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First Bass

Drake Kennedy

Drake Kennedy

Jun 6, 2003
1,775
3
35
Atlanta, GA
#1
Hello all,


I plan on starting my first bass at somepoint later this year, and wanted to introduce myself to the Luthier's Corner, as well as ask a few questions.

I'm sortof 'diving in head first' with this project. The reason for this is I want a bass that I am proud of, and a bass that I can actually play, and play out.

My plans are a neck through 6 string.
Coincindentally, it has almost the same woods and configuration as Adam Nitti's Warrior 6: 3 piece Wenge/Flamed Maple/wenge neck, ebony fretboard, (possibly) wenge top, and a mahogany or butternut body. I'm considering doing a thin purpleheart veneer between the top and body. I want to chamber the body, but not with an F hole.
Thinking about MOP or abalone dots on the face and a matching headstock logo.
I'm not sure about the bridge, but I'm looking at Hipshot 'A' style, and Kahler non-trem bridges.
Gotoh tuners, but not the regular kind. These have been kind of a pain. I love the look of the ones on my Ibanez BTB, but these are almost impossible to find stateside. If not, I'll just get the regular Gotoh lite or regular series.
2 spoke truss rods and 3 carbon fiber reinforcements
Stainless steel frets.
Benavente pickups, and either a Winters or Benavente EQ. Neutrik jack, angled back and partially countersunk (hard to describe, I've seen it before, it makes it so you can't see the red part, but it's easier to release the cable).
Probably gold hardware.
Graphite nut.
Oil finish.

Now, all that said, these are just plans. The only thing really solid is the neck through 6 string part. Hopefully I'll be able to get some (read: a lot) of help from local woodworkers, and maybe even a local luthier (eh, Hambone? :p ), but I want to do the majority of it myself. I've never had experience with machinery, power tools, or woodworking at all, by the way.

Now the questions:

How much do wenge tops usually go for?
Not sure if this is the appropriate forum, but I'm not really sure enought to email a wood dealer yet.
Is chambering too much for a beginner? As I said earlier I'll have help with wood working machines, and possibly from a luthier.
Any suggestions on the parts I've said I was unsure about (body, top wood, bridge, hardware)?

Thanks to everyone,

Peace,
Drake


I'll get a template sketch of the body shape I want to use. It's been edited and polished over the course of a few months.
 
#3
Drake Kennedy said:
Invalid Link Removed

Forgive the doodles :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
seems like youve got this well planned, one thing i would say is that your design looks very like an Ibanez BTB, why not go all out and design something totally different and unique? Just a thought.
Basically you should just read all the posts on this forum and also the M.I.M.F youll be amazed at how much info there is available.
Good luck and i hope you have a pile of success!
 
#4
Everything does seem well thought out. As for the wenge top, do it! I wish to build a wenge topped bass at some point, and I can't get over how beautiful the grain and color are. I'm not positive on the price, but here (Indiana) wenge goes for about $15 a board foot. Of course, most instrument tops seem to have standardized prices that don't always reflect board footage. I would also definately go with the purpleheart transition line on the body. I used purpleheart on the body of my bass under the neckthrough (which is wenge), and it is a really cool contrast.

On the bass I just finished (first as well), I used Hipshot Ultralite tuners and an ETS bridge. I would definately recommend both. The bridge is one of the nicest I've ever encountered, and it was cheaper than most hipshots (including custom engraving and shipping from Germany).

I doubt you would have any trouble chambering at all. Just make a few templates from mdf, hog out most of the material with a forstner bit, and clean up with the router and a template bit. No one's gonna see under there anyways :).

Overall, building my first bass certainly wasn't as hard as I had imagined at first. I also had little (read: zero) woodworking experience. Each time I used a new tool or technique it was the first time, and it was definately a great learning experience. I would advise you, though, that if you are using wenge in your neck, you may not want to use three carbon fiber rods. I built a 4 with 1 truss and 2 CF rods. My neck is so stiff that the truss rod will not move it without overtightening. In my case, that's fine, as I have the ammount of relief that I want in the neck, and I certainly don't foresee (sp?) it moving. Just a thought.

I do really like that design as well. Do I sense a bit of Ritter influence? You may want to rethink the headstock, though. I believe that is the shape of Staumbaugh's headstock.
 
#5
I think the design looks very nice. It's a very tiny body, reminiscent of a Ritter, but the only thing I've seen that's that small with active electronics is a BassLab, which is a 100% hollow shell, and so has room inside. I think even a Curbow Petite is a bit larger. It looks like your knobs are drawn very small, with too little space around them for the actual pots that are inside the cavity (which only has room to be very tiny- no room for preamp and battery(ies).)
 
#6
It actually looks about the size of mine. I had trouble fitting my active Bart pre with 5 pots to the cavity (especially as it was 2 pieces), but it fit, just tightly. I also located the battery in the center of the body with a battery box that had wires going to the main cavity.
 
#7
Hey Drake, welcome to the brotherhood.

I second the notion on wenge AND 2 truss rods AND 3 CF rods, that seems overkill to me, although the CF would relieve some of the weight of the wenge.

Dual truss rods can also be a recipe for neck twist unless you're really careful. For a 6 I'd go with 1 truss and 2 CF, unless your spacing at the nut is really wide.

And with wenge, plan on replacing (or sharpening) your tools after you're done. :hmm:
 
#8
Hey everyone, thanks for all the info.

I saw everyone saying wenge for the neck and I was like ***** because I never planned on using wenge in the neck. I then looked back at my original post. :rollno:
I'll edit it back up there, but I meant to say I'm using a FLAMED MAPLE/Purple heart/ flamed maple neck. Like Adam Nitti's beauty.

About the bridge - Is ETS really cheaper to get custom made and sent all the way from Germany than a Hipshot made here? The reason I stayed away from them was for the price, I love their work. I originally wanted a 2 pc. MkIII bridge, but decided to go with a one piece in the end, thus my Hipshot choice.

On the body shape - I reshaped the lower horn to be a bit smoother. I had originally drawn that body to be a cross between a BTB and a Gecko, but have changed it so much I thought the influence was gone. Guess not :rolleyes: I want to do a dovetail battery box thing, like on David King basses. I'd put the batteries on the other side of the bridge from the controls, and just wire them through underneath the pickups. I know the headstock isn't final, that was just a doodle to see something that size. The controls are too close together, and I've changed those a bit farther apart as well. The main concern was the body shape.


Another question about ETS - are their bridges totally custom made? Could one get a custom shaped tailpiece for a 2 piece bridge?

Does anyone have any tips for enlarging this design onto posterboard? I have rulers and such, and even got the expensive graph board, but I can't see where to start.

THANKS
Drake
 
#9
Drake Kennedy said:
On the body shape - I reshaped the lower horn to be a bit smoother. I had originally drawn that body to be a cross between a BTB and a Gecko, but have changed it so much I thought the influence was gone. Guess not :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Don't get discouraged! Everything I've seen that looks good looks like something else to some extent.
I want to do a dovetail battery box thing, like on David King basses.
Click to expand...
Very cool.
Another question about ETS - are their bridges totally custom made? Could one get a custom shaped tailpiece for a 2 piece bridge?
Click to expand...
I think members Luke Sheridan, Geoff St. Germaine, JP, and I maybeTom Clement could shed some light on this. Not to mention Jerzy Drozd and Marleaux and maybe BassLab.
 
#12
Be careful about "flame maple", you want eastern rock maple (Acer saccharum) and not western big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). Both can be flamed, but only eastern rock is suitable for a bass neck IMO. Especially a 6.

And don't discount the idea of wenge lams. I personally like to use really stiff woods instead of CF.
 
#13
The real reason I'm not going with wenge for a neck is cost. I've heard that even flamed (eastern rock) maple is cheaper than an equal amount of wenge for a neck.

Also, do you think that the maple/purpleheart/maple 3 piece neck would be strong enough for a non-scarf angled headstock? I could always add to the sides and back if it wasn't quite thick enough, right?

Peace
Drake
 
#14
Be very particular of what maple you get for the neck! All mapel specis come flamed, but some are strong, most are not. Acer saccharum, and possibly A. nigrum will do the trick. The rest won't.

Like your design. Curbow meets Ritter, and Tobias gets his head screwed 180 degrees. Makes up for a nice total.

Chambering is not difficult. Dovetail battery box is...
Two ways of chambering: route out a chamber in the body bulk and put a lid (top) on it; saw out the chambers in the body bulk and attach both back and top. Both ways are fine and widely used.

PM Sheridan re. ETS, he's got some customized. They do make "shelfware", too, at decent prices even in the US.

Finally: good luck!
 
#15
erikbojerik said:
Be careful about "flame maple", you want eastern rock maple (Acer saccharum) and not western big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). Both can be flamed, but only eastern rock is suitable for a bass neck IMO. Especially a 6.

And don't discount the idea of wenge lams. I personally like to use really stiff woods instead of CF.
Click to expand...

One correction Erik, any "Rock Maple" be it eastern, or western will be quite acceptable, but you are quite correct on not using "Big Leaf", as the grain will seperate on almost any neck, be it bass or guitar.

Great point about stiffer woods as opposed to carbon fiber. I like to use Jatoba, purpleheart, wenge, or bloodwood in 3 piece necks although I rarely make them. Most of my necks are 5 or 7 piece, and thus rarely need much more than the maple and walnut I usually use. I am experimenting on a neck with Macacauba right now, as it is slightly harder than maple, and an interlocked grain.
 

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