My First Electric Bass Build

[MadR13DLuthier]

Hi,

My name is Madrone. MadR1 , the 3D in my screen name is because I know a little about 3D computer illustration.

I recently got inspired when I went to my hometown for my younger brothers wedding. I got a chance to play his solid body 6 string fretless bass. Something he made with a friend in High School.

I was blown away with the sound quality. How much fun it was to play.

(I'm new at playing the bass, but I've played guitar for years).

So I decided I wanted to make a guitar, but I didn't have nearly enough money or tools. So I made a few cigar box guitars instead just to see if I liked working with wood.

Pretty fun.

So, I'm slowly buying up tools to build my own electric guitars.

Anyhow, enough about me and my nooB status.

I'm in the design phase of my build. Daydreaming about what wood to use.

I ordered a piece of this bloodwood today for the fretboard.
http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/headerim...dwoodWFBW1.jpg

I know I want it to be a 4 string fretless bass.

What I'm still trying to decide:

1. Bolt on neck or through body neck? What type/types of wood? Does the through body type design have improved tone?

2. Headless, or with a headstock? I read somewhere that headless basses stay in tune better? I would have to wait until purchasing headless bass hardware before designing that part of the neck, right?

I'm thinking to design my bass in a 3D program. Most likely, the XSI Softimage Mod Tool.

Then, I'm going to export the vector lines as .eps for Illustrator 2D blueprints. As soon as I get images of my design I'll post here my progress.

All comments, suggestions, advice, etc. welcome.

Thanks,

-MadR13DLuthier

[ctmullins]

I'd start simple - a bolt-on neck will allow you to craft the body and neck separately, fine-tuning them as needed, then join them towards the end of the project. Good tone can be had with any construction method.

I have no opinion on headless versus not, other than the fact that quality headless hardware is expen$ive...

[MadR13DLuthier]

Thanks!

I am leaning more toward the bolt on approach. Originally I just thought it would be best to try all the things that are "supposed" to make the tone/sustain better. When I played my younger brothers neck-through fretless recently, unamped, I thought it sounded better than most basses for this reason.

-M

[MadR13DLuthier]

I'm still in the design phase.

I want to make a Neck-Through-Body design. I also want to make it 34" Scale Length.

However, it seems that the StewMac Bass Neck Blanks
13/16" x 4-1/2" x 34"
are not long enough for a 34" Scale Length bass of this design???
Wouldn't that leave the bridge hanging off the end of the bass?

STEWMAC.COM : Neck Construction Tips and Techniques Free information
http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/i-5200/diagram7.gif

And my design so far,

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...cLayout003.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...assDesign1.jpg

Also, when designing a bass like this, the StewMac body blanks would leave enough extra wood to make 2 instrument bodies/sides, right?

Thanks,

MadR13DLuthier

[ctmullins]

A 34" neck blank would just be long enough for a 30" scale instrument, if you scarfed on a headstock from a separate piece of wood. No way for a 34" scale instrument.

Whoops; you said headless - that makes it a bit easier - depending on your choice of headless hardware, it might work.

Dunno about the body blank question - it depends on the dimensions of the blank, and the dimensions of your particular body design. Just have to measure it and do the math yourself to find out.

Looks neat!

[grendle]

Carvin sells a NT blank, but that might be cheating..... I'm not wood working inclined so that would be my route lol

http://www.carvinguitars.com/necks/bassneckthrough.php

[Musiclogic]

as i stated in your other thread, the stew mac neck blanks are for a 22 fret, 34" scale, neck maximum...figurin g 25.5" for a 22 fret fretboard, and 8.5" for headstock. The body blanks are made to do 1 bolt on body, or can be cut down the middle to create body wings for a neck through.

[MadR13DLuthier]

ctmullins
-thanks for the info. My design options are becoming more clear.

Does scarfed refer to a certain kind of connection? Or can it just be two angled cuts glued together?

grendle,
- thanks, wow I love how useful this forum is.

Musiclogic
- a neck through does sound easier. There are just things about the neck-through-body design that sound worth it. Like improved strength in the neck from it becoming Quartersawn as opposed to flatsawn, by gluing the different pieces together correctly... for example.

Guess I'm still not sold on what I'll do. Perhaps I'll make two different designs, one for a neck-through-body headless, the other for a standard bolt on. Then either way I can still make it a 34" Scale Length.

-----special note---- this is going to take me a long time, cause I don't even own a router yet and I'm on a really fixed income. (plenty of design and planning time).

I did order a polarity tester to test my alnico magnets after I "charge" them, for my Jazz bass pick-up rebuild I'm working on.

Demo of my home made pick-up winder
Reed Switch wired to USB model

MDogGuitars_HowTo_CheapHomeMadeGuitarPickUpWinderP lusCounter_ByMadroneCandea2011.wmv - YouTube

Peace,

MadR13DLuthier

[MadR13DLuthier]

Oh yeah,
and here is the link to my XSI Softimage Mod Tool file. For anyone who might want to follow along with my design development in this app. Its free. One of my favorite all time 3D apps to use. I've used a bunch, professionally. XSI Mod Tool is usually used for game content creation, but I really don't see why it couldn't be a super luxury way of designing guitar blueprints.

Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire

Anyone else ever used this app to design a bass/guitar/?

Peace,

-M