Hello there! I have a Stingray replicas Pu and Preamp lying down in my shop, I would like to build a bass around them. I would like to build a "slap machine"! Any suggestion for the woods? For the body I could use some nice Curly Poplar, and Pau Ferro (Morado) for the fingerboard, any suggestion for the neck? Not Maple please! Thanks
Here some renderings, as you see I want to keep things simple (for my standard...) Wenge {} Padauk {} Purpleheart {} Pau Ferro {} Black Walnut {} Maple {}
Um, yeah. The five screws in the middle won't be carrying any real load, and the extra holes will actually be somewhat weakening the neck heel. With that long of a neck joint, you could use just three screws; the one at the point and the two at the back corners. For the neck wood, I'd use "normal" walnut, a nice medium weight brown wood.
I added a pickguard, I think the body design is more balanced, and I can use a shorter neck and (Bruce) I can remove some screws. This is with Wenge neck {} And this with Pau Ferro neck, only two kind of woods, very simple. {}
Confession: I actually like lots of screws. I know Bruce disagrees but I think it helps clamp the neck against the body more solidly. Sort of like neck through without the weight and bother. The basses I've built this way seem to have better sustain (if you want that).
Pau ferro, with a maple "skunk stripe" on the back as a kind of homage to the original maple Sting Rays.