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New kid, new project! My 32" bass

T-34

T-34

Wanna go headless?
Supporting Member
Aug 11, 2005
1,805
1,864
France, Paris barricades
#1
Hello, everyone!

About a year ago I decided to build myself a bass and, finally, I started two months ago.
During the last 15 years I serviced a whole bunch of guitars and basses (especially electronics) but never built something from scratch. So here it goes :)

Specifications:
° 32", 4 strings, 24 frets
° 3-ply set neck: Northern ash - Misterious wood (*) - Northern ash
° Body made of the same core as the neck + zebrano wings.
° MIJ jazz pickups, but arranged differently
° Passive electronics

* About this "misterious wood": I don't know what wood it is, it looks and weights (and has almost the same "tap tone") as the mahogany but unlike the mahogany, it's white (rougly the same color as the maple) .

The Sketch:
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Some Wood:
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Neck laminates:
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Clamped:
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Zebrano "ears" added:
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Body core glueing:
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She's got wings!
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Body roughly cut and layed out whith the parts (I couldn't resist!)
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The next volume of this saga to be continued after my vacations - starting september.
 
#5
Today I contoured the body (1/2 roundower router bit) and routed the pickup cavities.

Now waiting for the birdseyes maple board from Larry Davis and the trussrod from my local supplier...

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I'll try to cut the forearm and belly contours tomorrow.
 
#6
Well, you look well underway! That looks like it's gonna turn out awesome. I can already tell it's gushing with that homemade sentimentality, moreso than usual. I've been sorta wanting a shortscale bass to string piccilo-style. That'll turn out awesome.
 
#7
I really like that body design. Neat, clean, simple, with a couple of tight little visual sprites to make it interesting.

But I'm not keen on the pup spacing. That's that Warwick approach and I don't like i because I think it really limits the instruments voice. The reason for two pups is to get a picture of the string in 2 different places - different enough to really broaden the range without sounding like two different basses. I used your style spacing on the Jazzwick and it was the only disagreement I had with Jake over the design. I would have put another inch between them and had that thing rumbling AND growling. As it were, the best it could muster was some Grumbling! :D
 
#8
Hambone said:
I really like that body design. Neat, clean, simple, with a couple of tight little visual sprites to make it interesting.

But I'm not keen on the pup spacing. That's that Warwick approach and I don't like i because I think it really limits the instruments voice. The reason for two pups is to get a picture of the string in 2 different places - different enough to really broaden the range without sounding like two different basses. I used your style spacing on the Jazzwick and it was the only disagreement I had with Jake over the design. I would have put another inch between them and had that thing rumbling AND growling. As it were, the best it could must was some Grumbling! :D
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Sorta side-topic, ever thought about building something like that with a 3 pickup design? The dual-j's Warwick style, then perhaps something bigger and humbucking at the neck. Two pans, one for the J's, one for the neck vs. J's, so you can get that Warwicky growl and bassy thump. Or is that just pure madness?
 
#9
Zebra said:
Sorta side-topic, ever thought about building something like that with a 3 pickup design? The dual-j's Warwick style, then perhaps something bigger and humbucking at the neck. Two pans, one for the J's, one for the neck vs. J's, so you can get that Warwicky growl and bassy thump. Or is that just pure madness?
Click to expand...

If that were the goal, I would look for one of those double coil MM's from Nordstrand or something for the back pup, then the HB on the front.
 
#10
I know, that's not at all self-evident from the pictures, but the neck pickup is almost in the standard P-position (actually, in the position of the GD half of the P pickup). Anyway, this bass is not the last I plan to build, if this body design manages to get some succes, there will be hopefully more basses with other pickup configurations :)

Thank you all for the kind words!
 
#11
I am one month behind the schedule :crying:

Yesterday: cut the truss rod channel, glued the fingerbord, side and front dots, cut the fret slots:
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Today: Routed the neck cavity, reshaped a little bit the body side of the neck joint, radiused the fingerboard (16")
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