Joe Dart build with student

[Verner]

My student found the knobs in the US at tubedepot. Less than a dollar each!

 

[Verner]

Completely agreed on the bridge. That will be the biggest stumbling block. I'd probably see about making something out of bent plate, or a trompe l'oeil effect like @MPU did here: MPUstang build
Start of thread: MPUstang build

That is some quality work, I may try that!

 

[bbeiermann]

Love to see this!
I can empathize with your student. As much as I love Joe Dart, I couldn't bring myself to drop $2k on his sig bass. I had a body and neck built for me and I pieced everything else together for my own version.
The irony is not lost on me that my build is a copy of a copy of a Carlo Robelli bass.
I had to order a pack of 4 knobs, so if you need one let me know.
I hacked up a cheap bridge, but plan to grab a real one.

 

[Verner]

Love to see this!
I can empathize with your student. As much as I love Joe Dart, I couldn't bring myself to drop $2k on his sig bass. I had a body and neck built for me and I pieced everything else together for my own version.
The irony is not lost on me that my build is a copy of a copy of a Carlo Robelli bass.
I had to order a pack of 4 knobs, so if you need one let me know.
I hacked up a cheap bridge, but plan to grab a real one.

View attachment 4457904

I will have to show him this! What kind of pickup did you use? White covered MM style pickups seem relatively rare.

 

[bbeiermann]

I will have to show him this! What kind of pickup did you use? White covered MM style pickups seem relatively rare.

Thats just a cheap white humbucker I found on ebay.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Here's a link to a Musicman style bridge on Aliexpress, I'm not vouching for the quality, but it certainly looks the part. It's hard to eff-up something this simple so......
11.0US $ |1 Set GuitarFamily Four 4 Strings Electric Bass Bridge For Sterling Musicman Bass Chrome ( #0980 ) MADE IN KOREA|bass bridge|electric bass bridgestrings electric - AliExpress

 

[Beej]

This one on Guitar Fetish doesn't look too far off: Classic Musicman Style Bass Chrome Bridge Replacement 4-stri

 

[thisheregiraffe]

WD Music also sells a MM style bridge: Invalid Link Removed

The one on Guitar Fetish is cheaper.

 

[MPU]

I have bought two of those aliexpress bridges. Nice, solid bridges, nothing to complain.

 

[Verner]

Lots of good leads, thanks! We are compiling a parts-possible list and he will decide what his budget will allow. We already decided on regular maple for the neck rather than flamed, since I have a stash of seasoned maple free of charge. I have enough ash for both bodies ready and seasoned as well. The pickup is the big purchase for him. The Seymour Duncan seems to be the only ceramic version out there, we just have to find out if aftermarket covers will work. We probably could use our school 3D printer as well. What a cool time to be alive, mostly.

Instead of eating lunch, we cut out templates! He did pretty well on the bandsaw for his first time, gained confidence as he went. Sent him home with a file to get them perfectly to the line. We measured to make sure it all fit and it seems right, so off we go!

 

[andare]

Ok, I have a few irons in the fire at the moment with a mandocello conversion and a workshop build, but this one is official school business. Sort of.

Last year, I finished up a dual 51 p-bass scratch build with a student (I teach middle and high school orchestra). Long story short, we started the build when she was a junior before the pandemic and finished it the week she graduated during the pandemic.
View attachment 4457507
It was a big deal for us, kind of a physical symbol of the importance of perseverance. For me personally, it forced me to follow through and finally finish a project. I am easily distracted, but as a teacher I’ll never let a student down if I can help it. She’s at college now and wrote me the other day:

“I know I mentioned this in the first email but I’m going to reiterate the sentiment: you’ve gotta try to keep the instrument building going it’s seriously one of if not the best things I’ve ever done, mostly because I have a bass that is my own that I made but also because the way other people react,,,, Like this is Cornell, oh you’re smart? Whatever so’s everyone else. You did robotics? So did like 4 dozen other people. YOU BUILT YOUR OWN INSTRUMENT????? It’s great!”

That’s awesome.

So as that was winding up another bass player in my high school orchestra approached me at the end of last year and requested a Joe Dart build.

I know there are some strong feelings on that bass here.

But he worships the guy and I get it, I had the same feeling as a teen about my musical idols. Plus, he doesn’t have $2k to throw around. So we are going to build a Joe Dart, and my twin will be a classic 70s Stringray. Never played one, but looking forward to it.

So if anyone has some inside info to share please do! Here are some specifics I am trolling for:

-the knob. I researched it and see it is a copy of a vintage RCA Viz knob, but I can’t find a white one in the states. Found some in England though!
-the bridge. This one is for me. I want the real bridge, but they seem to be like hen’s teeth. Anyone have a stash of 70s stingray bridges?
-the wiring. For the Dart, I don’t know if anyone has seen the cavity on this. Seems awful big since it is only housing a single pot. Now I am assuming the pickup goes straight to the volume and to the jack with no caps, but if anyone knows otherwise please chime in.
-the pickup. For the Dart, I see it is a specific passive music man pickup. I am wondering if anyone has experience with a similar off-brand pickup. I see Aguilar and a few other companies make stingray pickups, didn’t know if anyone had insight as to whether this was a ceramic or alnico pickup, etc.

Will start posting our progress tomorrow, templates coming, stay tuned!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Free shipping from China. I put one on my Bronco and I also have the black and burgundy to use in pedal builds.

 

[andare]

Or, ceramic in parallel as per their posted specs.

here's the specs PDF https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/...ics/2019-04-30/CFD Joe Dart Bass 20190408.pdf

 

[Beej]

I will have to show him this! What kind of pickup did you use? White covered MM style pickups seem relatively rare.

Delano makes a ceramic one in a white cover too. Best Bass Gear is out of stock, but Fat Bass Tone seems to have some available. Not cheap though at around $150.

 

[Max Bogosity]

I know nothing, but I assumed the cavity was so big compared to the controls just because they use the same cavity and cover shape for everything.

 

[Verner]

I know nothing, but I assumed the cavity was so big compared to the controls just because they use the same cavity and cover shape for everything.

I agree, but it is funny to me. The scale of production is small, and they had to retool for the body shape, right? Seems like a small circular cavity would have done the trick. They are probably using cnc machines, for us a big forstner would have done it nice and quick.

 

[Beej]

I agree, but it is funny to me. The scale of production is small, and they had to retool for the body shape, right? Seems like a small circular cavity would have done the trick. They are probably using cnc machines, for us a big forstner would have done it nice and quick.

The Sterling is rear routed, so as it's the same cavity shapes, I suspect it's that tooling.

 

[Reedt2000]

I can't help at all with your build, or specs. But thanks for being an awesome human. We need more humans like you.

My thoughts exactly ^

Plus a double build to watch, I'm in!

Sub'd

 

[Verner]

Thanks

My thoughts exactly ^

Plus a double build to watch, I'm in!

Sub'd

Thanks for the compliment, it’s really been fun learning about this watching all of you. It’s even more fun sharing what I learned with others.

Plus I have a legit excuse to accumulate more basses than I could ever possibly use.

 

[cosmicevan]

Great thread! Following along

 

[jazzman64]

Sounds like a great idea! Keep us posted!!!