get them to be perfectly flat, and is that even really nescisarry seeing as how alot of it is going to be, saw/chipped/routed/sanded away? What is the fingerboard radius and string spacing of the marcus miller signature 5 string bass? And is it possible to saw a piece thats about 3/4 of an inch thick to something thats 1/4 of an inch thick? this purpleheart is such a nice piece, and I'd hate to sand and plane most of it away? thanks always, Eric

omygawd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wood at reasonable prices!!!!!! : : Thank you for posting this, its sure to be a help to other luthiers! ~Eric~

I printed out the templates and everything but i am still convinced that they are a bit smaller than usual. especialy at the neck. the width of my jazz bass neck at its widest point is 2 inches. on the diagram however, the basses neck is only 1 3/5 inches. I'm confuzzled... please help? :-/ ~Eric~

thank you guitar ed and everyone for the advice. MY PROGRESS SO FAR: ~I took back the poplar. cuz assoon as i woke up this morning, I saw that it had already warped and cracked. Lesson Learned: Home Depot is not a good source for wood. ~I carefully thought about some designs and I figured I would go with this design. Lesson learned: Google is my friend. ~I went on eBay and bought: radiused sandblocks lesson learned: eBay will screw you with shipping ~My parents went on ebay and bought me an alder body blank that needs to be glued together and 2 maple neck blanks. Lesson Learned: Its ok to be a leech when you are a soon to be freshman in college. In case you were wondering, I fully intent to carve these necks out. I am a glutton for punishment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My current tool list is: 1 plunge Router (useless as it has no bits!!!they just kind of dissappeared when i let my cousin use it) 1 hand held reciprocating saw (it works so thats fine by me) 4 chisels (possible router replacement 6 files ( you never know when you'llneed them) Sandpaper out the wazoo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now here are my questions: If you look at the plans for the bass, you will realize that they arent drawn to scale. Even when printed out on the one large piece of paper. My question is, from these plans (the PDF ones cuz my turboCAD needs to be cracked) how would one go about making and using these templates? This was probably answered in another thread but I havent the time to look. Also If you know of any good luthiers in the Northern New Jersey/Montclair New Jersey/New York area that I can pester with all these noob questions, could you please tell me? thanks. ~Eric~

so what should I do with the wood that i have now, cuz i have like 0 funds, and i enjoy the challenge of turning a potential screwup into something useful

OK I have further plunged myself into bass making by buying woods (keep in mind i am a starving artist so I work as i get money) I went to Home Depot and bought some poplar. I bought it cuz I happen to like that moldy green hue it has...and it was dirt cheap. So I get home and I'm all like...yea I got wood and clamps and glue and junk, and then I realized that it was prolly not kiln-dried or perfectly flat. I also realized that they were only 3/4 of an inch thick but were around 2 to 3 feet long i don't remember the exact measurements. My questions are: ~Should I worry about it not being kiln dried? If so, how do I remedy/get around this problem for little or no money? ~Should I worry about it not being perfectly flat, or will glueing clamping and lots of time remedy this? ~Given that they are only 3/4's on an inch thick, but long as hell, how many should I glue together to achieve the desired thickness? I was thinking two but maybe three would be better. Thank you all for reading this and answering this. Once I start building, I'll post pictrues and stuff. ~Eric~ SHAMELESS SELFPROMOTION: go visit my bands site: www.purevolume.com/leftofcool

you said wit jus those tools I could build the who thing. How would I go about doing that? Do you know of any tutorials or references? thanks.

thankz all! if any of you have any tips and/or places to get tools of decent quality for a reletivly cheap price (REMEMBER STARVING ARTIST/STUDENT) do share

Hello board I have no idea where this should go at all. I am a newbie at this whole building thing. I've really been getting into taking my basses apart and putting them back together, and I've defretted all my friends and most of my own basses/guitars, and now I figure im ready to take the financial plunge, and build one from scratch. I HAVE NO WOODWORKING CHOPS (only bass ones and those arent even that awe inspiring either) So I was wondering, what BASIC tools (am a poor college student) would I need to get myself started. I already figured Clamps and a router, and I found a Router, but what else, any help would be great! thanks alot. ~E~