Built your own?

I have buiult one bass form scratch to date. I have significant plans of getting into building once I am finished university (and have some free time). I built a 4 string fretless bass with an alder body, maple set neck and a honduran rosewood fingerboard. I built it in building construction with my buddy, who built a six string at the same time. It turned out quite well, though some things didn't work out as well as others. Being 16 and being in a bit over my head things like the truss rod (which is almost impossible to adjust) and the nut (which I was totallu ignorant of, giving it the highest action ever and requiring way too much pressure to fret in the first fret position. But I must say that it was an incredible learing experience. I really can't say enough for how much I learned about what to do and what not to do from that bass. I started a second one, but due to my buddy moving I lost use of his dad's shop. It would have been (and will be in the future) a neck-thru maple/walnut 5 piece neck with a walnut body and wenge top and fingerboard. I cut the majority of the wood to the glue up phase already, so hopefully I will be able to finish it in a couple of years time.

Whew, this is getting long, I'll leave it here unless you have other questions. Oh, make sure you get some guitar/bass construction books and read them before you start.

Geoff

 

what is it with English people and calling the pickguard a scratchplate? thats so annoying!

I plan on making my own Warmoth bass someday. Maybe Ill study to be a luthier and build basses for a living... ohhh yeah...

 

Because it is a "Pickguard" and it's vacation not Holiday too!

 

I had a second rate shop, judging by the shop you used, no milling machines. Used pretty much just a table saw, bandsaw, jointer, planer, router table, router, hand plane, some chisels, a drill press and some sandpaper and a bit of tung oil.

I put an EMG P/J pickup set in it with tone, volume and blend pots. Used Gotoh tuning machines and a schaller roller bridge.

The whole bass cost around $500 to build.

Geoff

 

Hey! Just be happy you're not speaking German!
Anyway, I confuse guys whenever I go to the parts store for car bits and pieces because basically all of my automotive knowledge is related to British cars and what the Brit car manual calls something is often different from what the American parts catalog calls it.

 

*drawing breath*
OK, here we go again :
Every chunk of wood is "tone wood".
Two pieces from the same log will not have the same tonal properties.
Two pieces from different logs, of very different spieces may have very similar tonal properties.

So, what do you want form the wood?
The neck wood shall be stiff. Very stiff.
It may also be nice with a hard neck wood, but it doesn't have to be so hard. At least not the back of the neck, while hardness of the front (to the strings) can have some impact on the attack. But only on a neck that is longer than the fingerboard!It should also be light weight, for balance reasons.

Fingerboard must be hard to withstand abrasion, and stiff to help keeping the neck straight.

Body....well, that's your call.
Hard top yields more attack
Softer woods give more mellow tone, more fundamental.
Heavier woods give more sustain (specially bolt-ons).

Quarter sawn, stright grained wood for neck and board.
Crack free wood for all the instrument.

Suggestions? OK, just remeber: you asked!
Neck: birch/pau rosa/birch, horisontal lamination
Fingerboard: Swedish lilac (not expensive, but rare
Body: well, how about elm? Or chestnut, with a hickory top?

Or just like everybody else:
Maple/walnut neck w. ebony or rosewood board.
Swamp ash body with some flamed maple or zebrano on top.

Both will work well.
It really is up to you.

*letting residual air out*
"Now awaiting Rickbass, who will undoubtedly tell everybody I was right and wrong..."

 

Swedish lilac? I've never heard of that being used, or ever even heard of that. Can I use hungarian aswell?

 

I've completed one and have 2 others currently in various stages of planning/parts assemblage/construction. I designed the body on the computer using CorelDraw 10 along with the blank registration system. All of the initial cutting was done on a multi-axis computer controlled router. Detail contours were done by hand. It's a Jazz style with a 2 piece flame maple body, birdseye maple/ebony neck, and Seymour Duncan pups. Tons of tone and sustain and a mwah that'll make you cry.

I'd post a pic but currently have no image server available to use. Sorry.

 

Is that still considered "hand-made"?

I'm in the process of building my first. (I did make a body for a Musicmaster neck [short scale] for my son. It was a learning experience. I used Oak on top of poplar for the body. I now know why you don't see any oak guitars out there.) This one is a 6 string bass. Actually a local luthier is making the neck for me. (very reasonable) It's 5 piece maple/mahogany/maple/mahogany/maple bolt on. (I figured if I screw up the body I can bolt it to another.) Probably just gonna go with an ash body though I'm still looking. I've been reading up on neck construction and will probably start trying my hand at it as soon as I finish the current project. I have made quite a few pieced together guitars and basses (kits or just picked up parts) which really helped with understanding construction.

 

Actually, they used to be called finger guards because back in the day, guitarists who used picks would rest 3 fingers on the body when strumming. These fingers would brush against the body of the guitar and cause the finish to wear off, and eventually wear a hole in the body. They put that finger guard on there to protect the body of the guitar. In fact, if you ever look at Willie Nelson's acoustic guitar, there is a big part under the soundhole where a pickguard would normally be put that was worn away by his fingers brushing it over and over again.

So they weren't called scratchplates! And in fact, the pickguard wasn't invented until after "our country" was formed. People played classical guitars back then, so there would be no need for people to have "scratchplates"

And besides, Leo Fender called it a pickguard and he invented the solidbody electric spanish guitar, the Fender Telecaster.