guitar4Hisglory

I'll third it. Tutorial!

Don't even THINK of starting over. Lookin' sweet. Purpleheart good.

Congrats, Wez, great stuff. Must be a little surreal to see one of your guitars being played at Wembley. That's awesome. I know how you feel about being microscopically aware of little imperfections...I have to see my first guitar every week, as it was for a guitar student of mine. It's a little like torture; all the "if only I"'s. Bass looks amazing, as does all your stuff. Hats off.

Rich

Great stuff, man. The headstock is freaky-sweet. Lovin' the mahogany. Beautiful job.

Nice one! Digging the surf vibe. Does the EQ work well? Headstock is a pointy contrast to the curvy body. Good job!

Lovely! Great first build. looking forward to seeing a second!

I like the body shape, I have something similar floating about in my mind for when I come to do my guitar on a few weeks.

Thanks, bud! I'll be looking forward to seeing your post here!

Thanks, guys.

Xanthus, I'll agree...the neck joint's a bit strange. I designed it that way so it had 5 bolts, but the little "groove" there to fit your thumb in whilst up on the higher frets.

The cut on the back was designed for playability too, although I did like it's looks, also. Double duty, baby! If you play sitting down, the cut rests on your leg, putting it in classical position.

Erik, it plays really nice. I like the pyramid frets, kind of a "jumbo meets skinny" feel to it. The oil and wax does good for the "fastness" of the neck, and it sounds really good...kinda midrangey, but good midrangey. Doesn't fade into the mix so much . Not terribly skinny on the joint...a little over 3/4". Of course, I don't know that much about it...maybe that is too little.

Brian May vibe, huh? Didn't pick that out right away. What about it makes you think along those lines?

Hey all,

Finally got this done. Sorry, didn't take any progress pics. It's taken almost two years since I started it, what with having no experience w/ woodworking, no equipment of my own at first, etc. I actually finished a bass that I started last summer before this one, but hey. It got there eventually.

The specs:

Cherry body

Ebay neck, 25& 1/2" scale. Had a blank headstock when I got it. Also refretted it with the pyramid wire that Stew-Mac sells , and drilled out the plastic dots, replaced w/ abalone.

GFS Fat PAF bridge, Dimarzio HS-3 neck, both splittable w/ push-pull pots.

Kluson tuners.

Bookmatched zebrawood pickguard, to cover up the abomination of me trying to route the pickup cavities w/out templates. Yeesh.

The back cover is a dyed crudwood cover, which miraculously sorta fits, since I didn't template either the cavity or the plate recess. Ahhh, nothing like the lessons you learn doing something for the first time!

Closeups:

The front

The back...

The headstock

Thanks for looking...I'd love to hear what y'all think...good, bad, ugly, etc. All comments welcome!

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Alan, the balance is surprisingly good. Mind you, by that I mean that it hangs pretty much level to the ground...not neck heavy at all. I tried to counteract that by getting the Hipshot Ultralite tuners, and their rather heavy bridge. Plus, I think the placement of the bridge that far back on the body helps a bit.

I should add...the bass was originally planned to have an opaque finish, which is why there are not more interesting-looking woods used. Ah well...

Hi guys,

This is a first for me. Been working as a professional guitarist for a few years now, and last year got the urge to build. With no prior woodworking experience. Eek. So, after butchering a couple of guitar bodies out of blanks (which I'm now repairing/covering goofs up, with a little experience under ye olde belt), I came out with this bass. The body is loosely based on Brian May's Red Special. Alder body w/ red oak strip, oil finish,Hipshot bridge and tuners, Bartolini pickups and preamp, and a Carvin neck that came with a paddle headstock. It's back apart now, as I have to put a logo on the headstock and fix a few scratches. It plays really well, sustains for days, and the sound is better than I'd hoped for. Questions, comments, concerns? Any and all (non-abusive) feedback welcome. Thanks for looking!

Rich