1st Time Bass Build

After a few years of servicing equipment, offering technical advice and support for pickups,preamps, hardware, and just being knee deep in the bass community I decided to set out building a bass for myself.

I started with a piece of Mahogany sourced from the local lumber yard. Figured since Mahogany has been the choice for good tonal wood for many builders how could I go wrong with using it for the body.

The body drawing came as a courtesy from a friend and fellow colleague. The design is based off of a bass Chris Stambaugh had built, that features a Gibson Thunderbird Style body with the upper bout reversed. The style of bass side horn and lower bass bout makes the bass appear to be somewhat heavier on the bass side, and weaker so on the treble, but I was in love with the design, and really dug the old T-bird look so I dove in.

 

After the wood had been sourced, and the template on hand. I set about deciding if building a neck or purchasing a neck would be a better decision for this project. I went with the latter and purchased a 21 fret P-bass neck with Ebony Fingerboard, Abalone Inlay Dots, and a vintage tinted finish. The quality on the fretwork, ebony fingerboard, and finish couldn't be beat with the price so I pressed on.

Using a Stew Mac Neck Pocket template and some binding tape, the inside edges were built up to provide a snug fit, as this template is .004" oversized. One test pass to 3/4" depth to test fit was performed and the final result was perfect.

Once the neck pocket had been routed, the body tracing was transferred over to the wood with the centerline marked from the neck pocket template, and cut out using a Jigsaw with fresh Bosch Xtra Clean wood blades.

 

Stay Tuned for more. This forum is not great for sharing imaging so I will resort to alternative means.

 

Photobucket it is on image uploads. Body has been cut, and neck test fitted.

I chose the P-bass neck for the wider nut width, and chunkier feel. I commonly play a J-bass that is quite heavily modified, but though the neck is super nice, it is quite slim and not as challenging to play as my original P-bass so a P-bass neck was chosen.

 

After the body was cut out, neck test fitted and some minor sanding work down to the rough edges from cut out for the roundover bit to ride on I set about selecting a bit that fit my personal tastes.

Seems the roundover bit debate is quite heavy with some folks rattling on what Gibson, and Fender have used. I have done cabinetry and trim work previously and used both 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" roundover bits in the field. Personally a 1/2" roundover seemed more pronounced and cleaner in appearance so I went with the 1/2" and am quite glad I did.

After the roundover had been completed, more sanding by hand and with the orbital took place to get the lines to blend in nicely.

 

After a few solid hours of sanding had been completed to blend the roundover nicely and remove any tooling marks I set about contemplating if I was happy at leaving this body as a slab style, or going all the way and blending in a forearm cut, and belly cut.

Since there isn't much information on how to set about doing this, with the exception of what tools to use I went with my best judgement and made a few drawings on the wood and placed the body in seated and standing position to how I typically play.

The forearm cut was addressed first. I looked at a few instruments for inspiration and saw the lowest depth on the forearm cut was roughly 1/2" to 3/4" on a few different basses. I dropped a line to match the bridge position and similar style of forearm cut and used a 6" Hand Rasp to start shaping a 15 degree slope off the top line. The rasp was chosen after testing an angle grinder with a 40 grit wheel and noticing that it removed material very quickly, slightly burned the wood and left too many tooling marks for my liking.

The belly/tummy cut was done similarly except I used my own belly and a friend that was slightly larger in the mid section than myself to draw up the depth and degree of the cut. The belly cut extends off the top line and is approximately 28 degrees of a gradient off the top. The fit is fantastic and extremely comfortable for smaller and larger folks.

The idea behind this whole build was to use minimal tooling so the budget mentality was satisfied. I do not own a full service shop with full service woodworking equipment, and living in apartments and being in college keeps the finances tight. Only purchases on tooling were a Skil Router ($70.00), Routing bits and templates from Stew Mac ($100), and a 6" Wood Rasp ($8.00). The rest of the tools were either borrowed including a orbital sander, and jigsaw.

 

I decided on using the Delano Xtender 4String Oval shaped pickups for this build. Having used Delano JC4HE/M2's previously I knew this bass was going to be set for using Delano's. The Ovals were chosen due the unique style of shell, and the tonal characteristics.

The template for the Oval's is a bit of a bear to work with, and the template being less than a 1/4" thick required making a template out of hardwood and retaining the acrylic as the master. I chose red oak as the template material as it is a hardwood, has little to no chip out when routing, and can be kept for many years to come without experiencing any shrinkage or swelling that MDF may expreince.

I can't speak highly enough of Delano pickups, especially the closed cover pickups that they manufacture. Tonal emphasis doesn't seem to be biased to one particular frequency range, and having an even response, good low and low midrange, with a clean and open top is what I have been after since day one. The Delanos I feel capture the best of both worlds with a nice vintage inspired feel, with a modern hi-fi backing. I prefer passive pickups, and like to start with a set of pickups that tonally suit my tastes, and build the preamp and any other electronics around the pickups.

A Glockenklang 3-band 5 knob with Treble roll off in passive was chosen. I prefer transparent preamps that do not color/contour the natural organic feel of the pickups. Having tried or tested Bartolini, Aguilar, Mike Pope, East, and Nordstrand preamps in the past, the Pope has been a favorite. The idea of using another Pope didn't leave any new flavor or new stone to be unturned so I opted to try the Glock. Just bench testing it with the JC4HE/M2's was enough. Extremely clear, and clean response. Very transparent and not overly aggressive. Love that toggling between active and passive have little to no bump in dB or change in response.

After the pickups had been routed for the rest of the Hardware was test fitted for a final viewing before more work had to be done. Bridge chosen was a Leo Quan Badass 2 with slotted saddles. Don't know if these are no longer available or what, but I had one laying around and decided to use it.

Tuning keys are Hipshot HB3's. Chose these as the key shaft is slightly longer than an HB1, HB7, or HB2. I also prefer the smaller clover key over the other styles as well.

Nut was shaped out of a Graphtech Black Tusq nut. A few hours here and there got this completed and installed. Some final shaping once strung up may be required.Installed with just a dab of superglue for safety.

 

Very true. I may just have to move it over to the luthiers corner.

 

Thanks for the compliments. Decided to bolt the neck up and install the bridge to get an idea on how much room is there to mount the controls. With the treble side being lighter in material mounting the controls is going to take some finesse.

So far with just a minor setup it plays acoustically like a dream. Needs a neck shim, area to adjust the truss rod removed so the neck doesn't have to be unbolted for each adjustment, and some Labella Flats. Currently using Ken Smith Medium Rounds and I remember why I am not a fan of roundwounds.

 

6-8 weeks out on the lead time on pickups. Have a set of Quad's or Duals to choose from. Leaning on the Quads as Delano's can handle P/Reverse-P with the Quads.

At this point all that is left is routing for the control cavity, and starting the finish on the body.

 

Build has slowed down some. Waiting for the Delano's and in the meantime enjoying playing it acoustically. Have to route wire channels for pickups, rear control cavity route, and a small section to adjust truss rod while neck is bolted up.

Stay tuned for more progress.

 

Thanks for the compliments all. Decided on finish after some research on products I have and haven't used. Originally was leaning on an oil finish with Tru-Oil as I used this previously on a walnut gun stock and the end result's looked like it had clear high gloss lacquer, and debated over using Z-Spar Flagship Varnish because I had used this on a Cypress front of a Garage door and it popped from 20ft away and looked amazing.

Decided to go with the Tru-Oil as it is the most cost effective and produces great results. Unfortunately no one, and I mean no one in Tampa stocks it so it had to be ordered. Walmart used to carry it as did a few Gun Shops, but no longer.

See image from another individual for the results on Tru Oil.
http://s54.photobucket.com/user/quarterbend/media/Tdrop/close1-800.jpg.html

I may end up stripping the neck finish off and doing the same on the neck as body. Plan on testing some out on scrap wood from build with some local Whisper Woods Mahogany Waterbase Filler/Putty once on hand.

Control cavity should be getting routed this weekend, time permitting, as is the wiring channels for pickup, and bridge ground and pocket for truss rod adjustment. On the home stretch and waiting for the pickups to really make some progress.

 

Forgot to upload photos of the neck.

It is an Allparts P-bass neck. 21 fret, truss rod adjustment at the heel, ebony fingerboard, vintage style finish. I decided to use a Black Graphtech Tusq Nut. For the price the neck was a fine choice. Next build will have a custom built neck, but since this is my first official build. I decided to keep the neck simple and off the shelf.

More to come shortly!

 

Finished the control plate, and mounting for the controls. Made a few mistakes and had to remove some of the material for the plate to screw to to fit the controls due to one of the switches not fitting and one control, and the router collet edge scraped the side of the route and burned the wood slightly. Luckily the 2nd route for the control plate that surrounds this a 1/4" on all sides and slightly more than 1/8" depth covers any mistakes. Control plate template for the cover is done and is looking mighty nice, much better than the first template I made for this.

Luckily for me all the mistakes I made get covered with a control plate, and on the inside copper shielding tape.