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NBD - DIY Bass Guitar Kit

Crusher47

Crusher47

Tattoo'ed Freak
Gold Supporting Member
Apr 12, 2014
2,687
6,928
Fort Worth, TX
#1
Not sure if to post it here or in the Luthier's Corner but since I'm far and away NOT a Luthier, posting it here instead (Mods move if needed)

I've been interested in giving one of these a try for a while now. I also do not have a PJ bass in the collection so I figured why not...
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I did order a lefty Fender style neck so I will go with a "reverse" headstock. It did include hardware and pickups and depending on how it sounds, it will either remain stock or I may swap the pickups out for EMG Geezer Butler pickups instead. Thanks for looking!
 
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#5
JRA said:
Crusher47 , tell us all about it, please: brand, vender, specs, your intent re: mods, looks, yada yada. thanks. (possible EMG's noted)

congrats and good luck on your project --- it looks like some fun! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thanks...got if off Ebay, around $100. There are a few on there right now. This one has the Mahogany body. I just painted it blue and letting it cure for a couple of weeks.
 
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#8
Crusher47 said:
Not sure if to post it here or in the Luthier's Corner but since I'm far and away NOT a Luthier, posting it here instead (Mods move if needed)

I did order a lefty Fender style neck so I will go with a "reverse" headstock. It did include hardware and pickups and depending on how it sounds, it will either remain stock or I may swap the pickups out for EMG Geezer Butler pickups instead. Thanks for looking!
Click to expand...

You could have posted in LC, everyone there is very welcoming and helpful to anyone willing to try their hand at working on their bass from a full on custom build to something more like this kit. :) Anyway, I hope the neck you ordered has 24 frets and a square neck pocket as this one does (a flat bottomed heel, like on a '51 P/Tele neck) as standard Fender heels are rounded. There are solutions to this but until I know what you ordered it would be hard to advise. Also, if it isn't a 24 fret neck like this one you may have to reposition the bridge accordingly.
 
#9
Brian Phillips said:
Cool. Thanks!

Do you happen to have the name of the vendor? Think I might look into getting one of these.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Albatross Guitars... Specs:
description.jpg


Item#
bk004

Body
Solid Mahogany

Construction
Bolt On Neck

Neck
Mahogany with Adjustable Truss Rod

Fingerboard
Rosewood with Dot Pearloid Inlay

Controls
2V | 1T

Pick-Ups
S-Split

Bridge
Chrome Hipshot

Machine Heads
Chrome 2 Per Side

Pickguard
N/A
 
#10
JIO said:
You could have posted in LC, everyone there is very welcoming and helpful to anyone willing to try their hand at working on their bass from a full on custom build to something more like this kit. :) Anyway, I hope the neck you ordered has 24 frets and a square neck pocket as this one does (a flat bottomed heel, like on a '51 P/Tele neck) as standard Fender heels are rounded. There are solutions to this but until I know what you ordered it would be hard to advise. Also, if it isn't a 24 fret neck like this one you may have to reposition the bridge accordingly.
Click to expand...

Thanks... I do like to visit LC and look at all the craftsmanship and builds but I'm nowhere near that level. Replacement neck is only 21 frets and rounded so I can see it's already a FAIL. Oh well.
 
#11
Crusher47 said:
Thanks... I do like to visit LC and look at all the craftsmanship and builds but I'm nowhere near that level. Replacement neck is only 21 frets and rounded so I can see it's already a FAIL. Oh well.
Click to expand...

No fail - this is where you start getting creative! So now that I know what you ordered, I can offer very doable solutions. The heal issue is easy if you have access to a band saw. I've done this before and it's pretty straight forward. Draw a line from the corners parallel to the 21st fret and cut the rounded part off. You could also rout the body to fit the rounded heal, but cutting the heal is much easier.

And the 21 fret neck swap is easy as well, because the body does not have pre-drilled bridge holes. Measure from the bottom of the nut 34" with the neck in the pocket (if in fact the neck you ordered is 34" scale) and mark that length on the body. Position the saddles on your bridge equidistant from both limits (centered) and position the bridge so the saddles are over the 34" line you marked on the body. This way when you intonate it the saddles will have enough room to do so - usually the E string will be furthest south and the G furthest north.

The other issue you will most likely have is a good fit of the 21 fret neck heel into the body's neck cavity. It will either be loose, or too tight. If loose it won't be far off and shimming will address that. Too tight and you will need to sand both sides until it fits snug. Some work but doable.

So don't throw on the towel just yet - post your progress and I'll help walk you through it to make it happen! Feel free to ask any question as there are no 'dumb' questions - it's how we all learn new things! :thumbsup:
 
#12
JIO said:
No fail - this is where you start getting creative! So now that I know what you ordered, I can offer very doable solutions. The heal issue is easy if you have access to a band saw. I've done this before and it's pretty straight forward. Draw a line from the corners parallel to the 21st fret and cut the rounded part off. You could also rout the body to fit the rounded heal, but cutting the heal is much easier.

And the 21 fret neck swap is easy as well, because the body does not have pre-drilled bridge holes. Measure from the bottom of the nut 34" (if in fact the neck you ordered is 34" scale) and mark that length on the body. Position the saddles on your bridge equidistant from both limits (centered) and position the bridge so the saddles are over the 34" line you marked on the body. This way when you intonate it the saddles will have enough room to do so - usually the E string will be furthest south and the G furthest north.

The other issue you will most likely have is a good fit of the 21 fret neck heel into the body's neck cavity. It will either be loose, or too tight. If loose it won't be far off and shimming will address that. Too tight and you will need to sand both sides until it fits snug. Some work but doable.

So don't throw on the towel just yet - post your progress and I'll help walk you through it to make it happen! Feel free to ask any question as there are no 'dumb' questions - it's how we all learn new things! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, I really appreciate it!! Still waiting for the neck to come in, will know more on the fit once it arrives :)
 
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#14
I was just gonna start a thread on this and said, no...use the search the feature! Glad you started this, though it doesn't look like the mods put this where it will get a lot of feedback or very few have tried this. I see kits on Amazon, eBay and Reverb. There seems to be quite a few different companies out there. I'm not a luthier either but a lot of us older folks had shop class way back when we were teenagers so since this is more assembly and finishing I think it wouldn't be too difficult.

I think the main thing would be time, patience, having an actual work area and work bench to do the work would be critical. I've been G.A.S. - ing for an archtop style bass in some form of Natural and I'm not finding anything used that is reasonable that fits the bill. So, I've been looking at one of these: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I just haven't worked up the guts to do it yet.
 
#15
Good luck with your build B-Mac ... as for mine, I lost patience/grew frustrated and ended up getting rid of it. In hindsight I should have just set it aside for a while until the urge hit me again to restart it. Wood shop was one of my favorite classes as well
 

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