has anyone here made their own bass?

[nunk6]

a picture and description would be appreciated

[Blackbird]

Why?

Will C.

[tallguybcs]

Yeah, an expanation on why you need to see one will also be appreciated.

[nunk6]

thats right..sorry
i'm looking for information on making a neck through bass;
-if anyone has made their own maybe they could give me advice on what measurements they used for the neck, and specifically whether they tapered off the top surface of the neck before attaching the fingerboard.........

[Spearhead]

Im planning on making my own bass as im fond of carpentry. Im actually gonna make when I get some time (one fretted one fretless). They were gonna be bolt on necks though, Iwas only planninig on making the body. If you wanted to do a neck through you need a cnc router. Anyways my body are going to be similair in style to a jazz bass look and were going to be made of solid purpleheart. Ive got two big rough cut chunks of the stuff and Im sure it will make both a good looking and good sounding (very dense wood) bass. As for the neck Im ordering ones with ebony fingerboards and Ill shape the head.

[RAM]

There's a really good book on the subject, called "Make Your Own Guitar". It covers the actual making of and specifics of 3 different instruments, one of which is a neck through 8-string. I forgot who wrote the book, but Stewart MacDonalds should carry it. Visit www.stewmac.com for further info.

[Taurus]

It's a good book[by a guy named Cahill I think] but it is about 25 yrs old and somewhat "dated" by todays standards.The 8 string is a four with a sympathetic drone string alonside each normal string.A "neck through" design is actually easier to build than a bolt on[assuming you were to make the bolt-on neck] because you don't have to worry about the quality of the neck-body joint.I used to be a carpenter/cabinetmaker and if I still had the equipment I used to,it would be a pretty straightforward project.You really need access to a jointer and thickness planer to properly prepare the laminations...and about a dozen clamps to glue them together properly.Unless you are VERY sure about your woodworking skills[the frets are cut/placed within thousands of an inch],it would be smarter to buy a pro made neck from Carvin/Warmoth etc. and make your own body to go with it.I satisfy my own building urges nowadays by machining my own bridges,ferrules.string trees etc from brass billets...and save big$$$ by doing so.My latest bridge cost me about $10 to make.

[nunk6]

i was thinking of having it be a fretless fingerboard
i'm just not sure about the headstock/neck joint and havent heard anything on how to connect the neck and body wings (whether its glued or a dowelled joint, or other?)
the rest im rather certain i could pull off; and make myself a ""beautiful"" project bass !

[=^..^=]

I made a neck thru many years ago without the aid of a cnc machine.

Simple enough, I took a piece of mahogany the same width as the truss rod and cut a slot in it deep enough for the truss rod, then sandwiched that in two pieces of maple, I cut the headstock back at an angle to keep the strings tight. I attached a piece of rosewood and cut the neck shape out before hand planing the neck into the correct profile.

Then simply attached two more pieces of mahogany for the body, cut out a shape I liked, profiled the fingerboard, routed the body to take the actives (which I also designed myself), pups and bridge. Hand finished the body using 40 coats of hand sanded varnish (over 3 weeks) fitted the hardware and actives and played it.

It was part of my Design and Tech 'A' level project so I have detailed notes (somewhere) of everything I did.

Not sure where it is now though. I lent it out a few years ago and lost track of it... I think I'll spend this week tracking it down so I can hang it on my wall...

If you want any more details email me and I'll dig my folder out.