hollow body fretless build

[smart51]

My quest to build a bass guitar that sounds (somewhat) like a double bass has started. I don't claim to be a craftsman and I still have a lot to learn, but I'm having fun doing it.




The top is spruce and will be carved to a single convex curve, rather than a Les Paul style double curve. I think I can just about get what I need between the knots in the wood.

For the body, I found a piece of sweet chestnut that has a tap tone like a xylophone. It has nice grain too.

 

[smart51]

A bit of progress, Here is the top roughly carved to shape.

 

[Giraffe]

This is probably too late for your current build, but maybe something to keep in mind for the next one.

Chase down a Rob Allen or Rick Turner Renaissance bass. These instruments have by far the closest voice to a doublebass that I've ever heard.

Rob Allen

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Wicked, deep bottom end, smooth on top, and all the detail in the finger noise. Mwahh gets sensed all the way up and down in frequency and in volume. Really sounds like an acoustic instrument. You have to deal with the piezo quack, but it is worth it, to my ears.

L.R. Baggs makes a few kits that do the job beautifully and simply for less than $200, or you can dive deeper. But this is that sound, no kidding.

 

[rudy4444]

We'll keep an eye on your progress!

Here's the build topic I did for a similar endeavor, a 30" scale semi-acoustic fretless that might help you:

30” Scale Compact Semi-acoustic Fretless Bass Build

 

[smart51]

More progress today. I roughly routed out the body. The back is about 10mm thick at this point. Because there were a few slips with the router, I'll do the rest with a finger plane.

Cutting F holes is a lot harder than I expected, and I thought it would be tricky. A bit more finessing and they'll be right.

 

[abarson]

Nice progress!
I do want to point out a concern with the bridge. As there is no body material left under where one is usually mounted, you will need to use a floating bridge and tailpiece. This may influence how much angle you need to put on the neck mounting pocket.
If you intend to use a standard solid body bridge and you haven't closed the body up yet, you can glue a block back into the chamber.

 

[smart51]

The idea is to use a floating bridge (with piezo) and tail piece. I've made the body longer than a traditional bass guitar to accommodate that. The idea is that this will be a somewhat acoustic instrument so that it will sound like an acoustic bass.

 

[smart51]

In my haste to get close up the body, I forgot to take pictures of the finished inside. I had trouble with tearout when planing the back smooth too. Even a card scraper ripped it up. This is how the body looks having been sanded with 40 grit to clear the tearout.





this one of of the tail before the top was sanded flush. The hole is slightly offset because of the angle of the body, so that the strap button will be central once it is fitted.

 

[Arie X]

fwiw, spruce works best when the grain is on quarter.

 

[MirageIndigo]

+1 for Rick Turner fretless. It's the only fretless bass I can play in tune on. I've had mine for 10+ years and it'll be the one instrument I own that they will throw on my funeral pyre for my journey to the afterlife. I'm actually on a quest to reverse engineer this thing for my own first build because I need a PJ fretless that plays just like it.


Some things about the neck/ general setup of the Turner:
- Instead of a carved out "nut bowl guitar" (which is a quote from Rick in a video someplace), the sides are actually steam bent with a big slab of red cedar down the middle. Looks liek you absolutely have your body sorted though.
- It's super super light, like 5 lbs? It's lighter than either my Custom 24 or my strat.
- The strings are super thin Thomastik Infelds that are more like wound classical guitar bass side strings. The entire bass is designed around these strings. The important point is that he used the thinnest, stretchiest strings he could find.
- The scale is standard jazz/fender 34" bass and the neck string spacing is also standard jazz bass, but....
- There is no effectively almost no nut height. Like the string intersects the nut almost exactly on top of the fretboard. It's like 0.1" based on my feeler gauges? The bridge is compensated a bit, but not as aggressively as you might think.
- Since there's less tension than a full jazz bass, the neck is super also thin, like 0.9" at 12th fret line thin.
- Because of the super low action and basic neck shape, they are really easy to play, although they are very neck/headstock heavy and the older ones (like I have) don't balance super well. They actually now put a strap lock on a bar anchored to the neck bolt way out in space to make them less neck heavy.
- The piezo pickup system in there is a work of art and they really do sound like an EUB, although 90% of the time, I'm just playing unplugged and have enough volume to have fun.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yjsshAedZxnqGbGCA

 

[MirageIndigo]

Also I should mention Rick is an amazingly nice guy and lots of fun to talk to if you're ever in Santa Cruz. He put the finger rest on mine for me.

 

[smart51]

I've spent the afternoon making a tailpiece out of Pau Rosa. I've given it a quick coat of oil and sat it and the bridge on the body for a quick photo. Lots of sanding still to do before they're is finished. The fingerboard will be made of the same wood so it will all tie together nicely.

 

[Giraffe]

...Instead of a carved out "nut bowl guitar" (which is a quote from Rick in a video someplace),...

That is a funny quote!!! "Nut bowl guitar"!!!

 

[smart51]

Over the last week I made the neck. I'm really pleased with the results, save for the lacquer, but this can be fixed. I'm using car clear coat out of an aerosol. It worked really well on the body but the weather is a lot cooler this week and the paint just doesn't flow as well. It will flat and polish well enough, but I'd rather not have to.

The neck itself is a 3 piece laminate of Sapele and Maple with a Pau Rosa fingerboard. I always though Sapele was a bit boring but this piece looks nice.

 

[Giraffe]

Your lacquer might flow out better if you warm up the can prior to spraying.

 

[smart51]

So what do you think? I've put it all together and this is the result. The knobs are what came with the electronics. I have some chrome ones on order. The nut is made from the same wood as the fingerboard, bridge and tail piece. It's as hard as ebony, which is used to make double bass nuts.

Two things spoil it. I hadn't left enough space to move the bridge to get the intonation right. It's about 12mm further back than I expected. I had to move the hole for the wire from the piezo, so you can see the original hole in front of the bridge now. Also I'd routed the neck pocket at a slight angle. The strings weren't quite straight. Pulling the neck straight and tightening it up again has left a 1mm gap at the mouth. I'll route the neck square and a bit wider than it should be then glue a veneer to each side. It's a bit disappointing but it probably won't look bad.

It works as an acoustic instrument, which is very nice. I can feel the back vibrating It isn't very loud but it is fine for practicing without an amp. One thing I wasn't expecting is that the piezo picks up all the right hand finger noise from plucking the strings. Is that typical of piezos?

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Any noise in/at the body or strings is typically going to get picked up by the piezo.

 

[smart51]

A slight update. On further inspection I've found that I'd routed the neck pocket correctly but glued the tailpiece on in the wrong place. The solution is the same though. Make the pocket bigger and apply veneer.