5 string fanned fret just about done

martinedwards · #1 11-05-2009, 05:26 AM

Still a bit of setting up & tidying to do, but it's playable!!

with the two pups so close to the bridge, there's maybe not as much difference in the sound between them, but hey! I can live with it!!

the body is some unidentified wood that I found in a dumpster. a BIT like cherry, but not.

the neck has a walnut core & two strips of...... something else!! it USED to be the frame of of a roller chalkboard. looks like pale mahogany, but very dusty through the planer.......

fretboard is ebony, and pretty much all the black and shiny bits came from Bezdez in the Canadian corner of eBayland. concentric control pots for the two humbuckers, master tone

total cost?

under $200 anyway..........

before this, I'd never played a 5 or a fanned fret bass.

I'm hooked!!

Darkstrike · #2 11-05-2009, 05:27 AM

Woah, thats sweet man.

nastyn8c · #3 11-05-2009, 05:46 AM

Dang! Fanned frets will certainly do ya!

I'd be interested in seeing how it compares to basses in the $500-700 range

tdogg · #4 11-05-2009, 05:55 AM

what kind of pickups are those?

nastyn8c · #5 11-05-2009, 05:57 AM

What are the scale lengths?

martinedwards · #6 11-05-2009, 06:43 AM

Pickups are $15 cheapies from Bezdez on eBay

epoxy potted humbuckers.

scale lengthes are 880mm (34.645") for the G & 920mm (36.220") for the B after intonation correction.

as to the fanning? I'd made a fanned acoustic and really liked it. when it comes to cutting the fret slots I used two scale calculators, put the 8th frets at the join between the two guitar fretboards I had and let the fan sort itself out. join the dots, then clamp a straight block of scrap onto the board as a saw guide.

no more hassle than a regular parallel fretboard. the nut takes a little more concentration, and the bridge needs to be the individual ones (with an earth wire to each one) bu no real problems over the regular 4 string I built last year.

tdogg · #7 11-05-2009, 06:45 AM

any pics of your other builds?

martinedwards · #8 11-05-2009, 07:39 AM

I gotta blog!

http://martinedwardsluthier.blogspot.com/

the fanned fret acoustic is in a thread here......

Jam session

joeyl · #9 11-07-2009, 08:59 AM

nice work. But you need to borrow a proper digital camera to make the work justice, IMO

Jools4001 · #10 11-08-2009, 05:23 AM

nice work. But you need to borrow something better than a small Laney combo to make the work justice, IMO

martinedwards · #11 11-08-2009, 06:24 AM

Joeyl....

you are SO right.

I have a bid on eBay for a new camera as I type!!

Jools4001.....

That's an amp?

I was just using it as a stand!!

its a piece of junk that sits in the corner of my school workshop which works well enough to tell that the pickup circuit is working, no more!

joeyl · #12 11-08-2009, 04:17 PM

looking forward to nice pics of a very nice build! Keep it up

headlikeahole · #13 11-08-2009, 08:26 PM

the fact you made this bass out of wood you found in the trash and a chalkboard frame is pretty damn cool nicely done sir!