Greetings, bass enthusiasts. My name is Elias and I'm a songwriter and guitar hack.
And I'm a hopeless gearhead in everything I do. Lol. It all started innocently enough, upgrading a set of tuners, I think was my first fix. It's been steadily downhill from there. Before I knew it, I was making guitars. It's a sickness, I admit, but it's healthier than chasing skirts and spending money at bars.
My brother, affectionately known as Foo, has been watching my progress as a guitar builder and was sufficiently impressed that he's asked me to build him a bass. He plays bass. I don't think I mentioned that.
Anyway, his #1 since forever ago is his 73 Jazz sunburst. We recently put a new neck and pickups on that one. He also has a 2008 (?) MIJ Jaguar bass.
He plays mostly rock n roll and blues of about any variety except maybe serious metal.
Now, despite the fact that he likes his Fender bass guitars, he is also a fan of Gibson 6 strings. He has an old Marauder he picked up somewhere that he keeps around. He's always wanted to like Gibson bass guitars but always found himself unimpressed.
Then, he saw the Epi Jack Casady bass and thought maybe there was a low cost way of getting something Gibson-like.
He liked the guitar mostly. He didn't like the electronics, he hated the poly finish (it's a true "dipped in plastic" beauty) and thought it felt cheap...which, it is, so...
Besides, he wants a 5 string anyway. That's where I come in and we came up with what is a solid design, I think. I thought I'd share it with you guys. The six string guys yawn when you start building a bass. Lol.
Ok, our inspiration.
Now, my "shop" is a workbench in my garage. I have some tools but unfortunately, have nowhere to set them up right now so I end up using a lot of hand tools in my builds. They're quieter, anyway.
But mostly, I have no way of building a laminated top or bent wood sides and that's not exactly what we want anyway. So, we went to work modifying the design.
We took some cues from a hollowbody I made for myself which uses the same basic construction as a Gibson Midtown bass. Like this.
And I'm a hopeless gearhead in everything I do. Lol. It all started innocently enough, upgrading a set of tuners, I think was my first fix. It's been steadily downhill from there. Before I knew it, I was making guitars. It's a sickness, I admit, but it's healthier than chasing skirts and spending money at bars.
My brother, affectionately known as Foo, has been watching my progress as a guitar builder and was sufficiently impressed that he's asked me to build him a bass. He plays bass. I don't think I mentioned that.
Anyway, his #1 since forever ago is his 73 Jazz sunburst. We recently put a new neck and pickups on that one. He also has a 2008 (?) MIJ Jaguar bass.
He plays mostly rock n roll and blues of about any variety except maybe serious metal.
Now, despite the fact that he likes his Fender bass guitars, he is also a fan of Gibson 6 strings. He has an old Marauder he picked up somewhere that he keeps around. He's always wanted to like Gibson bass guitars but always found himself unimpressed.
Then, he saw the Epi Jack Casady bass and thought maybe there was a low cost way of getting something Gibson-like.
He liked the guitar mostly. He didn't like the electronics, he hated the poly finish (it's a true "dipped in plastic" beauty) and thought it felt cheap...which, it is, so...
Besides, he wants a 5 string anyway. That's where I come in and we came up with what is a solid design, I think. I thought I'd share it with you guys. The six string guys yawn when you start building a bass. Lol.
Ok, our inspiration.
Now, my "shop" is a workbench in my garage. I have some tools but unfortunately, have nowhere to set them up right now so I end up using a lot of hand tools in my builds. They're quieter, anyway.
But mostly, I have no way of building a laminated top or bent wood sides and that's not exactly what we want anyway. So, we went to work modifying the design.
We took some cues from a hollowbody I made for myself which uses the same basic construction as a Gibson Midtown bass. Like this.
