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Custom bass club #1
- Thread starter slybass3000
- Start date
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- club
Dwayne Glanton of central Arkansas is the builder.
http:dwaynesthisandthat.us
He is a musical instrument builder, but he was not
a bass guitar player. He decided to play bass and
built this, his first bass, three years ago. He played
it for three years and decided to switch to double
bass. So he built a double bass.
This bass has some issues because it was his first
bass and he was not a bass player at the time.
So, he sold me this bass and a like new $100 plus
TKL hard shell case for $90. Yes, I said $90.
The bass is solid curly maple with a 5 piece maple
and ? neck that is neck through. It has a red hart
24 fret fretboard. It has EMG Select pickups
The biggest issue that it has is a
woopdedoo at the end of the
fretboard.
You can see that the neck is strait
all the way to about the 12th fret,
But the end of the fretboard lifts up
and causes a woopdeedoo,
Woop-de-doo: An Arkie term for it's
screwed up,
I took it to Little Rock Frets and my
friend told me what he would do and
the cost would be $200.
His plan for repairs was the same as
I had already figured out. My plan is
to save me $200.
First, perform de-fret. I have already
accomplished this and here's my defret
and my defret tool. I have the frets
stuck in a box so I can keep track of
them and put them back in the slot
they were removed from,
If there is enough wood left on the
fretboard, I will create a radius for the
fretboard. It's flat. Then I will refret
using the same frets.
The next step was to sand the woopteedoo down
with 60 grit sand paper. I have it most of the way
sanded and will finish in the morning when I can
see better to do the fine adjustments on the neck,
These EMG Select SEHB pickups are for narrow string
widths of 2-1/4" or less. Unfortunately the spacing
on this bass is wider than that resulting in a weak G
string.
I'm gonna have to find some soap bars for this thing.
This is where I stand with this bass this morning,
Tabdog
http:dwaynesthisandthat.us
He is a musical instrument builder, but he was not
a bass guitar player. He decided to play bass and
built this, his first bass, three years ago. He played
it for three years and decided to switch to double
bass. So he built a double bass.
This bass has some issues because it was his first
bass and he was not a bass player at the time.
So, he sold me this bass and a like new $100 plus
TKL hard shell case for $90. Yes, I said $90.
The bass is solid curly maple with a 5 piece maple
and ? neck that is neck through. It has a red hart
24 fret fretboard. It has EMG Select pickups
The biggest issue that it has is a
woopdedoo at the end of the
fretboard.
You can see that the neck is strait
all the way to about the 12th fret,
But the end of the fretboard lifts up
and causes a woopdeedoo,
Woop-de-doo: An Arkie term for it's
screwed up,
I took it to Little Rock Frets and my
friend told me what he would do and
the cost would be $200.
His plan for repairs was the same as
I had already figured out. My plan is
to save me $200.
First, perform de-fret. I have already
accomplished this and here's my defret
and my defret tool. I have the frets
stuck in a box so I can keep track of
them and put them back in the slot
they were removed from,
If there is enough wood left on the
fretboard, I will create a radius for the
fretboard. It's flat. Then I will refret
using the same frets.
The next step was to sand the woopteedoo down
with 60 grit sand paper. I have it most of the way
sanded and will finish in the morning when I can
see better to do the fine adjustments on the neck,
These EMG Select SEHB pickups are for narrow string
widths of 2-1/4" or less. Unfortunately the spacing
on this bass is wider than that resulting in a weak G
string.
I'm gonna have to find some soap bars for this thing.
This is where I stand with this bass this morning,
Tabdog
Tabdog, that's a beautiful piece of wood! Considering what you paid for this bass, I hope you're successful in overcoming your "whoopdedoo" section of the neck, and putting in a wider pickup sounds like the right thing to do... I'm looking forward to more of your posts and pictures, and the final outcome.... this bass appears to be well worth the effort!
Thanks Sixway. Here's where I'm at now.
Well, the refret is out. Once I got the neck
strait, there was not enough left to cut the
fret grooves. So, I have filled in whats left
of the fret grooves and finished sanding the
neck and nut.
Now it is a fretless bass.
I also reversed the tuners around like they are
supposed to be,
It only had 1 volume and 1 tone control,
I didn't like that, so I added another volume.
So now each pickup has a volume control
and there is a overall tone control.
That dinkie cap doesn't do much. I'm going
to change that out,
I'm still going to have to take some scratches
out, fill some holes and finish the fretboard.
Setup is pretty close and I've been playing it
until my fingers are sore. It sounds good.
One good thing is that the weak G string can
now be compensated for with the two volume
controls. That saves me from needing new
pickups.
You know, I've heard folks complain about EMG
passive pickups, but these things sound pretty
darn good to me.
Tabdog
Well, the refret is out. Once I got the neck
strait, there was not enough left to cut the
fret grooves. So, I have filled in whats left
of the fret grooves and finished sanding the
neck and nut.
Now it is a fretless bass.
I also reversed the tuners around like they are
supposed to be,
It only had 1 volume and 1 tone control,
I didn't like that, so I added another volume.
So now each pickup has a volume control
and there is a overall tone control.
That dinkie cap doesn't do much. I'm going
to change that out,
I'm still going to have to take some scratches
out, fill some holes and finish the fretboard.
Setup is pretty close and I've been playing it
until my fingers are sore. It sounds good.
One good thing is that the weak G string can
now be compensated for with the two volume
controls. That saves me from needing new
pickups.
You know, I've heard folks complain about EMG
passive pickups, but these things sound pretty
darn good to me.
Tabdog
Sounds like fretless was the way to go, and VVT is always the standard for passive pickups. Glad to hear you like the EMG's... and it might be because they're passive, but as far as active EMG's go, I've never liked them.
If you get the time, I'm sure I'm not the only one that would enjoy hearing an mp3-or-two from this bass.....
If you get the time, I'm sure I'm not the only one that would enjoy hearing an mp3-or-two from this bass.....
I'll play. Here is my custom Neo RockBass, built by Pennsylvania luthier Rich Roland almost 18 years ago. I believe there were only about 12 of them ever made. It features a translucent acrylic twin fish-shaped body internally illuminated with real neon, a composite neck running the length of the body, EMG active pickups and Gotoh hardware. It has a beautiful tone - full, warm and fat with resonance from the hollow body, with plenty of punch & sparkle from the composite neck, EMGs and active electronics. The neon can be powered by either a battery pack or a 12-volt wall wart. One of these days I really need to take some better pics of it.
AllI can say is Wowwwww.....! That is gorgeous! And if it sounds as good as you say, that is a rare beast! That is "Museum of Fine Art" quality! I've just run out of superlatives!
