Building Bass

[maillotjaune]

Does anyone know any good sites for tips, etc. on building a bass?

[pinkfloyd]

are you planning on building one from scratch or or you going to buy all ready made parts and put it together

[rllefebv]

http://www.stewmac.com

If you're building from scratch, this site has all of the tools, gadgets, and gizmos you'll need. Order a free catalog. Great bathroom reading!

People also seem to like...

http://www.warmouth.com

Nice if you are going to piece one together from ready-made parts, which seems to be popular. If that's your game, Carvin sells complete kits that can yield a nice bass. I've seen some ridiculously cheap kits on eBay lately that could get you going for less mulla.

If you go the the Setup forum, there's plenty of stuff there. Also, you can search the site using the search feature. Hambone, who moderates the setup forum, has posted a link to a really good site in the past, but alas, I am at work and it's not in my favorites folder here... Hmmmm.... maybe if I search...

Good luck,
-robert

[pinkfloyd]

building from scatch would cost lots for money for the right tools needed

[Dox]

If you are gonna build your own from scratch I advice you get a copy of "Make Your Own Electric Guitar" by Melvyn Hiscock. It is very good. I had troubel learnign teh elctronics until I read his chapte ron it.

[SuperDuck]

Minor correction- I believe the website he wanted to link you to was www.warmoth.com .

[rickbass]

"Yellow Shirt" - when I was doing research for a custom bass, I came across this online bass building course - www.mimf.com/bass.htm

I don't know if it costs, but it requires registration. I guess it teaches some people well because here's an example of what one student turned out -

[rllefebv]

Actually pinkfloyd, not as much as you'd think! Shop the garage sales for some sweet deals on things like routers, bandsaws, drill presses and the like. Knowing what you're looking for helps. I also used a few SurForms, (pretty cheap), drawknives, an arbor press... The only things that I have bought that were exclusively for bass building were the fret saw, fret file, and fret nippers. I didn't even need to get these until the second bass as my first was fretless.

Nice thing about tools, like a bass, if you keep them in working trim, you only need to buy them once. I've used the same bandsaw, drill press, arbor press, etc. for each of the five basses I've completed, as well as the two that I am currently working on. When my EURB is completed, it will only have cost me wood, ($34 and change), pickup, (Highlander IP-1V $176), and tuners, (Hipshot Elephant Ear UltraLites $70)... Less than $300! You'd spend more for a kit guitar from Carvin.

The Hiscock book is definitely the way to go. Thanks for catching the Warmoth link SuperDuck. If it is within your grasp to build from scratch, I highly encourage you to go for it...

-robert