DIY Custom Bass Club

[Navybass]

I asked about this and no one said that there was a club out there for Do it yourself Custom basses so I'll put one up.

Requirements to join the club.

1. The bass had to be made by you.
2. It could have been made with Warmouth, Allparts, etc parts, but you had to put it together.
3. It could be one you built from scratch.
4. It can be in the shape of a Fender, Gibson, or other manufacturer, or a shape you completely made up yourself (makes sense, hence the word custom).
5. It could have been from a kit (Carvin kit basses are ok providing You assembled it).
6. You will only be assigned 1 number, even if you have more than one DIY Custom.


That's about all I can think of. Just post em here and I'll PM you with a number.

I'll start it off.

[Steveaux]

OK ...

[PilbaraBass]

I put the one on the right together in '91

BAII bridge, Schaller tuners...EMG Pickup (now, it's passive)...
Alder body (nice grain for alder)...skunk stripe neck (like an allparts)...

[PilbaraBass]

I dig your double-neck...

I can see myself using something like that @ church (we're down guitarists lately)...

However, I'd need some bass pedals to pull it off...

I'd also think that I'd put the guitar on the top

[master28]

My version of a Ritter Jupiter. Black Limba body/neck, Warwick bridge, Bartolini MM Quad-Coil, Bartolini pre. Not too bad for a first build....

Attachment 103841

[danomite64]

This is what I'm working on right now....don't know who made the body, but it was connected to a Modulus Basstar neck; somebody glopped flat black paint all over it and when I took it off the paint developed some spiderwebby cracks all over it. The neck I have on it is a Moses, the preamp is Sadowski, and the pickups will be DiMarzios. I'm still waiting for them and the Fender knobs to arrive.

[phatduckk]

I put this guys together a couple years ago:



The specs are:

body: trans white j from USACG
neck: birdseye maple j neck from USACG. cut "extra" thin
pickups: fralin split j's
bridge: badass 2
preamp: J-retro
pickguard: tort, standard fender pickguard
tuners: schaller bml

This P bass is another project of mine:



body: MIM P off ebay
neck: all rosewood (neck & fretboard) from warmoth
tuners: schaller bml
pickups: nordstrand
bridge: badass 2
pots: 500k

[basste]

I made mine, in a week-course with a luthier.
Great experience, all details here with pics of building

[Jjango]

Originally Posted by basste

I made mine, in a week-course with a luthier.
Great experience, all details here with pics of building

Brother, I wish I knew of such a course here in California – I would love to do something like that!

Congratulations, you created a truly beautiful instrument!

[basste]

thanks

Perhaps an idea to suggest to Californian luthiers ?
It was really a great moment, definitely changed my feeling with instruments.

[Navybass]

Hey phatduckk, I can't send you a pm because it says you have too many stored.

[EricF]

Fender P-Special body, Allparts neck, Hipshot hardware, Fralin pups. It plays nice, but I find myself with the J-pup always off, so I'm probably going to pull it apart and rebuild it with a straight P body.

[danomite64]

Here's my other DIY bass:

[monkeyhaiku]

Here are my 2 Warmoth projects:





The Jazz is a maple/quilted maple Dinky J body with a padouk/bloodwood neck. The 8-string is a walnut G4 body with a birdseye maple/purpleheart fretless neck.

[Lizooki]

Here's mine.

The Sea Foam Green is a mid-scale that can to me as a box of parts w/ the worst burst color I (coffee & poo ) I ve ever seen. No idea what is was ( somebodies failed project) so I built it as a 50-ish Pbass replica.



Cigar Box Bass.
Montessino box body, Piezo between bridge and the thru-neck, jbass coil at neck,wired tone, tone, vol., hollowbody, Red oak and poplar neck, and a wood bridge. Really sounds amazing!
Fretless w/ a polycoated board.

[lowbass68]

Warmoth Black Korina body with Gloss Trans-red finish
Warmoth Padouk/Ebony Neck with no finish
1980's Fender Brass P-Bass Special bridge
DiMarzio Model J's
Schaller machines

[roysloco]

Since this is the DIY custom bass club, can I ask questions (everyone on here seems to actually know what they're doing already!)?

I've got a very cheap active £120 'Vintage' bass (pretend Stingray) which on the whole I love. But I'm wanting to make the tone much nicer and improve the neck somehow - it's a bit difficult to set up with no fret buzz and I'd like to get my hands on a real Stingray neck or ... (pause for effect) ... a modulus neck maybe. Also, I really like the idea of personalising it (currently it's 'off the shelf', which is a bit of a turn off for me!).

So my questions are:

1. Is it worth spending £200-£300 modding a bass that costs <£200 new, or should I just go and spend £600-£900 on a real Stingray (which I can't afford to do just now ;o)?
2. What would be a good active pickup / preamp combo? I play in a few bands from 'hard' Indie rock, to Radiohead/Damien Rice type stuff, so I'd like VERY punchy, but also able to do warm and clear (currently getting something close to what I want with a Sansamp BDDI but I want to cut down on the pedals by making the bass sound sweeter on it's own).
3. Any advice on replacing the neck (so it doesn't go 'loose' 3 years of gigging later)?

Any answers will be very welcome - think of me as a total noob in this arena ... because I am ...

[mongo2]

Here's just one of quite a few I've cobbled together.

[duckbutter]

[quote=Navybass;6316699]

QUOTE]

What's the breakdown of the controls on that beauty?

[Navybass]

[quote=duckbutter;6330107]

Originally Posted by Navybass

QUOTE]

What's the breakdown of the controls on that beauty?

I'm at work, so I can't see the pic of the one you're asking about, darn Navy blocking things.

I'll answer this when I get home, unless you tell me which bass you're asking about.