10 string bass build

[Ric5]

I have learned that for a 10 string bass it is better to start with a 6 string neck than a 5 string neck.

Also I learned that when I get tru oil, tung oil, super glue, or other nasty stuff on my hands when finishing wood then use a glob of coconut oil and then soap ... it cleans up nicely

 

[Ric5]

 

[Ric5]

ok I got another bridge ...Black and brass

Now I have to cut and file and grind the saddles.

 

[Ric5]

I put the tuners in the headstock

I have to cut a string slots in the blank nut

 

[Ric5]

I am looking at the nut. It is actually 2 1/8" ... I thought it was 2 1/4". I used my white pencil to figure out where the strings will go.

 

[Ric5]

I need to make a new nut for this bass here and make the string spacing a little wider. Also I am going to add a 1/42" spalted maple veneer to the headstock.

 

[Ric5]

ok it has a new nut. the spacing is about 3 or 4 mm wider and the octave string and the root string are a little farther apart. this makes it easier to play.

Also I will be adding a spatled maple veneer to the headstock.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

ok it has a new nut. the spacing is about 3 or 4 mm wider and the octave string and the root string are a little farther apart. this makes it easier to play.

View attachment 4973676

Also I will be adding a spatled maple veneer to the headstock.

Lookin' good.

From my work on Keith's 10-strings, we found that we liked a 0.060" gap between the octave pairs. That's the gap between the strings, not center to center. The final center to center distance was different on every pair, because of the string gauges. But they were all 0.060" gap, from the nut to the bridge.

We experimented with some different gaps, and 0.060 worked best. They were close enough together that you could reliably push them both down together, and pick or pluck them. But far enough apart that they wouldn't "jangle" against each other as they were ringing.

 

[Ric5]

Lookin' good.

From my work on Keith's 10-strings, we found that we liked a 0.060" gap between the octave pairs. That's the gap between the strings, not center to center. The final center to center distance was different on every pair, because of the string gauges. But they were all 0.060" gap, from the nut to the bridge.

We experimented with some different gaps, and 0.060 worked best. They were close enough together that you could reliably push them both down together, and pick or pluck them. But far enough apart that they wouldn't "jangle" against each other as they were ringing.

for my taste that is too tight ... I like about .125" between the 2 b strings and about .1" between the G strings.

 

[Ric5]

Before I put in the new nut the big B and little B would rattle each other.

 

[Ric5]

So I am learning a new style of playing ... I have always had good pick skills and I like playing with treble bass and distortion. But doing it with octave strings is a new thing for me. Playing chords is cool on a 10 ... a 2 note chord is now 4 notes and a 3 note chord is now 6 notes.

 

[Ric5]

Well I finally put the strings on.

 

[Ric5]

the headstock is a little cramped

 

[Ric5]

The is the bridge right now ... 5 saddles and not 10 ... it seems to intonate pretty well with only 5 saddles

 

[Ric5]

 

[Ric5]

 

[Ric5]

The bass is cat approved

 

[Ric5]

I still have to shim the neck, and adjust the truss rods, and work on the nut.

 

[Beej]

Looks good, the headstock ended up matching the body pretty nicely

 

[Ric5]

I put in 2 Wilkenson 6 string soap bar pickups, I also put in a 4 band Audere preamp, Dunlap straploks and I made my own nut from a graphite blank. The body is finished in Tru oil and the fretboard has a light coating of shellac. I like to run the pickup balance at the middle position. The bridge pickup is useless soloed. Both pickups are about 18k ohms, but when run together they are a little tamer.

I learned it is at least 3 times harder to build a 10 string than a 5 string bass.

This one is a beast.