The person who made it got all the way through the build and realized they forgot the truss rod, so they stripped it for parts and threw the body in the trash.
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Help Identifying Mystery Bass Found in the Trash
- Thread starter ForlornedBass
- Start date
The person who made it got all the way through the build and realized they forgot the truss rod, so they stripped it for parts and threw the body in the trash.
It's probably cursed. Lotta people think they can avoid hexes by throwing the thing in the trash.
Lack of a truss rod was what made sense to me as to why it is abandoned. If you can make the string height work, you might be able to make it playable, but that would rely entirely on bridge adjustments and maybe shimming it up or setting the bridge deeper in the body.
It already had tuners installed and whatever those were had mounting screws that were offset inboard. The screw holes don't line up across the peg going through the headstock.
Without a picture of the whole back of the neck, I am failing to understand how the different laminated wood pieces in the middle transition to what looks to be on solid piece at the top. Is the headstock also laminated, 90 degrees to neck?
Beautiful wood used in making it! I do woodworking, not on the guitar-making level, though. I would personally have to force myself to see if I could do more to complete this if I found it.
It already had tuners installed and whatever those were had mounting screws that were offset inboard. The screw holes don't line up across the peg going through the headstock.
Without a picture of the whole back of the neck, I am failing to understand how the different laminated wood pieces in the middle transition to what looks to be on solid piece at the top. Is the headstock also laminated, 90 degrees to neck?
Beautiful wood used in making it! I do woodworking, not on the guitar-making level, though. I would personally have to force myself to see if I could do more to complete this if I found it.
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That was my thought too. But could be a great project bass, even if just using the body for a bolt on bass.
Obviously home made. My guess is someone set out to make a coffe table bass without really thinking things through, then getting disappointed with the result, stripping the parts to sell or use for something else. If the neck indeed lacks a trussrod and there's any issue with it, I agree it would make the most sense to just cut it off and route the body for a bolt-on neck. You could repurpose the nice neck wood for something else, custom knobs perhaps!
While I hope it turns out to be a great find for you, a lot of work went into that and if someone is throwing it away, I would think there's a good reason. (I see no evidence that it has any adjustable truss rod.) Having said that, I agree with the idea that there's still plenty there to salvage.
Could be a basement build by an unknown? Whatever the case, it looks cool so get it running and play that Bad Boy!!!
If it turns out to be unplayable, then why not throw some hardware on it and turn it into a piece of wall art or something useful? As a minimum those exotic hardwoods can be reused for something else.
To me it looks like it was made using zebra, teak, or wenge. I don't know what the fretboard is made from but it definitely looks nicer than your average rosewood board.
To me it looks like it was made using zebra, teak, or wenge. I don't know what the fretboard is made from but it definitely looks nicer than your average rosewood board.
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I found this husk of a bass across the street today in a pile of trash and had to save it from being thrown into a landfill. I'm just not sure what I'm looking at here. My first thought is that maybe it's an Ibanez, but since it doesn't appear to have ever had strap buttons drilled and the holes for the tuners screws are only partway drilled, I'm starting to think it was a custom made project someone did? Does anyone recognize this? It's got a pretty thick burled top and it's a multiple piece neck-thru. I'm shocked someone would just dump this, but I'm happy to have found it. I'd like to get it completed and up and running.
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I have no clue, but it looks like it's got the bones for a good restoration project.
There's material here to make a beautiful jewelry box, maybe two, although it would be a real test of jigging/re-sawing skill to make flat, square, stock from this. Maybe make the body into a foyer mirror, with some key hooks or coat hooks. Mostly this looks like an introduction to some tool GAS. I would probably buy a mini-lathe and make some pens or wine-bottle tops. It's very possible that this wound up in the trash not because a diy person did housecleaning, but because a hoarding woodworker died, having never got around to making anything from it. You might be the third or fourth person to garbage pick this!
I think it is safe to say that it has probably multiple issue that will become quickly obvious when you start to put it together.
If it were me, I would remove the fretboard, even if it ruins it, and route a truss rod channel, add the truss rod, and replace the fretboard. I do actually build my own instruments. If you're not comfortable doing this, hire a pro luthier (which I am not
) to check the neck, insert the truss rod, and replace the FB. Good luck and nice find! 
) to check the neck, insert the truss rod, and replace the FB. Good luck and nice find! 
