Noob question: part duex

[thisSNsucks]

Hey guys. Some of you might have seen my earlier post which I deleted because the sticky at the top answered some of my questions. Anyway there is still one thing that I cant seem to find, and yes, I did use the search function.

I'm looking at putting together a parts bass. Some of the parts I see dont have any holes drilled for the neck or bridge. Is there any place that tells you where these holes should be on the body? also things like pickup position and distances?

Right now I'm mainly just concerned with the neck and bridge holes, but I may eventually want to add a Jazz bass pickup in the bridge position, so I'd like to know how to measure something like that.

also theres a "centerline" thread posted by hambone somewhere that I've heard mention of but I cant find it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Tryxx]

It really comes down to the parts that you're going to get. Warmoth has all of their stuff drilled to the specs of MIA Fenders. What are you looking for?

Aside from that, just take a look at the scale length of the bass to find where the bridge should go, and depending on how traditional you want the bass, you should be able to find some routing templates for a Jazz bass and the like.

[thisSNsucks]

I'm acctually planning on going the Mighty Mite route, simply because its my first attempt and their parts are pretty cheap. Only thing is that they dont drill some of the necessary holes. So basically for the bridge holes, measuring 17" from the 12th fret will give me where the bridge holes must go? thats what I thought to begin with, I just wasnt positive.

[stevetx19]

17" from the 12th fret (34" scale) will be about the middle of the range you want for the contact point on the bridge, which can be adjusted. you want to drill where the holes for the bridge are; a few cm further. when you do it, make a line where that 17" measurement is and position the bridge where the line is about in the mid range of the saddles. then mark the dots for the holes.

There are several recomended books out there with pictures that help for all aspects of building, which, especially if you plan to build your own in the future, might be a good investment.

peace
s

[Rodent]

before you get yourself in trouble and need to re-drill your bridge, I heartily recommend you search for a thread here that discussed bridge saddle adjustments and scale. seems that nobody here has ever had a saddle intonate at less than the scale length, so placing your bridge so that it centers the saddle adjustment at the scale length line would only be wasting intonation length ... and you just might not have enough to adjust for a heavy guage E-string

I now locate the bridge such that the saddles are fully adjusted towards the neck, and then one full turn of the adjusting screw towards the butt.

YMMV

all the best,

R

[thisSNsucks]

Thanks guys. that all makes sense. So there really is no standard for drilling the bridge holes. its just kind of depends on the bridge.I acctually wont have to worry about the bridge holes. I just won a p bass body on ebay that has the holes pre drilled. All I'm going to do to this one is route it for a reverse p-bass pickup, and paint it. Thanks guys.