Hey guys... I guess you could classify me as a bit of a lurker around here. I thoroughly enjoy reading about the builds and am learning constantly from you guys.
To start off with, I'm sure you've heard it all before, but I have zero woodworking skills but I'd like to think I'm not completely lacking in the logic and motivation that's required to develop these skills as I go along.
A little of the history of this build...
I haven't played bass in a good 10 years and I recently got a bit of a bee in my bonnet about starting up again. Instead of buying a bass I thought I'd ask my Uncle to build me one as he's quite into building electric guitars. He said sure, if I don't mind waiting a good year or more until he's finished the current guitar projects which lie unfinished in his workshop.
Then I start researching what it takes to build a bass... oh great, now my enthusiasm is focused on attempting this myself.
So I start out with a design...
Always been a Music Man fan, so had to go with the single MM pickup. Also have been a big Telecaster and Jaguar fan, hense the shape. The big big yellow scratch plates on the body and headstock work well in my head... we'll see how they work out later on.
I did a lot of research on scale and fret positions and electronics and wood and bridges and bridge placement... all of which are very very daunting for a first time build like this.
I settled on the following:
Through Neck
34 inch scale
5 string fretted (despite the design picture)
Woods:
African Mahogany for the body core
Maple and African Rosewood laminate for the neck
Birdseye Maple for the front and back of the wings.
disclaimer... I'm sure there are some processes and techniques which aren't great here... but I did build a lot of this before finding talkbass.
So I order the wood (no I never went to choose the woods, I just ordered the sizes I thought I'd need) Next time I think I'll be more selective.
The African Rosewood fretboard I was planning on using (changed my mind there)
The African Mahogany Core
The Maple and African Rosewood cut, ready to glue for the neck. I never paid attention to the grain like I should have here...
Now rosewood you'll say is not a good laminate wood... well, I'd agree with you especially reading after I'd already glued the neck up that Fender ditched Rosewood because of how unstable it was... I panicked at this point. But my uncle assured me that African Rosewood was very far from the typical Indian Rosewood... he claimed its more akin to bubinga. Lets hope... so far so good, not battling with the African Rosewood at all.
Okay... clamped all the pieces together overnight before committing to the glue.
Next day I glued it together...
And also glued the wings together...
All out of the clamps and ready to be squared up...
All square up... okay, I don't have my own bench saw so I took it to the local timber shop who did it for me.
I overcompensated terribly on the sizes of the wood I needed
Tape on my template... I think I designed the body too small... so I adjusted that on the fly.
The headstock design...
Altogether now...
Okay don't have too many pics of the scarf joint, here it is glued.
Post glueing
Re-apply the headstock design...
couldn't resist, just had to cut it out
I have some work to do quick... will post more in a bit...
But I think I'd go for a much lighter hinge (sorry to harp about weight).
