DigthemLows

It's fun, you can only "dive" with it, but there's some fun to be had. This build is actually for a friend and he wanted something different. The bass itself sounds killer......really a large range with the woods and pickup config............I wanted to keep it! He's planning on getting some sound clips recorded and when he does I'll try and post them here.

The top is pretty, it looks a little like diseased maple without the disease..........it was very easy to work with! as for the bridge, Hipshot makes it.

Can a Mod move this to In Progress and Finished Work??? Sorry.

Been a while since I visited but I finally finished this bass, I worked slow as my kids and life are keeping me too busy. This took about 9 months....... Ash Body, Tiger Striped Myrtle Top, Flame Maple / Bubinga Neck 24 Jumbo Frets SD pickups

about 15-20 coats of Tru-Oil.

We finally finished this one. This was my second build, that was built in conjuction with my third. I built this for/with my 12 year old son. He helped with gluing and sanding but stayed away from the power tools. Specs: Swamp Ash core with Walnut top Walnut/Flame Maple Neck Lams and ebony board 30.5" scale Bart pickup wired passive just vol/tone (it's his first bass and I didn't want too many controlls messing him up, there's room to add a pre later) Some pics of him helping I thought it would be cool to give this bass some kid mojo, so I suggested my son write some things in between the laminates. It was all up to him what to write. He wrote things like Music, love, no war, Luck, and even wrote Green Day rules.......he he, what an 12 year old! Writing on the lams That's my boy! He's gonna have fun! He's helping with the glue too! Helping with the neck glue We got plenty on there! All glued and clamped

For those who never saw a thread on this, my 12 year old son helped me build this. Mostly with sanding and finish as I didn't want him using the router or bandsaw :eek:, but he had fun. Specs: Swamp Ash core with Walnut top Walnut/Flame Maple Neck Lams and ebony board 30.5" scale Bart pickup wired passive just vol/tone (it's his first bass and I didn't want too many controls messing him up, there's room to add a pre later) Now it's time for lessons. here he was doing the final sanding on the neck. Sanding the neck Nice Top shot Another Top Shot Another Angle Shot of the back Wish I had a custom when I was 12.......... The happy boy and his bass

I liked the simple yet elegant look of Lee's bass too. I don't like gold hardward, but it works with the build. Good job to all!

There are still many things that can change this. Figure out the scale, the number of frets and draw up your bass, then figure where things meet and how inset you want the neck. Take a look at different basses out there! There are many options. Maybe draw the neck first and draw the body around it.

4 string? 5 string? What spacing do you want for your strings at the bridge, and at the nut.........once you know those things, you can figure the width anywhere on the neck.

looking great!

awilcox - Man what a beautiful job for a first guitar, beautiful for a 100th guitar! Pibrocher - What a great theme, and a skilled build! Ferdinand_Oconner - What a great story, a good first build and a English Project I wish I could have been able to do. I hope your Grandfather is well WezV - That is a killer F-ing bass! Great job! I love that bass....... rsguitar - Great original shape, cool semi-hollow design, and that top is gorgeous! Good job aidlook - Cool guitar, great to see original looking stuff. I bet it sounds killer.

There is just too much info in this forum !!!!!! How am I supposed to soak it all in before I start my own project? I already ordered my copy of Melvin's book as it seems the logical way. I never thought that an oil finish could look so shiny and sharp. Great looking bass Manquesa. Now I have to figure out what they call tru-oil here in Spain Later. Well, it has taken me a year of reading this forum (along with Melvyn's book and a couple other forums) to really start to soak it all in. And there is still plenty to learn! I'm loving the walnut bass, Digs. Oh, and happy bday! CMA Thanks for the bday wish!.............Yeah, these are me second and third builds and I spent 8 months reading books and the internet before I built my first.........it's fun and rewarding. I played the desert sunrise bass last night at practice for 4 hours and love it! It'll see it's first show in July and 4 gigs in August........can't wait!

tell me about it...........Let me know what you do with your project

I applied the first coat fairly thick and rubbed it in good. I then applied coats every 2 - 4 hours alternating sides. Every 2 or 3 coats I buffed it out with 000 steel wool. It was all rubbed on with a cotton shop rag. You can really watch and control what your doing with the Tru-oil. You just have to make sure it doesn't run anywhere, but even then you can sand and refinish if needed. I'd say it has about 15 to 20 coats on it. I do need to do another steelwool rub and maybe another coat of tru-oil. The flash from the camera shows some strange looking orangepeel like effect that you can't see or find with your naked eye..........

Here's the back, Alder really soaked up the oil, I may put some more coats. Strange since Alder is so tight grained.......it was like a sponge though.

Walnut top with about 15-20 coats of tru-oil The flash made it look a little washed out, but you get the idea

Sorry, I've been broke and still need to get him a bridge. I'll take the pics tonight of the finish, and with the pickup in. Sorry.

Guess it's my turn. This is my second build. I had so much fun with the first, and learned so much I just had to give it another go! I started out wanting to do something with organic and real life colors. Larry picked some great woods for me and said it looked like a Desert Sunrise, then my brother sent me of a beautiful picture of a Sunrise in the Arizona desert....and this bass was born. The 36" scale is awesome, it really creates more responsiveness due to tighter string tension (at least that's my opinion) So here it is...... Desert Sunrise 4 string bass! 36" Scale (I'm 6'7"), 24 frets Neck Woods: Bloodwood, Pauduk, Ebony Body Core: Canary Wood Body Accents: Flame Myrtlewood Body Top / Finger board: Goncalo Alves Electronics: Pickups: 2 Nordstrand Dual Coils Pre-amp: Aguilar Odp-3, active 3 band......Volume, Blend, Bass, Mid, Treble, Mid select switch, Active/Passive switch. Build Thread Headstock Top (Canarywood) Back of headstock Canarywood grain, side shot

got the cover plate on

Great carving! I like when people really carve a lot. Never a fan of just a 1/2" roundover and call it done. Unless it's a slab tele style guitar...........