First Build:

Ok here’s what I’ve got so far.

Body: Narrowed it down to Ash, Alder, or Walnut
Neck: Two pieces of Ebony surrounded by 3 pieces of hard maple
Fretboard: Ebony
Bridge: Schaller 463 (maybe badass II)
Tuners: Schaller BML
Nut: Graphite

Two questions
#1 What is a good pickup that doesn’t have pole pieces that is under $150? It is for a fretless, and I am looking for humbucking. This is where I am clueless.


#2 It will be a 4 string neck through, can I get away with just a truss rod, or should I do a trust rod, and a couple of carbon fiber strips? (What kind of truss rod would you suggest?)

I will load a picture of the body this weekend

Thanks guys and girls, this is a great website for first timers. Your search feature is great, but I would love any suggestions. Have a great day.

definitely use a badass II, for p'ups i would look into bartolini they are about 125 each. Im not sure what you mean about two pieces of ebony surrounded by three pieces of hard maple...im thinking you mean maple, ebony, maple, ebony, maple 5 piece laminate neck. The only thing I would say different would be to use the maple like you said, but maybe some mahogany or walnut to warm up the sound a bit. The ebony neck plus Fretboard is gonna be very heavy and punchy. otherwise good luck, hope to hear/see more from you

I don't think ANY 4 string should have carbon fibre rods in it... especially not yours with all the ebony in it. If you were building a neck out of Balsa or Pine then that would be a different story :D

my thoughts for a first build?

* Alder body (easy to work and finish)
* 1-piece flatsawn Maple neck shaft with Rosewood fingerboard (relatively inexpensive so you won't feel so bad when you need to scrap it and start a second one, plus it's easy to finish nicely)
* 1 ea dual action trussrod, no carbon fiber stiffeners
* Leo Quan BAII bridge (very alignment forgiving!)
* consider some sort of J/J pickups and a passive V/B/T control set-up (you'll learn how to make it sound good passivly, and can always add a pre-amp later)


I recommend keeping it simple for your first build, and save the expensive/exotic woods until you've built a couple instruments and really know what you're doing. adding all the headache of having to baby rare and expensive woods only inhibits your ability to step out and learn how to do things right - and keep working it until it feels right, not being hesitant in thinking that you have $300 invested in the neck woods so you're afraid to thin the neck a little extra just in case you ruin it


I know I recommend simple ... most experienced builders here recommend simple ... and many who balked at this advice have later on come to realize that it's exactly what they should have done

what you do is your choice, but I offer this since you asked for advice. it definitely is not intended to take the wind from your sails, but instead is offered in hope that you can save yourself some $$ and learn early what many of us learned the hard and expensive way because we didn't listen to those who offered us the same advice

all the best,

R

Thanks for the advice everyone. As far as the woodworking goes, I am pretty confident with my abilities, but I am worried about setting the whole thing up and realize that my action is an inch high. I am going to go with a rosewood fretboard. It will change the color scheme for the guitar, but I would rather have a player than a looker. Question on the neck. Wouldn’t a laminate neck be stronger than a piece of solid maple?

I'd agree with Rodent - I'm still working on my first bass, I've learnt so much from making so many small mistakes (no show stoppers so far...).

But, after fighting my maple neck with cheapo hand tools (found cheap off the internet, never again!), I would even recommend a mahogany neck as a starter, just so you can get it carved that much quicker.

* 1-piece flatsawn Maple neck shaft with Rosewood fingerboard (relatively inexpensive so you won't feel so bad when you need to scrap it and start a second one, plus it's easy to finish nicely)


I wish I could get some maple here :rolleyes: Though being a not local wood maybe it would fall into exotic wood category for me!!! :p

I just got the number of a hard wood supplier in the area, and that will be my goal tonight. I am thinking Alder body with a maple neck. I have good power and hand tools, so I am not worried about the maple.

I wish I could get some maple here :rolleyes: Though being a not local wood maybe it would fall into exotic wood category for me!!! :p

you were never able to convince Larry to send you a few 'samples', eh?

:D

R

+1 to everything Rodent said. It is also really tricky to finish ebony and maple together without getting the maple dirty with ebony dust.

As Phil said, if you have ebony lams, you certainly don't need carbon fiber bars....but it can be difficult (and expensive) to find ebony long enough for neck-thru lams (you need something like 45").

That is true erikbojerik. I didn't think about finding Ebony that long. I know that I still want the two dark stripes through the body, so I am going to find some other contrasting wood.

Has anybody bought guitar supplies through Grizzly Tool Company. They are a great power tool company, and the owner loves to build guitars, so they have started to sell bodies, necks, and other equipment to build them. I was just wondering if anybody has worked with them. I would highly recommend them for the tools, but I don't know about the guitar stuff.