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First complete build, a 4-string with personality

G

Getaway Driver

May 31, 2009
488
10
38
Omaha, NE
#1
I built a Carvin kit about six months ago with intention to hot-rod it with all sorts of pickups, bridges, tuners, etc, to see what I liked. Well, a few months, gigs, and much experience with it later, I love it. I don't want to change a darn thing! The problem is, it's just a passive jazz bass. I get some neat sounds out of it, so I don't want to switch any parts out and no longer be able to get those groovy sounds I've gotten used to. The solution? Build another!

I've got a general idea of where I want to go with it, but I have limited experience with different types of basses, pickups, and woods. My electric basses consist of an alder Westone Concorde I and my main bass, the mahogany Carvin I built. The Carvin is a groove master, but I need something with teeth. My aim to build something with a sound similar to the Gibson T-Bird, the Ernie Ball basses, and the Wal basses. This means I'm looking into humbucker pickups, but I'm curious about some of the more aggressive EMG and DiMarzio split-p style pickups. The sound clips I've heard are pretty nice, but so far what's really caught my ear are the EMG P and MM styles. Also, I haven't yet decided on how many pickups. I definitely need one in the bridge position, but I don't know if I should throw two MM's, an MM and a split-P, or if there's a better combo out there?

I'm thinking about either ash or mahogany for the body... Ernie Ball basses use ash, but T-birds and Wal's use mahogany. I know some of you say that the wood used doesn't matter too much, but those basses had been built using those woods for a reason... I'd like to follow suit, even if only for the sake of paying homage.

As far as the body shape goes, since I'm building it from the very beginning, no reason not to use my own shape... I want something with a classical appeal, elegant but aggressive, inspired by the bass's acoustic brethren, the viola, double bass, and violin. I came up with this...
newbassoutline.jpg

I'm not quite sure about the balance. Physically or visually, for that matter. It looks to me like it has a little junk in the trunk. Perhaps I'll angle the bottom/back a little more drastically like a Jazz bass or shrink it a bit to be more symmetrical with the width of the horns. It comes out to be almost exactly the same size as my Carvin, 12-13" wide and 19-20" long, so I know it'll fit in a regular case easily.

I want to finish it in a burst, red in the center and fading to purple at the edges, with a purpleheart fretboard. Perhaps red/purple/black.

So anyway, lets recap...
Body: ash or mahogany, top laminate?
Scale: 34"
Neck: maple/purpleheart, bolt-on
Fingerboard: 24 frets, purpleheart
Pickups: Humbucking, 1 or 2?
Preamp: ?
Hardware: all or mostly Black, bridge (a, b, badass, other?), small y-key tuners

Opinions? Suggestions? I would really like to make this one count, so please, give me all your wisdom!
 
#4
I don't play sitting down too often, and I honestly think I should practice standing up more since I perform standing. I could also shift the bottom cutout more toward the bridge end, the balance of the entire instrument should be more forward and use the curve of the lower horn to rest it on my leg if sitting.
 
#8
MooseLumps said:
Pickup recommendation:
H P H P
let us know how it sounds
Click to expand...

Is that a serious response? I'm not sure if there would be room for four pickups... especially if i'm not using J's.

I'm leaning toward the EMG 35DC's. Claypool uses them and although I know his sound is very much his playing style and not so much his equipment, the subtle growl and clarity of those basses are great.

pilotjones said:
I would simplify the bass side horn. It looks to me like it's made of two different designs grafted together haphazardly.
Click to expand...

I see what you mean... I mocked it up full scale with cardboard and made the upper horn with more subtle curves to match the lower horn. Much more balanced looking. I might also curve the lower horn into the body more, rather than having it form a corner so abruptly. I was thinking that would give more accessibility to the higher frets but the cutaway is only part of that. I can sculpt the heel to make reach better as well.

pilotjones said:
And for comparison, something for you to check out to maybe see elements you like or don't like:
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Click to expand...

That's uh... wow. freaky. I almost feel like a ripoff now. Great minds think alike? I do see some things I don't like about it, though... Hopefully I can make some more subtle changes that set my design apart. That one is veeeery classical in design, I'm going for something more modern... I like the idea of a challenge, though!
 
#9
Well this certainly looks like an interesting build, I like your body design, but like you said about balance I think this would look awesome as a singlecut, and if you don't mind the intrusion I made a little alteration to accomadate this.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I loved the Double bass influence on your design also, it has a modern yet classical influence that I love, and I hope to see this build progress
 
#10
amphlett7 said:
Well this certainly looks like an interesting build, I like your body design, but like you said about balance I think this would look awesome as a singlecut
Click to expand...

Ooh, very nice! I'm torn, though. Singlecuts intrigue me because there aren't any big-time manufacturers that produce singlecut basses other than les paul's. What I've observed, though, is that a lot of small time custom builders go crazy and build only singlecuts and it's become a bit of cliche in my mind. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] has some really neat singlecut-ish designs, where the upper horn still exists but has a lengthy neck joint, like you suggested. I'm leaning toward that direction. Too often singlecuts just have a massive slab of wood hanging out there, and without a knob or killswitch or some kind of ...something... to fill that empty space, it looks awkward to me. Lecompte has that really nice headless 6-er he built for "Lo end PUNCH" that takes advantage of that real estate. Perhaps an inlay of sorts... Maybe put my logo there instead of on the headstock.

I took a trip to the local hardwood store the other day to check out prices and availability. They carry "White Ash". I'm not sure how this varies from the "Swamp Ash" I usually see associated with guitars. Does anybody know how it compares as far as weight and sound? They had a large stock of Honduran Mahogany, but I prefer African Mahogany for it's brighter color. They carried both but the African Mahogany was only in smaller pieces, either not thick or wide enough to be used for a guitar. The Ash they had doesn't usually come any wider than 8" so I'd have to glue together two pieces to make a whole body. Also, it seemed that I could either get 5/4 thick or 8/4 thick, not really anything in between. My Carvin is a 1 5/8" thick, which if I were to match, I'd be planing off a lot of good wood. How thick are most people making their bodies?
 
#12
Alright, just did some tweaking. First, the original...
newbassoutline.jpg


with a few changes made...
newbassbody.jpg


a comparison between the two shapes... the sizing of the two isn't quite accurate, but you can see the difference in the upper horn and the change in balance in the bottom end of it.
bodycomparison.jpg


and the headstock I'm considering. I'm thinking about using sideways tuners like the RIM Custom 5-er over here.
headstock.jpg
 
#15
amphlett7 said:
Well this certainly looks like an interesting build, I like your body design, but like you said about balance I think this would look awesome as a singlecut, and if you don't mind the intrusion I made a little alteration to accomadate this.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I loved the Double bass influence on your design also, it has a modern yet classical influence that I love, and I hope to see this build progress
Click to expand...

cool! that would be a fun one, esp with a carved top
 
#18
Just picked up a 6in, 10ft, 2in thick slab of Ribbon Mahogany. This thing is beautiful. I'll grab some pics later, for now I have to decide whether it'll be the neck or body wings. I've also got a piece of hard maple I can use for the neck, maybe that's the route I should go?
 

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