I have this cherry Status S3000 body and pickups. I need a fretless bass so I thought about using this body as a base.
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Fretless HalfStatus
- Thread starter MPU
- Start date
I have this cherry Status S3000 body and pickups. I need a fretless bass so I thought about using this body as a base.
I don’t have a spare Status bridge so I use single string bridges instead. I need to fill the cavities left from original tuners and bridge.
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I routed a wedge shaped cavity from end of the body to the pickup cavity. I made a filler piece of cherry.
I used thickened epoxy to glue the filler piece. Tomorrow we’ll see how well the fill matches the top.
As for neck I’m tempted to try maple skin/carbon fiber/lightweight mahogany core with Richlite fretboard. More to come…
Nice work though it's a shame to have to alter the original body in such a way. I love the old Status body shapes (yes, the newer ones are almost identical to the old). I know Rob still has some of those old bridges but it seems he doesn't sell them (though I would have been inclined to ask).
I made a new body for my Status and this one was left over. I hate to throw it away. I rather modify and use the body. Status has used individual bridges so this is not so far from the real deal. I could make a carbon fiber neck but I don't want anyone to think this bass as Status, hence a hybrid cf/wood neck.
After some routing, sanding and oiling the filler piece looks ok. Not invisible but passable.
I glued the neck beams with epoxy. I made the maple skin part with wedge shape center beam. Planing to thickness tomorrow evening. Then it’s time for some drawing and planning before making more sawdust and chips.
Tonight I routed the u-shaped slot for the mahogany core. I used a collar and 20mm round bit. The bottom of the slot was routed with a straight bottom bit and bigger collar. Status neck profile is shallow U so an U shaped slot works fine. I’m aiming for 2-3mm maple shell thickness.
Then I made the insert. The slot is 12 mm deep , insert will be something like 10-10,5mm deep with 1,5-2mm of carbon between maple and mahogany. I glued the insert with multiple layers of cf cloth and clamped the pieces together. I didn’t take any pics of the laminating or clamping because it’s messy and I had to work fast as there was only about 20 minutes working time.
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@RichterScale nailed it. Awesome.
@MPU you must be a favoured teacher where you work.
@MPU you must be a favoured teacher where you work.
- Apr 18, 2008
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- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
@RichterScale nailed it. Awesome.
@MPU you must be a favoured teacher where you work.
Based on the feedback from colleagues, kid's parents and kids themselves it seems that I'm quite liked. It' so much nicer to to do my work with good relationships than with being an a$$****.
After some cutting of excess cf, planing and sanding I have one neck blank ready for routing truss rod slot plus one dull hand plane. One touch of cf laminate dulls the blade very efficiently.
I was bored laying on the sofa so I went to the garage and routed the truss rod slot. I waxed the rod and kind of bedded in the slot with epoxy. Fingerboard slotting next. I’m not sure if I slot it like fretted or only on the side. I haven’t played a fretless before and it might be easier if I had fret lines. But the looks is not as nice as unlined. What do you fretless players say?
I sometimes play fretless, far from exclusively, but I like the looks of a small line just on the bass side of the board and maybe a longer line or short lines on both sides at the 12th and, if present, 24th positions. I don’t remember who I first saw do that on here but I immediately stole the idea on the next bass I defretted. 
Can you talk about bedding the truss rod in epoxy? I've not done that before, but considered it based on the improved tone of a compression/tension rod. I've presumed encasing everything is what makes a c/t rod sound better and wondered about how this could potentially be adapted to a regular double acting double rod.
My defretted bass has sawdust & epoxy filling the slots, so they're noticeable to me while I play but not when I look at the bass in its stand. I'm happy with this arrangement, because I like lines (particularly when I play above 8th stop or so; I can keep intonation reasonably well without looking at the lower reaches), but they stay subtle enough to not break up the appearance of a clean fingerboard. So my answer is to have visible side dots and maybe a very slightly contrasting wood on the board. It might seem like a lot of work for not much result, but it's more useful than it seems, and possibly less work than short (<1cm) lines only at the top of the fretboard.
That turned out amazing. Nice work!
I had never owned or played a fretless until I built one a while back:
First neck build: Canarywood and Curly Maple fretless
I decided not to use any markers: if I was going to learn to play a fretless I was going to do it using my ears and muscle memory rather than my eyes.
It was a bit of a learning curve for sure, but it is certainly possible. If you can play a fretted bass in the dark then you are a good part of the way there.
However, I have also found that my brain has subconsciously learned some of the finger positions based on the grain patterns in the canarywood. Gaah!
I have looked at the fingerboard while playing for my whole life and it is a hard habit to break.
Well my thinking is that the less loose parts there is in the neck the better. Bedding makes a very tight fit and eliminates all possible rattles or resonating parts in the neck. I've done it before and I think it works. Just make sure that everything that needs to move is still moving after the epoxy is cured. Waxing the rod and greasing the threads to prevent epoxy sticking to threads is essential.
Yes, I'll back that up completely. I've been bedding (encapsulating) my truss rods in epoxy for many years, and I can tell you it distinctly improves the sound of the bass overall. Clarity of the deep lows. It also reduces dead spots, eliminates internal rattles and helps with stability.
This is some really interesting neck construction here, Marko. You are on to something good. I wonder if you may be able to make necks like this, with no truss rods? They may be stable enough, and you may be able to tune the stiffness right where you want it. Some real potential.
