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Gene Simmons Spector Copy Build

bassgod76

bassgod76

Garbage bassist, but I love this goofy instrument
Mar 13, 2003
5,329
1,133
South Florida
#1
I'm currently in a Kiss tribute band. Most guys in my scene are playing Punishers & Axes. I've owned both, and never cared for those basses.

I recently built a LoBue copy, and I'm building two more as I type.
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However, Gene wasn't using his famous LoBue during the later years, which my band dresses as.

Gene was using his Spectors, so I wanted to add a Spector copy to my stable.
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I was thinking about buying a Carvin through neck blank, and build one form scratch, but I'm trying to make this an economical build.

My guitarist built this Punisher copy for his old bass player.

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It was an old Aria Pro.

Being that every Aria I've ever encountered was built with superb quality, I had this crazy idea; what if I majorly altered this bass, and made it look like Gene's Spector??

My guitarist gave me his blessing, so here we go!

First, was tear down.
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Time to unscrew the neck.

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I have to say that this neck pocket was very tight, and the heel sits well in the pocket. It has a joint like a set neck. Very nice.

The washer shins are from a previous owner, I assume...

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Not sure how this bridge was bent. Whoever owned this is a moron. I'm planning to use a Fender style bridge, since I need it to fit under a bridge cover.

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It seems that this body has some nice wood. Maybe a maple core with mahogany wings??

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This is my 1:1 scan of the Simmons Soector bass. My body and headstock routing template will come from this.

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Laying my Aria body over the scan, the only area where I may have to add wood, is the upper horn. I'm not jazzed about this, but this is my remedy.

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I would cut off the corner of the horn, and glue in this piece.
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This is my idea. If you have a better one, I'm all ears.

Also, the neck had a decent amount of relief. Not the end of the world, but I was told to loosen the trus rod, brace it straight for a bit, then tighten the trus rod while braced. We will see...
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A note on accuracy:
I realize that the real Spector SB-1 Gene used was neck thru and 24 frets. However, in a KISS gig, instruments are almost like props. It's jus not a gig where you are playing your nice pre CBS Fender with.

I think this will be a cool
And different project. Stay tuned!!!
 
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#2
This looks like fun! I'm gonna do the same but with an ibanez soundgear gio series bass. Got the idea when i was fixing my friend's (pictured body below, as you can see, it had been butchered by a "professional" at our local music store). It feels great to play, real fast & slim neck, so i traced the body & drew gene's spector shape bottom left template of the four.
 

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#3
ThaCoast said:
This looks like fun! I'm gonna do the same but with an ibanez soundgear gio series bass. Got the idea when i was fixing my friend's (pictured body below, as you can see, it had been butchered by a "professional" at our local music store). It feels great to play, real fast & slim neck, so i traced the body & drew gene's spector shape bottom left template of the four.
Click to expand...
Feel free to post your updates on my thread.
 
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#10
Thinking about my upper horn removal, instead of making two cuts, and having issues with the table saw blade running over, I decided that one angular cut may be a better idea.

My original concept on top.
My revised idea, below.
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#13
ThaCoast said:
Somehow in my mind, the two cut upper horn build seems to work better than the angular horn build. But that's really just me since i see the need for a longer/wider piece of wood on the angular cut to create the whole new horn rather than a small block in the two cut.

Left to be seen.
Click to expand...

The problem with that notched cut is that I'd have to use a band saw, and the cuts would most likely not be straight, like a table or chop saw produce.

If I did notch with a table or chop saw, the blade would most likely overshoot the cut area.
 
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#15
Last night, I decided to use some Kleen strip to get rid of the horrid paint job.

I also cut one of my scans out to see how it stacks up against the body.

Once I get my horn cut and glued, I will start working on my MDf routing template.
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Also, one of my buddies passed to me the pics of the new "Official" Gene Simmons Spector reissues.

They are cool, but what happened to the headstock. That's a lot of dough to spend on something that doesn't look like the real deal.
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#17
bassgod76 said:
Last night, I decided to use some Kleen strip to get rid of the horrid paint job.

I also cut one of my scans out to see how it stacks up against the body.

Once I get my horn cut and glued, I will start working on my MDf routing template.View attachment 766215

Also, one of my buddies passed to me the pics of the new "Official" Gene Simmons Spector reissues.

They are cool, but what happened to the headstock. That's a lot of dough to spend on something that doesn't look like the real deal.View attachment 766218View attachment 766219 View attachment 766220
Click to expand...
It looks like Gene later customized these basses with his own homemade headstock logo?
 
#20
fretter said:
It looks like Gene later customized these basses with his own homemade headstock logo?
Click to expand...

Yes. In 79-80 time frame, Steve Carr removed the Spector logo, and replaced it with the Gene logo. Also, the bass was painted all black.

While not historically not accurate, I'm going to paint mine with the white binding and Gene logo, via wet transfer decal.
 
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