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Everything is intreaguing beautiful - except the winding tuners. Bad...(acc to me, that is)
Everything is intreaguing beautiful - except the winding tuners. Bad...(acc to me, that is)
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Dear lord, what have I done?
- Thread starter Sardine
- Start date
They are also very poorly placed, as they will surely spin when you put the bass down against a wall (which nobody is supposed to do but everybody does).
Sardine, it's your first bass, you'll learn what works, what does not.
Look at the Steinberger stick basses (or Hohner copy). The tuners are very specific tuners and the bass can be placed upward against a wall without touching the ground.
Example:
http://www.allparts.com/store/headless-system-black,Product.asp
Sardine, it's your first bass, you'll learn what works, what does not.
Look at the Steinberger stick basses (or Hohner copy). The tuners are very specific tuners and the bass can be placed upward against a wall without touching the ground.
Example:
http://www.allparts.com/store/headless-system-black,Product.asp
nice job, especially if you are using mostly hand tools
BTW I was in Maine last summer and loved it!
BTW I was in Maine last summer and loved it!
Hi Rob,
Welcome to our little corner of the world. Congrats on taking the jump to building your own bass guitar. Personally, I have built a number of guitars and 1 bass (thus far). You can see my building projects to date, HERE.
Taking pix of the build is a great idea, as you will learn from going back & looking at the pix and asking yourself "What was I thinking?"
One thing I would suggest is to study other bass guitars, and ask yourself "why did they do it that way?" For instance, the lack of a truss rod will likely lead to problems down the road, as the neck will likely bow. Notice that I did not say "definitely". You might have hit the right combination of wood & other materials, that nobody else has thought of.
One lesson I learned is that "those guys", Leo Fender and the folks at Gibson, and others, learned a lot of hard lessons when designing and building their first guitars. They were a lot smarter than I originally gave them credit for.
A good resource you might want to check out is projectguitar.com There a people there with lots of experience who will be happy to help.
And if I can be of any help, drop me a line, fellow builder to builder.
Take care,
edg
Welcome to our little corner of the world. Congrats on taking the jump to building your own bass guitar. Personally, I have built a number of guitars and 1 bass (thus far). You can see my building projects to date, HERE.
Taking pix of the build is a great idea, as you will learn from going back & looking at the pix and asking yourself "What was I thinking?"
One thing I would suggest is to study other bass guitars, and ask yourself "why did they do it that way?" For instance, the lack of a truss rod will likely lead to problems down the road, as the neck will likely bow. Notice that I did not say "definitely". You might have hit the right combination of wood & other materials, that nobody else has thought of.
One lesson I learned is that "those guys", Leo Fender and the folks at Gibson, and others, learned a lot of hard lessons when designing and building their first guitars. They were a lot smarter than I originally gave them credit for.
A good resource you might want to check out is projectguitar.com There a people there with lots of experience who will be happy to help.
And if I can be of any help, drop me a line, fellow builder to builder.
Take care,
edg
That's a very interesting design and I, like there rest here, am interested in seeing how it comes out.
So far so good! I LOVE the simplicity even if I am not necessarily a fan of headless, minimal body basses. I think your approach shows a keen sense of utility and economy.
I am curious how it will balance. since it's got no headstock and no add'l weight from the hardware that usually goes into causing the neck to dive it could balance really nicely!
Welcome and keep it up!
So far so good! I LOVE the simplicity even if I am not necessarily a fan of headless, minimal body basses. I think your approach shows a keen sense of utility and economy.
I am curious how it will balance. since it's got no headstock and no add'l weight from the hardware that usually goes into causing the neck to dive it could balance really nicely!
Welcome and keep it up!
Yeah, those floating basses are the Hot Lash, man..........
Yeah I don't even know what I was typing, maybe I meant the tuners are not fit for a headless, I should have kept it at that.
That was the idea.
Sorry, English not my primary language.
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,007
- 1
- 31,705
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Very cool - neat shape! Though it's going to be hard to put it on a stand...
With those guitar tuners and short scale, you'll have to be careful when it comes time to order strings for it. You'll need to look for short scale strings with tapered ends; otherwise the E string may not fit through the hole in the guitar tuner. This is why bass tuners have slots instead of holes.
Yeah, skip the tone control. A good bassist can control tone by adjusting the right-hand position anyway.
Is that tin foil in the pickup cavity? I don't think that will work too well for shielding, though it's better than nothing. At some point down the road you may want to invest in a roll of copper shielding tape (from Stew-Mac or others) - I bought a roll years ago and still am using it.
What finish will you use on the teak?
With those guitar tuners and short scale, you'll have to be careful when it comes time to order strings for it. You'll need to look for short scale strings with tapered ends; otherwise the E string may not fit through the hole in the guitar tuner. This is why bass tuners have slots instead of holes.
Yeah, skip the tone control. A good bassist can control tone by adjusting the right-hand position anyway.
Is that tin foil in the pickup cavity? I don't think that will work too well for shielding, though it's better than nothing. At some point down the road you may want to invest in a roll of copper shielding tape (from Stew-Mac or others) - I bought a roll years ago and still am using it.
What finish will you use on the teak?
I was just ribbing you. I just read it and it gave me a mental image, so I had to comment.
Update: tuner pocket finished, bridge in place, and I have strung it up with some old fly line to get an idea of how it will look. I have not made the nut yet, so the string spacing is a bit off.
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Now, to answer some questions. The tuners look like guitar tuners because they are. This idea was pilfered from the Kramer Duke bass, which used a similar combination of hardware. I have already checked them with strings, the holes are just big enough. I used this method rather than Steinberger style headless hardware because that hardware costs more than all the materials in this bass put together!
The shape does not lend itself to being put on a stand, or if fact being propped up in any way, which may be a problem. When you try to lean it against a wall, the point of the body and the end of the neck are the only parts that touch the wall or floor, so the tuners don't get knocked around, but it has a tendancy to fall over.
The pickup cavity is lined with aluminum foil, but it is more to hide the chisel marks than to provide insulation.
The finish I plan on using is Rockler Wundercote, a wipe on, waterbased varnish. I like the look of oil finishes a lot more, but this should be more durable.
The rifle-esque shape is a coincidence, is was just going for something slim and slightly tapered so as not to look boxy. I do like the paddle reference though, maybe I'll call it The Paddle.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Now, to answer some questions. The tuners look like guitar tuners because they are. This idea was pilfered from the Kramer Duke bass, which used a similar combination of hardware. I have already checked them with strings, the holes are just big enough. I used this method rather than Steinberger style headless hardware because that hardware costs more than all the materials in this bass put together!
The shape does not lend itself to being put on a stand, or if fact being propped up in any way, which may be a problem. When you try to lean it against a wall, the point of the body and the end of the neck are the only parts that touch the wall or floor, so the tuners don't get knocked around, but it has a tendancy to fall over.
The pickup cavity is lined with aluminum foil, but it is more to hide the chisel marks than to provide insulation.
The finish I plan on using is Rockler Wundercote, a wipe on, waterbased varnish. I like the look of oil finishes a lot more, but this should be more durable.
The rifle-esque shape is a coincidence, is was just going for something slim and slightly tapered so as not to look boxy. I do like the paddle reference though, maybe I'll call it The Paddle.
Hi.
Looking good. One detail that did caught my eye is the string anchoring.
You do plan to use some ferrules or a plate to distribute the force more evenly?
If the ball end of the string just sits in a wooden cavity, the sideways forces will more than likely split the wood along the grain. A level end ferrule or an anchoring plate will prevent that from happening.
Your design bears some recemblence to mine from a few decades ago, so I'll use this opportunity to post a pic once again. Hope You don't mind.
Regards
Sam
Looking good. One detail that did caught my eye is the string anchoring.
You do plan to use some ferrules or a plate to distribute the force more evenly?
If the ball end of the string just sits in a wooden cavity, the sideways forces will more than likely split the wood along the grain. A level end ferrule or an anchoring plate will prevent that from happening.
Your design bears some recemblence to mine from a few decades ago, so I'll use this opportunity to post a pic once again
. Hope You don't mind.Regards
Sam
Hi.
Looking good. One detail that did caught my eye is the string anchoring.
You do plan to use some ferrules or a plate to distribute the force more evenly?
If the ball end of the string just sits in a wooden cavity, the sideways forces will more than likely split the wood along the grain. A level end ferrule or an anchoring plate will prevent that from happening.
Your design bears some recemblence to mine from a few decades ago, so I'll use this opportunity to post a pic once again
Regards
Sam
that look is also cool.
have a link to others ?
Dude, loving the yellow strings... only thing that really caught my attention was intonating it. That could get a little hairy, but otherwise it looks AWESOME!
Yeah I think the same too. That will be a bit of a nightmare to setup. And the strings go through the holes at the back of the bridge? I guess they will rub and as you put tension, that could wreck the winding.
Just my 2 cents here.
