Hello, Luthier's Corner.
This is an interesting challenge. It will allow me the opportunity to get rid of some excess crap and scrap I have laying around. So let's get to it.
First the plan:
And the shopping list/budget:
Yep, it'll be a passive black P. Yeah, I won't be winning any awards for originality. Here are some details:
Body wood: I've had it laying around, collecting dust for a couple of years. It's cheap and light, and I think it makes a nice body wood. It's not terribly lovely to look at, so it's good for painted basses. The body is actually almost completely finished. I just need to route the pickup cavity and truss rod access, and then paint and such.
Neck wood: I don't have it yet, so I just posted the $/bdft at woodcraft. It takes ~1 bd/ft for my neck design, which starts with a 4.5x34x1" board (4.5*34*1=153/144=1.06bdft). The neck will be a 3-piece laminate, with a 1/2" thick maple core and two 2" maple flanks.
Fingerboard wood: I bought a Bloodwood board for fingerboard stock a few months ago. I got four 4-string boards out of it. The whole board was $26, so each fingerboard is worth $6.50.
P-Pickup: Probably Chinese crap I salvaged from an old Rogue bass.
Bridge: Salvaged from same.
Tuners: A set I am to buy off of a bass tech/player friend. I don't have them yet, so I don't know what they are exactly, other than "black".
Strap Buttons: Dunlop Straplok dual-design buttons. These are my favorite strap buttons, and they're cheap. You can use a regular strap, or one equipped with Dunlop straploks.
Electronics: Bourns pots, Cornell-Dubilier (makers of Orange Drop) cap, Switchcraft jack...ordered from Mouser.
Truss Rod:I keep a few of these around most of the time. They are 25" long double-action rods from Allparts.
Knobs: Also from the aforementioned Rogue bass.
Nut: Not enough money in the budget for graphtech, so I'll buy some brass stock at HobbyTown USA down the road from my house. The slab is $2.89, and I'll use about 1/24th of it, so the nut costs about 12 cents worth of brass and a lot of labor. I don't like making nuts.
Fret Wire: Grizzly fretwire pack is $9.50, comes with 15 feet (10 pieces, 18" long each). I'll use the better part of 3 pieces, so that's about $2.85.
Side Dots: 1/16" Aluminum rod. Costs $1.15 per piece. I'll use 1 piece.
Neck Screws: #8x1.5" Stainless Steel (18-8) wood screws. I have a lot of these around. It was $9.88 for a box of 50 screws, so 4 of them cost me 79 cents.
Neck Ferrules: 5/8" black Stew Mac ones. They work, look nice, and are cheap.
Pickguard Screws: Used for attaching rear cavity cover.
Cavity Cover: Cut from a sheet of 1/8" thick black Kydex (ABS) plastic I got from Amazon about 2 years ago.
Paint: Black and gloss clear rattle can lacquer by Rustoleum from Walmart. It's cheap and it sprays and polishes well.
I'll post some photos of the stuff I already have later tonight.
This is an interesting challenge. It will allow me the opportunity to get rid of some excess crap and scrap I have laying around. So let's get to it.
First the plan:
And the shopping list/budget:
Yep, it'll be a passive black P. Yeah, I won't be winning any awards for originality. Here are some details:
Body wood: I've had it laying around, collecting dust for a couple of years. It's cheap and light, and I think it makes a nice body wood. It's not terribly lovely to look at, so it's good for painted basses. The body is actually almost completely finished. I just need to route the pickup cavity and truss rod access, and then paint and such.
Neck wood: I don't have it yet, so I just posted the $/bdft at woodcraft. It takes ~1 bd/ft for my neck design, which starts with a 4.5x34x1" board (4.5*34*1=153/144=1.06bdft). The neck will be a 3-piece laminate, with a 1/2" thick maple core and two 2" maple flanks.
Fingerboard wood: I bought a Bloodwood board for fingerboard stock a few months ago. I got four 4-string boards out of it. The whole board was $26, so each fingerboard is worth $6.50.
P-Pickup: Probably Chinese crap I salvaged from an old Rogue bass.
Bridge: Salvaged from same.
Tuners: A set I am to buy off of a bass tech/player friend. I don't have them yet, so I don't know what they are exactly, other than "black".
Strap Buttons: Dunlop Straplok dual-design buttons. These are my favorite strap buttons, and they're cheap. You can use a regular strap, or one equipped with Dunlop straploks.
Electronics: Bourns pots, Cornell-Dubilier (makers of Orange Drop) cap, Switchcraft jack...ordered from Mouser.
Truss Rod:I keep a few of these around most of the time. They are 25" long double-action rods from Allparts.
Knobs: Also from the aforementioned Rogue bass.
Nut: Not enough money in the budget for graphtech, so I'll buy some brass stock at HobbyTown USA down the road from my house. The slab is $2.89, and I'll use about 1/24th of it, so the nut costs about 12 cents worth of brass and a lot of labor. I don't like making nuts.
Fret Wire: Grizzly fretwire pack is $9.50, comes with 15 feet (10 pieces, 18" long each). I'll use the better part of 3 pieces, so that's about $2.85.
Side Dots: 1/16" Aluminum rod. Costs $1.15 per piece. I'll use 1 piece.
Neck Screws: #8x1.5" Stainless Steel (18-8) wood screws. I have a lot of these around. It was $9.88 for a box of 50 screws, so 4 of them cost me 79 cents.
Neck Ferrules: 5/8" black Stew Mac ones. They work, look nice, and are cheap.
Pickguard Screws: Used for attaching rear cavity cover.
Cavity Cover: Cut from a sheet of 1/8" thick black Kydex (ABS) plastic I got from Amazon about 2 years ago.
Paint: Black and gloss clear rattle can lacquer by Rustoleum from Walmart. It's cheap and it sprays and polishes well.
I'll post some photos of the stuff I already have later tonight.
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