| First "build"
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Guys, I am real hesitant to post this because I am so in awe of the talent and skill that so many of you display. Truly, I am not worthy!! My "build" is so lame by comparison. But here goes.
I had a leftover Fender Tele-style humbucker (which I pulled out of my new Squier "Vintage Modified Precision Bass TB" when I dropped in a Dark Star - what a great mod). And.... I have always lusted after a Rick 3000 - but they are impossible to find. Sooo --- off to Home Despot, where I bought a $13 length of poplar. The end result is a mutt.
I have NO woodworking skills, no shop, no experience, but I am an enthusiastic amateur, very detail oriented, and have a few tools acquired over the years for home jobs.
I will spare you many of the gory details. Long story short, what we have here is:
-- a poplar body - 3/4 in. thick, which I cut out with a jig saw and glued up to double the thickness. 4 pieces in all -- 2 each for the top and bottom. Lots of clamps! I drew the shape up on a big piece of paper and made a template out of hardboard. No router was used in this project. I cut out the pickup/control cavity and the neck pocket in the top half with the jig saw, and used a Forstner bit where I needed extra depth. Not surprisingly, this caused a lot of problems... which I managed to fiddle through, sort of, but next time I'll use a router.
-- short-scale neck off of eBay; I cut down the headstock (it was even more ugly in its original form) and refinished the shaved-off part with nail polish, which worked out well, surprisingly.
-- the leftover pickup with pots and jack, as noted.
-- bridge (vintage Fender style), tuners (Hipshot ultralites) and miscellaneous hardware purchased new.
-- pickguard cut out of a piece of Lexan with white paint on the back side. May be replaced eventually.
-- nitrocellulose finish out of the Stew-Mac rattle cans. Whoa - that was hard. The finish was the most difficult part of the project and the most disappointing result. But, a learning experience, and next time it will be better. (Or, I'll send it off to one of you artists for the paint job!)
Despite the huge flaws and errors, I am really happy with the end result. It is a funky little bass. Not light but it hangs well and I like the way it plays and sounds. A real nice neck. I have it strung up with GHS light gauge flatwounds (90 - 45). The sound is dark and woofy but not overdriven; the pickup is not shoved up next to the neck and that helps.
I would not have attempted this without the inspiration you guys have provided. I have been playing bass for a real long time (38 yrs?) and play in a lot of different styles and feels. I have a lot of basses, ranging from top-shelf to crap. But this is the first time I tried to build one nearly from scratch ("nearly" because the neck is the hardest part). Thank you for lighting the way.
Last edited by daveman50 : 05-24-2010 at 10:28 PM.
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