Senior Project- Bassic of Bass Building

[FzzyNoNoseChimp]

Hey fellow TB'ers!

Well it's senior year and for my senior project I had the idea of creating an electric bass guitar that I would perform with at out jazz band concert and competitions in the spring. Since our project has to have some meaning to our career path and high school classes thus far, mine being pre-engineering and doing music for all four years, I figured this would be a great idea that could unite my two passions for an awesome project.

I've decided that I would go with a J-Bass style PUp's, guard, neck and electronics but with a unique body shaping. After shopping around the net, Warmoth seems the place to go. The shopping list so far reads-

~Alder Body Blank
~Goloth 201 Bridge
~Schaller Bass Tuners
~Di Marzio Model J P'Ups
~Maple/Rosewood Neck (Fretless)
~Pearloid Solid Pickguard
~Wiring Components

My only real question is how the routing of the pickup,wiring, and neck holes are going to work. I have access to a complete wood working shop, with router, drill press, band saw and all the fixin's, and my grandpa is an experienced carpenter.

As for an advisor for my project I figured I would get help from the experienced techs at my local guitar shop, who probably have huge amounts of info they are willing to share.

I've found all the parts I need online, the only issue I have finding a fretless J-Bass neck at a relatively good price, and preferably one without the Fender emblems and all that, because this is supposed to be a custom bass.

Beyond that I plan on doing a translucent blue finish and I'm pretty much looking for a bass that will fit the jazz niche, I've got my Peavey T-40 that I use right now, but I really want that vintage Jazz tone.

The more suggestions the better!

Thanks

Design Drawings:

[tjclem]

Looking at your design I see 1 potential problem. Unless the body is very heavy and the headstock is light you are going to have "neck dive", that is why most not all basses have the upper bout around the 12th fret. If you are looking for vintage jazz tone I don't think the Dimarzios are the way to go but others may chime in with better info............t

[FzzyNoNoseChimp]

So tjclem what do you mean by upper rout? Where the horn ends? Could you give me a drawing or something so I have a better idea? What about the Ultra Jazz P'Ups?

[tjclem]

Where your top strap lug is. Others will give you better info on pickups. I have a set of Lindy Fralins but I haven't used them yet. I like bartolinis. What about some fender vintage style ones?...........t

[FzzyNoNoseChimp]

Well I was going to go with the Alder so I figured it would be heavy enough, and with the added weight of the body flare I figured it would be enough to weight itself out? Maybe not, when I do my actual test construction with plywood, i'll know for sure what works.

I'm diggin the Bartolini's too, I just want a piece of that mean jazz bass sound.

[PasdaBeer]

alder is a relitivly light material.....and its more to do with the way the bass will balance, not so much the body wood in that situation.