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10 string bass build

The pickups are in the Jazz bass or T-bird locations. I couldn't do a true neck pickup because the neck has 24 frets.

for now it is wired passive with 500k ohm pots, and the pickups are 14 to 15k ohm humbuckers.

10-string (67).JPG
 
Looks great - really like how it turned out :) thanks for sharing the build process.

24th fret access may be a bit of a stretch, but I guess not much need for that with the octave strings in place ;)

It is hard to find a bass neck that is 30" and wide enough for 10 strings ... so I found this neck on the internet and it has 24 frets ... I probably won't play above the 14th fret. I got then neck very solid and firmly fit in the neck pocket. I do need to shim it about 1/2 degree and then tweak the setup.
 
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A note about intonation adjustment on 10-strings:

On the 10-strings that Keith and I built, I put 10 individual saddles in the bridge. But when it was all built and set up, I was surprised to find that there was very little difference in intonation position between each pair. The B string was about 0.060", but the other four were 0.020"-0.040". Barely noticeable. And the amounts were predictable.

So, I don't see any problem with using a 5-saddle bridge to build a 10-string bass. If the saddles have 0.060" of thickness, so you can file a small angle correction, you could pre-set the intonation difference between each octave.

The intonation adjustment needed for each octave pair was typical for a 5-string bass: About 0.060" on the G down to about 0.350" on the B.

You can see what I mean here. All that work to make the paired saddles, and there's hardly any difference between the root and octave of each pair. The octaves are back slightly farther.

View attachment 4742100

Next time I build a 10 string bass I will try this bridge.
 
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Have you gigged it yet? :hyper:

So I took the SG 10 string to rehearsal with a new band ... it is the sound of thunder!! ... I was playing in a heated garage; the temperature and humidity levels were playing havoc with the tuning ... and I need to adjust the intonation a little more. I was also trying a 5 string bass with a tc electronics octave up pedal.
 
OK ... I am now in a Cheap Trick Tribute band ... I am full in on the crazy octave bass thing ... I already have a 30" scale 8 and a 30" scale 10 string bass. So ... I am going to Frankenstein another 10 string. I bought a 6 string kit bass with cosmetic flaws on Ebay for less than $150 with shipping included.

s-l1600.jpg


It has a nice wide neck with 2 truss rods. I will need to fill the 6 tuner holes and drill 10 new ones, and I will need to Frankenstein a 10 string bridge
 
OK ... I am now in a Cheap Trick Tribute band ... I am full in on the crazy octave bass thing ... I already have a 30" scale 8 and a 30" scale 10 string bass. So ... I am going to Frankenstein another 10 string. I bought a 6 string kit bass with cosmetic flaws on Ebay for less than $150 with shipping included.

s-l1600.jpg


It has a nice wide neck with 2 truss rods. I will need to fill the 6 tuner holes and drill 10 new ones, and I will need to Frankenstein a 10 string bridge


Details on what you do with the bridge when you get that far, please. :smug:
 
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