so this is what im going to do

[Davebass]

ive had so much gas for a custom bass recentley and upuntill now ive been planning on making one.

but becuase i have no experience in builing guitars or wood work for that matter, ive decided im going to get a really cheap bass and "do it up" as my farther just said.

any suggestions if this is worth while, i know its going to me financially a stupid move but i will gain experiance from this i supose.

i was thinking pickup change, well complete electronic change, body work , neck work any pacific suggestions on what i should try?

Dave

[Scott in Dallas]

Everything that you do that gives you hands-on experience is going to be worthwhile. Anything that you do with building or modifying guitars is probably not going to be a financially sound move, but that's not the point. I say go for it. Do your research, get your tools and jump in. You can always come in here and ask lots of questions as you go.

[Thonk]

Hummm this is a strange one and your going to get some poeple that say yes its a good idea to mod first and some that will say no your wasting money modding just jump into a full build

i can only recount what ive learned sofar

Im just about done building my first ever bass which is a singlecut headless 6 string



I like yourself had GAS for a new bass for me this was in the form of a headless 6 SC of my own design but when i did the rounds of UK builders with my wants list it soon became clear that id have to spend around £2000 (about $4000) give or take a few hundred pounds to get what i wanted

upon checking a rechecking the prices on woods and hardware i found out that even after importing all my woods from the US (i just could'nt find a UK dealer who stocked zebra in the thickness i wanted) and most of my hardware the cost of my spec's came in at around £350...humm £1650 saved if i do it myself thats to big a saving for me not to want to try and do it for myself worst case i mess up and still have hardware another buillder can use for me

So i did some reading and a little more reading brought a few books read somemore ask a few question here on LC and decided it was well within my ablities to have a go and see what happened

Ive taken my time & sofar it gone very well and i like you had Zero woodworking experience before i started this build(unless you count the last time i use any woodworking tools which was about 17 years ago in secondary school)

Ive had todo all the things you listed in your mods list(and a few more) the only diffrents is my wood didnt come pre-shapped most of the tools your going to need to do the things you listed like body work,neck work and other modding jobs are also tools you can use to do a build from scratch

Have a good read of the forums here & dig back a few months you'll see many first build threads and these may help you in deciding if you fancy just jumping in a the deep end or if your safer paddeling in the shallows for a while

What ever you do im sure you'll enjoy it,i have to say sofar building my own bass is one of the most rewarding things ive done and i have definitely got the build bug infact builds 2 & 3 are in planing now and i cant wait to start them

Good luck with what ever you decide todo

Cheers
Thonk

[meev991]

Originally Posted by Davebass

ive had so much gas for a custom bass recentley and upuntill now ive been planning on making one.

but becuase i have no experience in builing guitars or wood work for that matter, ive decided im going to get a really cheap bass and "do it up" as my farther just said.

any suggestions if this is worth while, i know its going to me financially a stupid move but i will gain experiance from this i supose.

i was thinking pickup change, well complete electronic change, body work , neck work any pacific suggestions on what i should try?

Dave

Whenever you're making something custom, IMO, it is never a financially stupid...It will be a custom bass, picked with all the parts that you specified. Having a bass with exactly everything that u want on it, is priceless

Correct me if I'm wrong, but ur still talking about buying a cheap one and jazzing it up a little right?

I did the exact thing that you said, with my starter bass. I figured it would be with me for a long time, so I decided to fancy it up with all the best parts: Replace the chrome tuning machines, bridge, and knobs, with black ones. Added a hipshot bass-extender, EMG 85's, and topped it off with Fender 9120 strings.