First Bass Just Started!!! Average Woodworker

Well I have been playing bass for about 2 years now (i know only a baby) and have pressured my woodwork teacher for grade 12 furnishing to let me make one and he finally gave in. and yes im still in school...
Anyway, i have decided to make an Ibanez Xiphos Electric shaped body with a fretless neck. I had wanted it to be a 24 fret neck with 2x2, possibly a neck from an Ibanez Prestige SR5000E but ibanez only supply this item under warranty; sad face... So instead i have laybuyed a used Yamaha fretless from cash converters (2nd hand shop) and am going to use the neck from that! Beautiful sound that i fell in loive with instantly!
The body is going to be made from Queensland Maple, with a metallic black paint job and gold hardware throughout...(mmmm love the prices of this whole thing on a fast food worker salary!)

I have barely even started on it yet but for the starter pics this is what i have:



Thats my Queensland Maple timber and yeah i got it preety damn thick...oops! For the mean time before i got the timber i was working on the template for the router and this is what i have so far...

Hopefully i wil be able to glue the maple on friday fingers crossed, but for today all i was able to do what run the side through the circular saw to flatten it down, but it will be done with a special kind of planer (i wasnt paying attention) then glued while i put the finishing touches on the template

Anyway thats what i have so far and i hope that i dont screw it up

So i got to glue the timber together on friday like i was hopeing to do. the results:


I glued the 2 large pieces first with a type of foaming glue (not sure of the name) and a simple test was done to check if it held (smashing the glued piece against the edge of a desk a few times)and and did thaankfully . After that the third smaller piece was glued and is currently drying over the weekend.
Other good new, i managed to pick up the guitar with the neck im gonna steal the other day as well




I am thinking off replacing the nut if possible because it is extremly close to the board and is buzzing... not the idea i had when i thought of fretless...lol

I really wanted to but i just dont have the time or money to do it which really bumed me out eh...: (

And today i tested out the join of the complete piece and its holding nice and well As well as that i put the finishing touches on the template and should be running it through the tickneser when i can!!!

Wow its been a while. I have been waiting for the timber to be planed down and it finally has been that was done on wednesday, and i got it back on friday:



It will be around 40mm thick in the end, but for now it is 45mm to be safe, just for the sanding and pushpull pot im using, because i havent used one b4, and some other reasons i cant think of atm cause of sleep deprevation... So as u might be able to see i have marked out the template on top and on friday i cut it out with a bandsaw and high quality jigsaw
results:




I have started to sand it down on linisher and bobbin sander, but im still far off... finally taking shape!!!

i was working out the bevels today, just drawing them on very missily with my zero artistic ability, and decided to change the body shape slightly. On the bottom front point thingy (lol) i am making it more sleek and longer looking. When i have pictures i will post. also ordered bridge today, Hipshot Triple lock down single string bridges. They are through body applications, so i only hope i dont stuff it up to dramastically.

pilotjones said:

There's some complex routing required for those Hipshots. A few guys here have used them, but didn't particularly enjoy it.

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really? this is my first build and by looking at the drawings for the bridge/s i thought that all was need was a simplish hole for the bolt/string through application and another screw in front. what routing would need to be done do u know? thnx

Cheers didnt realise about the bass of the bridge. But happily they did arrive yesterday and the TLD looks like a very nice piece of equipment. probabily gonna be a b**ch to install though but im not up to that yet so i dont care





And i realised that i havent updated in a while so here it is. I drew on the lines very roughly for the bevels to get an idea of the outcome. This also has the sleeker more 'stremline' front bottom horn.






Also today i was mucking around with some ideas for the headstock shape, sadly knowing that i cannot add onto it but only take away I dont have pics of that yet cause it looks like crap drawn on a piece of ply so when i do end up cutting it out ill post some pics. This is also what it will partially look like: (remember i havent finish cutting, sanding, screwing, painting, finishing it, nor do i have the other pickup yet. Budget sucks for me.)

The emgMMTW will take two to three months to order and finally arrive so sadly i cant use that option. Oh well.. i guess that i will do it this way. Buy another SRX pup (kinda obvious choice in the first place really) and whack in a Bart Pre amp Sounds good to me.

btw im on holidays so no updates for 2 weeks.. sorry i hate hols!!!

Simo98 said:

Hey.

First of all good luck with the build, i cant wait to give building a shot sometime.

Also, i was wondering where you get your hardwear from, and how much.

im in queensland too and was interested if you purchased it off the net or from a local store.. also what did you pay for it

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What kind of parts were u refering to? i am getting my other pup like my first one from Ibanez replacement shop down in melbourne i think, and most of my other gear from bestbassgear.com like the preamp and maybe someother stuff, and finally the remaining gear will be from luthiersupplies.com.au. I dont like ordering everything from the net, but living in aus means that everything is wayyyy to damn expensive!!! so the nets my only choice.

Good luck with your build when u do get around to it!