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P bass - bastard

#23
@ScarfFace... Forgot to answer your questions: Yes, I got both sets for $30. Sometimes there are $10 auctions on nice sets like these on e-bay and I have won several of these auctions as the only bidder with my initial $10 bid. I don't understand why no one wants these beautiful sets of wood, but I think it's because everyone want the extraordinary piece and these set's that are beautiful, but not with extraordinary color or figuring, they just sit unsold on e-bay until they go on auction...

Thanks BassHappy and asatman. The walnut in the neck pocket is not veneer BassHappy, it's a scrap piece of the 7mm walnut that is on the back of the bass. I glued it in and then routed it down to the 3mm thickness needed to get the correct dept of the pocket. I think the flaw turned in to a feature, check for yourself in the close up picture below :) Here are the latest pics - it's a bass..! I'm doing the set-up now.

I did a test on the neck to see how it will look tinted. This is just some shellac that I rubbed on top of the satin clear coat that's on the neck (not a permanent solution of course). This is a bit too yellow'ish, I want it to visually ''bond'' with the oiled ash in the body, but it certainly works better with the body than the very pale new maple. So a day when it's raining I will sand down the neck, tint it and build up a new finish with tru oil.

I must say, that I'm REALLY pleased with the way the different woods, materials and colors work together. For a bass that is build for very little money around a $33 neck I must say, that I'm happy with this :)
 
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#25
I like the black knobs!

I just want to say, too, that I'm not really a P-bass fan at all nor am I typically a fan of wood finish basses, but this bass you've built is fantastic.
It looks great! The contrast of the types and colors of wood, plus the gold aluminum pickguard and, of course, the black knobs
all work great together. Very nice, indeed!
 
#26
Morten_B said:
Maybe black knobs look better..? Or how about weird knobs..? :cool:
Click to expand...

Hey Morten

I would have to vote for the black knobs as well. I got some nice ebony wood ones on the cheap from Stew Mac that are Fender domes, not flat - if you want to stay with wooden knobs, but that black just makes them pop!

And whatever the you want to call the lamination in the pocket alteration, it just works. reminds me of an ice cream sandwich.

yum!

Looks great!
 
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#27
Thanks guys - I agree that the black knobs works better, they bond well with the black thump rest and the pick up covers.

Ha ha... Good one BassHappy, I can relate to the ice cream sandwich thing :thumbsup:

Thank you GKon, I'm so pleased that you guys who does not really like P basses, wood finished basses etc likes this one. I have to agree with you, that everything just work really great together on this one, and I'm really happy to have a P bass again...
 
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#29
Very very pretty P-bass. I wish I had the patience to learn how to build. That thing is prettier than the P-bass I just put on layaway and apparently a fraction of the cost. Not going to stop me from paying off that P-bass.. but man.. I also want yours.
 
#30
Yes ScarfFace... I'm the one ;) And since the shipping across the pond is expensive I have bought lots of nice walnut sets to split the cost of shipping and import taxes over several sets...

@Matty... This one cost me approx $350 in parts, this includes the shipping and import taxes I paid on the necks (I already had the Schaller tuners, pots and knobs). I would say, that a build like this is easy because very little work is needed on the neck - just leveling, crowning and polishing the frets. The only tricky part of the build is to make a neck pocket template based on the neck itself. The G&L pocket is quite different from Fender. I would say go for it..!

Btw, I forgot to mention, that the bridge is Gotoh and the pick up is Kent Amstrong.
 
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#31
The final pictures for now - I just managed to get a few decent ones before it get's to dark here in little old Denmark. I still need to tweak the pick up heights a bit, but otherwise it's done. Of course I knew what I was trying to achieve with this one, the combinations of the woods etc, but I have surprised myself here - it's so much nicer than imagined it would be... An old school P bass with a few twists, and the combination of Fender body and G&L neck into a P-bastard is great (I think)...

Go and check out the G&L online store, if you need a great and cheap neck for your project..!
 
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#35
Thanks guys..! I don't have anything to do recordings, but I will see what I can do about that...

Yeah, it's funny how that piece of walnut in the neck pocket turned into an asset :thumbsup: I was kicking myself when I realized, that the pocket was too deep in the half finished ash body I bought, but the save turned out nice.
 

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