manquesa

I think the red is fine, but I would have liked to see more of a gradual transition between the red and white, as it is now, the red doesn't seem to burst much to me, it almost immediately jumps from red to white. Other than that though I like it. Great Idea!

It makes me think Strawberries and Cream. I like it a lot. Both your guitars so far a pretty darn nice, keep it up.

There's a tutorial on this site for using cloth material like a bedsheet stretched over the guitar and then sealing it with clear lacquer. Look that up in the tutorials section. Maybe for what you're trying to do you can get a plain white sheet and then print your design on Iron On Transfer Paper and then transfer your design onto the sheet., then cover your guitar with that. Just a thought. Might not be the best answer.

Thanks for the replies. Both ideas are good. I'll keep the Shellac idea in mind though i've never used shellac before. I haven't thought about binding on this thing yet. That's actually not too bad of an idea. Though the way i'd have to do it wouldn't be normal for binding, it would have to be more of an inlay than binding. But you've definitely got me thinking about it. Here's the design for the guitar i'm working on The picture is of the bass version, but the guitar version is the same shape except I ended up cutting off the ball end of the lower horn. The guitar version is the one that will have the 2 tone black and red stained finish. The red will be on the top face and back face and the black will be on the sides and contours. The black stripe of course would have to follow the edges of the contours. So you can see what I mean when I say it'd be more of a binding inlay than traditional binding if I do go that route. I'd have to make a new template to use as a guide to route out the channels for it but i'm thinking it's doable.

Small Update: Okay, so I did a little bit more work on the body. I reapplied the 45 degree bevel on the outer edge of the body going with a bit larger of a bevel overall. I also carved out the contours of the oposing sides of the body, both on the front and the back using a spokeshave. The contouring is still not 100% yet though. It's kinda hard to see the coutours in the picture but i'm pleased with the results so far. I also decided to cut off the ball shape at the end of the lower horn due to a slight mishap with the router when cutting the bevel. I'm really liking the new look now though. Here's more of a straight down view I also still need to shape the ball end of the upper horn. I haven't really touched that yet. I think i'll order the wood and hardware needed to make the neck sometime this week so I can eventually get a neck made for this thing. And i'm just needing to pick up one more large sheet of veneer (purpleheart veneer) that i'm going to use for the bass build and i'll be able to get started on that.

Hey that's pretty cool, I like it. It's very proffessional looking

Okay, so I did a test on a scrap piece of Swamp Ash to see how the finish will look on the guitar i'm building. I'm wanting to do a 2 tone stain, trans-red and trans-black with a solid black line seperating the 2 colors. I'm also wanting to apply a Tru Oil finish on top of the stains. As you can see, the problem I have here is the bleed through of the stain due to the grain of the wood. That's supposed to be a solid straight black line seperating the 2 colors. For this test piece, I just sanded down to 400 grit, then wiped on the stains masking off each side, then masked again leaving the center stripe visible and I stained that with undiluted black stain. It currently has 2 coats of Tru Oil on it, not cured or polished or anything as well. (after the staining of course) Any recomendations on the best way to fix this problem? Can I grain fill and then stain, then use Tru Oil? I may end up just having to do a lacquer finish and spray the stain on instead, after grain filling, sanding sealer, etc.

Okay, well I haven't done any more work on the guitar body yet, but I did get some more wood in. Here's what I got! I got the Curly Maple from Ebay that i'll be using for the bass body. Then I went to the local WoodCraft store today here in Dallas to get a spokeshave. While there I picked up some really nice Walnut Burl veneer that i'll use for the top and back of the bass body. Plus I got plenty extra that i'll just have to put to use for another project in the future. I also got a small plank of some really nice bloodwood that I plan on cutting into strips and using as wood binding for the ebony fingerboard that I plan on using for the guitar neck. Man I can't wait for all this to come together. I need to use the table saw in my dad's woodshed (about 2 1/2 hours from here) to cut the curly maple into the sizes I need though so i'll have to wait about a week or more before i'll get time to be able to go do that. So the bass will still be a little while before I can start on that.

Okay, I started a topic about this already in the "Solid Body Guiltar and Bass Chat" section, but now that i've finally started the build i'll post about it here. Anyway, here's the original design again. http://www.gb-bass.com/Bass/Model-1.jpg As I said in the other thread, it was supposed to be just a bass build, then I made the template and I made it too small, so I decided to use that template to build a guitar version as well. I already have some swamp ash here for a guitar so I decided to go ahead and start work on the guitar while I wait on the wood for the bass build to arrive. So, here's what i've gotten done so far. The Wood and Template After the rough cut on the bandsaw Template used as guide for the flush cut routing After the flush cut routing I made a few mistakes and had a few tear outs. So after the routing, I decided to forego the template and further shaped it freehand using a benchtop sander. I then added a chamfer around most of the edge Top View I did all of this today, probably took about 2 or 3 hours at most. I think i'm going to make the chamfer a bit bigger and then I still need to do all the contouring to match the original deisign drawing. I still need to work on the horns as well, as they're very ugly right now. I'm not quite sure yet what electronics i'll use, but I think i'm going to make it a string through with a schaller roller bridge. All black hardware. Painted in a 2 tone trans red and trans black finish. Once I get the wood in for the bass build, i'll post progress on that one as well.

That's pretty sweet! I love it. Though I wish you didn't have to cover up so much of the spalted maple with the black burst. Still, I can't wait to see the finished product all asembled and ready to play.

Whoah! Great minds think alike I guess. I've never seen those before. He's also doing something else I was working on implementing in the design on future builds as well, how the mid section of the body from the horns (upper and lower) to the bridge is raised higher than the wings of the body. It's subtle in that pic you linked to but on other basses shown on that site it's more pronounced. I've seen it somewhere else though too, can't remember where though. Anyway, thanks for the link. I never knew of kingbass before. Yeah, growing up Les Claypool and Carl Thompson basses were my big influences. I don't try to copy either of them though. I think i've developed a playing style that seperates me from trying to emulate Les Claypool, while at the same time I can't ignore the influence. I have a variety of other influences as well from all different types of music. I'm trying to do the same as well in my bass guitar designs. I'm definitely influenced by the Carl Thompson bass guitars, but i'm really trying to find a style of my own and not just trying to make Carl Thompson copies. But again, the influence just can't be ignored.

Thanks, I only plan on carving it like it's shown in the pic. Curly Maple body with a maple burl venner (and possibly a puprleheart veneer under the maple burl as well, not sure yet though). Where you see the curly maple in the pic is where the carve's will be, all around the edges. The curly maple has already been bought and paid for and should be arriving early next week. I'll probably order the walnut burl, and possibly purpleheart veneers next week after I get my next paycheck. I'd really love some good bloodwood veneer but I can't seem to find any, at least not large enough to use on an entire bass body. A somewhat side note: I made the body template already for this but somehow I made it very small, much too small for a bass, but it is just the right size for a guitar. I already have some Swamp Ash here so I think i'm going to go ahead and make a guitar version of this as well using that template. For the guitar i'm thinking of finishing it in a 2 tone paint scheme, trans-black for the sides/edge of the guitar (where the curly maple is in the pic), and then trans-dark red for the top and back (where the walnut burl veneer is in the pic). Maple neck with ebony fret board. That'll be another first for me, I normally hate ebony fret boards but with that color scheme I think it would look very nice. I know bass shapes don't generally translate well as guitars, but I can imagine the finished product in my head and I think it will work.

Cool build! where did you get your wood from?

Hehe, well I guess not everyone's idea of coolness is the same. My tastes also have largely to due with my influences musically growing up as well. Take a big guess as to who my influences might be.

Just thought i'd post my latest design idea for my next Bass build. I've already made 1 bass a few months ago with a very similar body shape, but i've updated the design a bit for the next build. Here's a pic: http://www.gb-bass.com/Bass/Model-1.jpg (the pic may be too big for projectguitar's picture posting guidelines, thus i'll just post a link) I'm thinking of a Curly Maple body and neck, most likely a bolt on neck. Then a Walnut Burl veneer on both the top and back, as well as on the headstock Bois de Rose for the Fingerboard, Fretted w/24 Frets. 36" Scale EMG Active electronics with 2 Humbuckers Single String Bridges again (4-string) All Black hardware (this will be a first for me, I usually go for all chrome hardware) Here's a pic of my previous bass build. http://www.gb-bass.com/protogb-bass/DSC00454.JPG

I vote #3

with that onboard speaker, is a single 9v battery gonna last long?

This is a very sweet project!! I have a black squire 4 string just like this one, i've been wanting to do something just like this for a long time, though i intend to keep mine fretted. Anyway, can't wait to see this one finished, i'll be checking for updates often.

Nice Guitars there. Interesting body shapes.

Oh god I hope it doesn't look like Prince's guitar! Anyway, yeah as I said this is basically a prototype, I do intend to build more. This one will be for my own personal use for now though. Poplar was chosen because it was cheap and easy to obtain at the time I started this, i've worked on this thing off an on for about 2 and a half years now (more off than on). It sounds fine to me, the active electronics are awesome, i've never used active before but I really like the sound i'm getting from it. I replaced the generic tone control with a "bass expander" control which boosts the lows and highs while cutting the midrange which is awesome for slap bass. It sounds decent enough to me when not plugged in as well though I still need to finish leveling some frets to get rid of fret buzz in a few spots and it still needs to be intonated. As for the neck, I do plan on building a new neck eventually to replace this one. I was never confident in the usage of poplar for a neck plus I messed up the headstock and truss rod (the truss rod access hole in the headstock is very horribly cut). I'll probably get some maple for the new one and maybe pau ferro for the fingerboard. It's currently reinforced only with a single hot rod truss rod. Question: Has anyone else used Stew Mac's Waterbased Lacquer? I'm not that impressed with it. It says to wet sand with 600 grit in between each coat or every 2 coats but being that it's a waterbased finish every time I did that it seemed that it would take off the entire coat that I just put on. Which is why i'm dreading doing the final wet sanding with the Micro Mesh finishing abrasives. The wet sanding also leaves some very undesireable milky whitish streaks in the finish when the water drips away. Hopefully the polishing process will take care of that though?? I don't know. Anyone have any tips for finishing this particular finish?

Thanks for all the compliments. And all the other comments as well. This is basically my prototype, I plan on building more and many of the comments said are issues I planning on addressing in future builds. As far as color goes, once I run out of my current supply of waterbased lacquer I don't plan on using it again, I didn't really like it. I'll probably switch to Nitro for future versions. And the color stain didn't really turn out the way I wanted it to, I would have acheived what I originally wanted better if I would have mixed the stain in lightly with the first few clear coats to acheive that trasparent black or smoke color that I really wanted. Applying directly to the wood, which wasn't thinned down enough, went on darker than I wanted. Oh, and the color in the pics is not really that accurate, it does look better in person. For some reason it looks a bit purplish when it's really not, it's just a black stain with clear coat. The pickup position was placed with no real thought other than what I thought looked good at the time. I do plan on moving it up in future versions at least an inch or so closer to the neck if not more. Only because I like to use the pickup as a thumb rest for the rare times when i'm not beating the crap out of the bass with my slap n pop playing style. After getting this assembled and playing it for a while now I realize that it's not in a comfortable spot for me to use as a thumb rest. I realize that may sound like a dumb reason for pickup placement to some but oh well. Good eye on the squareness of the neck for the bottom portion of it. It's currently not really an issue though as it's not really that sqaure in that area. It' s more of a gradual transition between the rounded part of the neck and the sqared off portion at the neck pocket. It is very comfortable to play to me right now though I do plan on improving that in the future builds as well, i'll round it off all the way down, especially since i'm thinking i'll probably do a set neck and with a much better smooth transition between the neck and body. And that lower horn is not really that thin, i've seen much thinner. I've atually broken off the upper bigger horn mid construction. I left the cut and shaped body in my dad's woodshed when I was moving, it was left sitting on a rafter in the ceiling so nobody would mess with it but it ended up falling off the rafter and hit the concrete floor and broke that upper horn completely off. But now glued back on with Titebond hopefully it's a much stronger joint anyway. I do have' a different design for the headstock by the way. But when cutting it I messed up and trying to fix it just kept messing it up more so I just went with the extremely simple design that you see in the pics there for now. I'll make templates or just better plan it out in the future builds. I'm surprised nobody said anything about the choice of Poplar for the body and neck as I know it's not exactly the most popular choice of wood for luthiers. It was cheap, I bought it at either Lowe's or Home Depot (don't remember which one). The body is actually 4 planks of wood glued together. Again, thanks for all the complements

Hey, i've never posted here before, only found this site about a month ago. I'm just about finished with my first complete from scratch build of a 4 string solid body bass guitar and thought i'd post a few pics to show it off. A quick little list of specs: 4 String Solid Body Electric 36" Scale Poplar Body Poplar Neck Rosewood Fingerboard Abalone Side Dots Hot Rod 2 way adjustable truss rod A Single EMG Humbucker (EMG-35DC), replaced the tone control with a Bass Expander Individual Single String Bridges Strap Locks Gotoh Compact Bass Tuners Graphite Nut Pre Paint Pics of the Body Body Front Body Back Body Front Angle Body Back Angle Painted and Assembled Pics Whole Bass Body Front Body Back Headstock Rear Headstock Front The Electronics Cover plate currently on the bass is temporary until I can get some better material to use for it and I still need to make a truss rod cover plate. I also still need to do the final sanding on the finish with the Micro Mesh Finishing Abrasives and then Polish the Whole thing. But I just couldn't wait to get it all put together to see how it looks and play. So far I love it, it looks great and play better than any bass i've ever bought. I used Stew Mac's Color Tone Waterbased Black Stain mixed with a bit of Alcohol on the bare wood, then applied the Color Tone Grain Filler. Then I applied several clear coats of Stew mac's Color Tone Waterbased Lacquer. Wish I would have found this site before building this thing though, could have avoided many mistakes if I had.