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My fan fret build

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djtecknick

Guest
Aug 18, 2013
21
0
44
Marietta, GA
#1
I wanted to build a bass from scratch, so I started cutting and glueing, and this is what I ended up with.

- body - hard maple, purple heart
- neck through
- fretboard is actually the neck and the body is routed lower
- fan fret 24
- black stained "fretboard"
- lace USAB pickup routed in body
- hand carved nut "all the same wood as neck, and body
- 500k volume, and tone, with 500k cap
- faraday cage "foil tape" in control cavity
- ebay tuners
- no truss rod, or graphite! amazingly plays great with no string buzz
- 0150 stewmac frets, biggest/widest

lemme know what you guys think for this is my very first bass build.

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#3
thanks man! It's still not done, I've got a lot of sanding left to do, and I am still trying to figure out what finish to use. hopefully the non truss rod neck will hold up with that super stiff purple heart in it. also, does anyone have a good place to get knobs? I'm thinking something small, black and with rubber on them. 6mm stem too.
 
#12
No truss rod makes it a wont concider for purchase type thing. Even if the neck is strong enough without, one still wants to be able to tweak action for relief to best for the person. Being into very low action with some musical fret buzz, Id not be confident a no truss rod neck could give me my ideal of near dead flat for whatever strings I used on it.

Only other thing I wonder about is wood nut. Do you really thing it will hold up as well as regular nut materials for wear? Id be surprised if it would hold up as well.

Unless its a rare exception for me, I also prefer 2-3 band eq onboard. I see your using a seymour duncan soapbar, great choice. Though one of the basslines 2-3 band preamps might be nice add. I generally prefer the sound of active preamp bass even with tone controls flat. For that little more hifi and extended freq responce add the conversion to loZ adds.

For finish, Some sort of nice not nitro, poly instead, sealer/finish in clear wether matte or gloss for personal preferance. Id prob go with matte clear selaer/finish.

Does look like very nice & well made bass.
 
#13
I've used wood for nuts on some of my builds and it works fine as long as the wood is quite hard. Purpleheart is fine. I've got a bass with a purpleheart nut that is holding up just fine after a couple of years. Not sure about the maple though. I may be a bit concerned about that. If all else fails, you can cut that out later and put in a regular nut, though. So consider it an experiment and a learning experience.

Nice work.
 
#16
devo_stevo said:
I've used wood for nuts on some of my builds and it works fine as long as the wood is quite hard. Purpleheart is fine. I've got a bass with a purpleheart nut that is holding up just fine after a couple of years. Not sure about the maple though. I may be a bit concerned about that. If all else fails, you can cut that out later and put in a regular nut, though. So consider it an experiment and a learning experience.

Nice work.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for your honesty people. My future builds will have a truss rod. This is truly an experimental build, for I have never made instruments before. The pickup is a lace usab also, and I intend to use better eq in the next builds.
 

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