5 String Jazz Build Thread - Giveaway Bass @ VA,DC,&MD 2011 GTG

[Morfman6]

To follow will be a pic and detail progress thread of building a 5 String Jazz for the 2011 VA, DC, and MD GTG giveaway raffle.

It is very much an honor for me as these mid-atlantic GTGs have gotten to be huge and I am a relative newcomer (and non-poster). There is wiggle room in the final outcome so feel free to offer suggestions/comments/advice as you wish.

Initial Plan:

- 5 String Jazz Bass
- 21 fret/34 inch scale
- Vintage Small Fretwire
- Poplar Body (1 piece)
- Cooked AAA Maple Neck (1 piece)
- AAAA Ebony Board
- Stewmac Trussrod
- 16 Degree Fretboard Radius
- Rear-routed Control Cavity
- Rear-routed Battery Cavity
- Side-mount Input Jack
- Engraved Neck Plate
- Traditional Pickguard/Control Plate
- Threaded Brass Inserts for all wood screws (Except: tuners/straplocks/bridge)
- Build 2 at the same time (-confidence, deadline cannot be missed)
- Hardware/Preamp TBD

Startup Pics:

Neck Blank-



Fretboard-



Body Blank-





As it stands now, not too much has been done outside of the general shaping of the bodies. By next week I will have the bodies routed and hope to have necks glued. Pics to follow. Wish me luck!

[funkygroover694]

i wish you luck

[taviswardlaw]

the poplar seems a bit yellow. Will you use a solid finish?

[Thumpin_P]

Good luck, Sir! Wish I could make it to that GTG!
Thumpin_P

[roberthabraken]

Subbed! That's gonna be sweet

[Morfman6]

thanks gang!

Originally Posted by taviswardlaw

the poplar seems a bit yellow. Will you use a solid finish?

yes, taviswardlaw going with a solid color all the way. Super thin poly. Color is yet TBD, hope to go with a local consensus (as the bass will be most likely won by a local bass player), however I am pushing black after checking out a Musicman Bongo in black with chrome hardware/cooked neck/ebony board = dreamy and the kind of bass that visually fits in almost every gig situation (rock/jazz/rb/church/pop)….IMO

The blank came from a huge board that rang like crazy when tapped. I bought the whole thing

[BlacksHole]

What I would really like to see is a 24 fret 5 string jazz. But this probably messes with pickup placement.

[rms2]

I'll second the 24 fret idea, and with the treble cutaway deep enough to provide full access, though it looks like the fretboard is already roughed and slotted. And I love the radiused Bartolini pickups and Bart pre in my Tobias Killer B. I would also vote for Gary Willis string spacing / neck dimensions. That neck is going to be beautiful!

[NateS]

i third the 24 fret postulation. dunno if it'd matter or not. I really like the look of the woods, especially the fretboard, that ebony looks nice with the grain straight down the center

[Thunderitter]

I'll let Darron confirm it but with the board already sized and slotted for 21 frets, I suspect that's where we are going to be with that.

Now there are things like hardware choices, p-ups, active or passive, vol/vol or blend etc. that will need to be decided upon.

I've seen the neck for this one and it will be stunning!

Colorwise I'm either a black, white or seafoam green sort of guy!

[Morfman6]

Ah, yes the boards have been slotted for a more standard jazz build. An interesting notion that demand for a 24 fret jazz bass might very well send me to the drawing board . I have played a few 24 fret jazz basses and while they were great….I didn't consider them quite a jazz bass. Just different. Sadly, IMO making a 24 fret jazz bass has a lot more to do with throwing on a few more frets…..the whole feel of the bass changes with modifications like that.

Thanks for your input, had I more time……..

[rms2]

You're right, if the concept is a jazz bass then 24 frets ain't it. And you'll need single coils with a passive circuit! Frankly, despite all my modern basses that I love, the best sounding bass I have ever played (and fortunately still own) is my '64 jazz. So if you can get close to that, except with 5 strings, and still have a nice narrow jazz style neck you will have a real winner! I would suggest a smooth neck join taper to allow for better high register access though, unlike the blocky neck heel on the standard jazz bass. And single coils, yes, but with hum canceling if possible. Good luck with the build - looking forward to seeing your progress!

[Philbiker]

If I were building from scratch I'd want "vintagy" pickups and passive V/V/J EQ, but that's just me. I'm sure I'll be in the minority on that so put in whatever you think is fun. I used to have a '97 Fender USA Jazz V that was a really nice jazz bass. With the vintage style passive pickups and EQ it had very authentic Jazz bass tone.

I kind of miss it and have been thinking about another 5 string for a while.

[Thunderitter]

I've recently had my J5 passive with some Aguilar AG-5Js and it sounded really good. I previously had a ACG filter pre, which really helped the stock pick-ups but I'm continuously thinking about going back to the pure passive bass with the AG-5js. I also tend to like my basses simple (like me)! The ACG pre is great but always needs fiddled with; all you need to do with a Passive J is plug it in and turn it up!

So I'd vote for a pre-, but with a passive option!

[xrob]

Is it too late to offer my opinion? Darron, go with a double-neck! Ok, nevermind, going back to lurk mode.

Very interested to see how it all turns out.

Rob

[Morfman6]

Philbiker/Thunderitter/& Rms2's suggestions had me pondering a bit trying to come up with the most flexible/usable/simple package for this build (and likely several builds to come). Lots of options but I find myself leaning towards Thunderitter's mindset with a setup that could be the best of both worlds:

Single coil jazz pickups
2 band boost only preamp
Passive tone control
Vol/Vol

The actual layout would be> Volume/Volume/Tone/Stacked Treble-Bass.

With this configuration running passive would allow for true jazz bass functionality (passive tone), and running active would enable the 2 band eq but still allow use of the passive tone. Nothing ground breaking here but a pretty flexible/usable real world setup.

Of course I cannot stop there and must decide if I want to use a push/pull to switch the pre on and off or shall I go with a switch allowing for the passive section to run true CTS pots. Maybe an S1 switch for active/passive? Don't care too much for mini-toggles on control plates but may prefer them to having one knob higher than all the rest in defeat mode. Somebody stop me!!!!!

Double neck on the drawing board Xrob…..

[Morfman6]

Truss rod (stewmac) routed and fitted…went very well. Made some progress with the body control cavity (was on a roll and forgot to take pics - doh!).





On the right is the 'backup' neck blank & ebony board. Will update body pics on the pickup routes/roundovers.

[Morfman6]

Got a chance to glue yesterday. Wiped down with naphtha and added a bit of goop glue to prevent truss rod rattle/corrosion. Maybe a bit overkill as the truss is very snug and flush…just in case.



"all your clamps are belong to us"

[RobertUI]

Man... I've been offline too much lately. This is looking awesome, and I'm kicking myself for not getting out there!

[Hollow Man]

Looks good Darron! Can't wait to see the end product!