Don't laugh... it's my first attempt!

[PiquetBass]

Looks like it is pretty nice to me. As a builder and refinisher, I will say that ash is one of the toughest woods to do a painted finish on. There are 2 ways that I've used to get a smooth painted finish on ash. One way is to use a filler to fill the grain. After trying many of them, I found that a skim coat of automotive body filler to be the best and easiest followed by sanding and a few coats of primer. The second is to heavily prime it with a catalyzed polyester primer and sand smooth. Both ways work great, but I prefer the first. Either way, you did a nice job for your first build.

Thanks. And you're right about painting the grain in the ash. I actually thought about the first option you mentioned once I'd got the primer coat on, but then decided to see what it looked like with the first coat of paint. While it's not smooth, i went with the "let the grain relief show a bit" approach... it's wood, after all.
I like that you can see it's a proper bit of wood, but it's also the colour i wanted it to be.
One of those "things I'd do differently" on the next build list.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

As you'll soon find out (or already know), finishing is harder than the woodworking, at least for me, and it's a total rabbit hole in itself. I've been experimenting with using Zpoxy Finishing Resin as a grain filler for painted or varnished wood, seems to work pretty well, it doesn't shrink back like most of the water based grain fillers. You can use pretty much any epoxy as along as it's thin viscosity. That's the only way to get a perfectly smooth finish on open grain woods like ash, but I did one bass years ago like yours, with an ebonized open-grain finish over ash, came out pretty cool. Unless you want to get Medieval on it, you can get really good results with rattlecans, tons of good tutorials on YT, particularly the ones by Brad Angove. There's also a Rattlecan Finish Club on TB with lots of good advice. I'm on bass build #5, way past "needing" any more basses but I...have...to... build. It's playable art, what's more satisfying than that?

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

Kudos! I've been working on basses since I was 13. Built some from parts, one from a kit, more mods than I recall, but SCRATCH?!?! NO WAY! I think you should call it Frank The Bunny (from Donnie Darko) and play it with pride! One question: why are the tunes upside down?

BBB

 

[PiquetBass]

One question: why are the tunes upside down?

BBB

I tried both ways - i felt that upside down (viewed from the back) looks better when viewed from the front. A more balanced headstock. As that's the way most people will see it!

 

[MynameisMe]

Cool!

 

[Topkat13]

Nothing like a nice piece of ash!

 

[Bonkersville]

I like the simple, almost minimalistic approach. Which is smart on a first instrument. The shape has a nice unique cartoonish wibe to it. And it looks like it can really work as an instrument. So I say well done.

 

[porkynuggets]

Good work! Anyone laughing has no idea how to build a bass, I'm sure. I feel like a little pride is appropriate here, indulge.

 

[ddm0502]

Looks better than my first attempt. Good work.

 

[SoonerBill]

I think it looks great. Give me steel and I can build about anything. I truly envy and admire people that can make things with wood.

 

[TeaTime]

Nicely done. I think you made the right call on doing the tuners backwards. Given the shape and size of the headstock, everything would have looked off had you kept them normal.

 

[scuzzy]

you've done something a small % of humans have ever done. no laughs will be coming from me. great job!

 

[LowActionHero]

That shape has a race car look to it!
Nice work!

 

[PiquetBass]

After lots of practice, this has swiftly become my favourite. I had no idea that fretless could be so much fun.

Here it is in action, at a local outdoor gig a couple of weeks ago - subbing for the regular bassist while he's on holiday.

 

[SomewhatHarmles]

Sounds pretty good. Anyways, you should be proud of your work!

 

[kesslari]

Looks great! Congrats on your first build!!

 

[Dark Horse]

Dude…. AWESOME work ….for your first try especially !!!

Doubtful anyone here would laugh, we all started somewhere. And most of our “starts” were not nearly as good as yours !

Hang around, read, ask questions, and build some more ! You’ll find that there’s a core group of people here in the Luthiers Corner that are super helpful and encouraging…. And happy to share tips and tricks that in some cases took decades to learn and develop.

Again, really great job , Play it with pride !