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converting a t-40 into a hollow-body

C

ciubz

Jan 30, 2005
382
11
#1
i really want a lakland hollow-body but i don't have that much money. I have 2 t-40s and i'm planning to mod one of them into a hollow-body bass. I saw the skelleton peavey t-60 and have decided to take it a bit further.

Tell what you think, any sugestions, any ideas, any advice?

Thank you TB
 
#2
Sounds interesting. I think for a while Chip Todd had been partially hollowing out the backs of those instruments to reduce weight. No reason you couldn't go a little more radical and cover it with a top and back. You could even put on some flamed maple or something cute like that while you're at it.
You'll probably want to look into some lighter tuners though. Those titans are super heavy and you may work your way into some neck dive if you remove too much ballast.
 
#5
My T-40's balance point is just south of the last (20th fret). This surprised me, as the body is one beautiful (and heavy) chunk of wood. What with that huge bridge, I would have thought that the center of balance would be closer to the waist of the body. So, maybe Ultralites would really help if you plan on a lighter bridge as well.

I wonder if anyone has ever simply taken off about a 1/4 inch of the body's thickness. It's so thick and has no contouring. In fact thinning and contouring the body would make a big difference, I would think.

Oh, and I count 46 screws (visible) used on this beast! That doesn't count saddle adjustment or thumb rest screws.
 
#6
Reminds me of an April Fool's Gag Guitar Player had back in the late 80's in their "advice column"

Guy writes in and says he wants to be just like his hero Yngwie Malmsteen... but his only guitar was a Gretch White Falcon...

The Expert advice was to fill the Gretch with bondo, run it through a planer, slap some after market single coils and a floyd rose in it and whammo... you're in Yngwieville.
 
#8
funkyebk said:
Reminds me of an April Fool's Gag Guitar Player had back in the late 80's in their "advice column"

Guy writes in and says he wants to be just like his hero Yngwie Malmsteen... but his only guitar was a Gretch White Falcon...

The Expert advice was to fill the Gretch with bondo, run it through a planer, slap some after market single coils and a floyd rose in it and whammo... you're in Yngwieville.
Click to expand...

Oh god, that last part.

Welcome to my sig.
 
#12
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=544533

here's the topic where i saw the hollowed out t-60 guitar.

The bass i'm planning to modify has a 5 piece body, so i think i'm gonna go with a top and a back also, i want to hide the ugly 5 pieces. I'm also thinking about installing a piezo bridge, rosewood fingerboard and a fender telecaster bass pickup in the neck position and maybe a mahogany tone-block. I have to talk to my luthier, see how much he wants for doing this mod, decide how much i want to spend and do it!!

I'm on vacation right now, gonna be back home next week, the 1st thing i am gonna do is talk to my luthier about this project.

+1 on the F-holes by the way!
 

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