It is very helpful to get an idea. Thank you. If I end up liking things I'll plug and repaint to hide the bridge holes. I might try a new pickguard design as well if I like the reverse p pickup.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Allen Eden loaded bass bodies
- Thread starter DownRound
- Start date
Will do. The parts arrive Friday and I need to print and cut the headstock, so maybe I'll be done in a week or so.
I wasn't planning on starting with Sunbeams, since I mostly just want a fretless, but I'll post it here when it's done.
My neck came yesterday. The for and finish on it are excellent. Not just excellent for the money, but excellent! I'll have to decide on a headstock shape and do some measuring to adjust the bridge position on the body I have, but I'm really looking forward to playing this neck.
Mine arrived a few days back and I set to install it last weekend... only to find out the neck heel is a little too wide on the neck. It's also a J nut width and not a P. Not deal breakers but still surprised me.
I'm gonna slim the neck down next weekend and finish assembly.
I agree the fit and finish is quite good, so I'm still looking forward to it.
I'm gonna slim the neck down next weekend and finish assembly.
I agree the fit and finish is quite good, so I'm still looking forward to it.
Acch, forgot to mention that. All the AE nuts are jazz width, I like either so I never think about it. Glad it's not going to be an issue.
I wish they were p nut (peanut?) widths as well. But they said 1 1/2" on the website, so I expected jazz width.
Yeah, I don't blame that on them. I assume that I just got excited and didn't read the the specs before ordering.
I finally got some time yesterday, got out a sanding block, and did about 60 swipes each side of the neck heel with 80 grit paper and got it to be a nice snug fit.
I'm waiting on some fine jigsaw blades to shape the headstock and then I'll assemble it and post some photos.
I'm waiting on some fine jigsaw blades to shape the headstock and then I'll assemble it and post some photos.
Finally got it assembled this weekend! Installing the neck was easy after sanding the heel and installing the tuners was easy. The headstock shaping was ... not as easy as I thought.
From far away it looks ok, but it's a mess up close right now. The jigsaw was rough going even with relief cuts, a fine woodworking blade, and some patience. Even a Harbor Freight spindle sander would probably have been worthwhile.
But after stringing it up with some chromes I had and playing it, I'm super happy with it. I feel like I would have to pay 3x or more to do better and it was a fun DIY step on the guitarmaking journey.
Happy to answer any questions folks have!
Looks great!
Wondering how you like the stock pickups, if you have experiences with PJ set-ups to compare it with.
And, you are still wanting to take down and shape a little bit around the edges of the headstock (at the pencil marks), I heartily recommend the Shinto rasp.
An amazing little tool. Finds more uses than any other hand tool I have.
Invalid Link Removed
Wondering how you like the stock pickups, if you have experiences with PJ set-ups to compare it with.
And, you are still wanting to take down and shape a little bit around the edges of the headstock (at the pencil marks), I heartily recommend the Shinto rasp.
An amazing little tool. Finds more uses than any other hand tool I have.
Invalid Link Removed
Last edited:
They're fine. I need to dial in the pickup heights a next, and then I'll really dig into the range of tones.
Sadly I don't. My only other bass is a fretted MIM P with a stock ceramic pickup.
Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely grab one to keep shaping the headstock!
I bought one of the 4-string PJ bodies recently in Robin's Egg Blue. Here's my thoughts.
The Good:
- The price. I took advantage of an additional discount and got it shipped to my door $112.00. Tough to beat that.
- The finish. I was worried about the color to be honest but it looks great. It's got a cool vintage vibe with the color and off-white pickguard.
- A Fender neck fit no problem. I would recommend sanding it with some 220 or so just smooth things out. I've put a Fender American Standard Jazz neck on it. The holes aligned out of the box, no serious gaps in the pocket, all-in-all a good fit. I did have to shim the neck a decent amount to get the action low enough but that's just normal stuff.
The Bad:
- The bridge that came on mine was terrible. The outside saddle screws for the E and G strings both sat outside of the groove they are supposed to lie in, and forcing one into the groove just pushed the other further out. This made adjusting the saddle heights pretty wonky and did not let me to fully lower these saddles.
- Possible non-standard string-through holes in the body. I bought a replacement bridge that also allowed for string-through or top-load from some brand called Musiclily and the string-through holes in the body did not align with the new bridge. My bet is the string-through holes in the body are not in a standard location but I don't know for certain. If you're a string-through-er, you may end up needing to drill new holes if you need to replace the bridge.
- The pickups aren't great. Not much to say, they work but they leave a lot to be desired.
Overall, for $112 I definitely got what I wanted out of it. I was planning on replacing the pickups anyway because I love the EMG GZRs in my fretless. Replacing the bridge is pretty cheap considering I don't really care about stringing through the body.
The Good:
- The price. I took advantage of an additional discount and got it shipped to my door $112.00. Tough to beat that.
- The finish. I was worried about the color to be honest but it looks great. It's got a cool vintage vibe with the color and off-white pickguard.
- A Fender neck fit no problem. I would recommend sanding it with some 220 or so just smooth things out. I've put a Fender American Standard Jazz neck on it. The holes aligned out of the box, no serious gaps in the pocket, all-in-all a good fit. I did have to shim the neck a decent amount to get the action low enough but that's just normal stuff.
The Bad:
- The bridge that came on mine was terrible. The outside saddle screws for the E and G strings both sat outside of the groove they are supposed to lie in, and forcing one into the groove just pushed the other further out. This made adjusting the saddle heights pretty wonky and did not let me to fully lower these saddles.
- Possible non-standard string-through holes in the body. I bought a replacement bridge that also allowed for string-through or top-load from some brand called Musiclily and the string-through holes in the body did not align with the new bridge. My bet is the string-through holes in the body are not in a standard location but I don't know for certain. If you're a string-through-er, you may end up needing to drill new holes if you need to replace the bridge.
- The pickups aren't great. Not much to say, they work but they leave a lot to be desired.
Overall, for $112 I definitely got what I wanted out of it. I was planning on replacing the pickups anyway because I love the EMG GZRs in my fretless. Replacing the bridge is pretty cheap considering I don't really care about stringing through the body.
I see that the 5-string bodies are still available, and I am intrigued for a project I had in mind: Buy one of these bodies, plus a 5-string fretless neck (from eBay, AE doesn't appear to have any), and set it up as a 4-string with wider string spacing. I think this could be done by making a custom nut, and getting some individual string roller thingies to replace the existing bridge, which I can space however I want (within reason). My local guitar shop tells me that the pickups (esp. if they are for 5-string) don't care how many strings you have, they are just one long magnet inside.
Am I crazy?? Comments welcome.
Am I crazy?? Comments welcome.
Can't speak to the pickup question,seems like the poles might be a factor, but it looks like they are actually staggered pretty evenly, they might pickup up the strings well enough.
I wonder what the width of the neck pocket is.
It might be possible to use a four string neck, center it and just shim the sides of the pocket.
That way the nut and tuner holes would be aligned. Just swap out the bridge for a four string.
I'm doing something similar with a mis-matched heel size - putting a Squier mini p neck in a larger pocket of a Solo mini bass b stock body.
I just put some layers of plywood adhesive banding (iron on or use heat gun) along the sides of the body to make it snug. Easy to trim down with an exacto knife once you put it in place. You do end up with gap of the pickguard aaround the neck, though.
I go the budget route, and that's sometimes the downside.
But at 30% off now, that puts it below $100 for the whole loaded body.
Amazing price, unlikely to see anything like that again.
Or...you could go with the Ursa 5 string neck, (last one at Rondo) and just go with that.
You could de-fret it if you wanted fretless, or go with one from ebay, as you said.
I wonder what the width of the neck pocket is.
It might be possible to use a four string neck, center it and just shim the sides of the pocket.
That way the nut and tuner holes would be aligned. Just swap out the bridge for a four string.
I'm doing something similar with a mis-matched heel size - putting a Squier mini p neck in a larger pocket of a Solo mini bass b stock body.
I just put some layers of plywood adhesive banding (iron on or use heat gun) along the sides of the body to make it snug. Easy to trim down with an exacto knife once you put it in place. You do end up with gap of the pickguard aaround the neck, though.
I go the budget route, and that's sometimes the downside.
But at 30% off now, that puts it below $100 for the whole loaded body.
Amazing price, unlikely to see anything like that again.
Or...you could go with the Ursa 5 string neck, (last one at Rondo) and just go with that.
SX Bass Neck for Ursa 2 MN 5 String
Love This : SX Bass Neck for Ursa 2 MN 5 String
www.rondomusic.com
Thanks - just to clarify, my idea is to use a 5-string (fretless) neck to give me more room to spread out the 4 strings, as I have big hands. The odd time I've tried playing a 5-string, I found the spacing was way too close, it would require a lot of getting used to. I mostly play upright.
