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Plank bass. 1st bass (advice needed)

E

elastas

Jul 10, 2011
7
0
#1
I've been reading "Luthier's Corner" for a few weeks and I got a lot of inspiration. Enough inspiration to make my own bass guitar.
First idea which came in to my mind was a 34" neck, 2 or 3 strings fretless bass guitar out of one plank. I don't have idea if my current wood is suitable for making a guitar, maybe it's too soft and strings will leave harsh scratches on fretboard. I also wanted to know if it is possible to make this project alive?

Measurements of the current plank that I have:
1,6" x 1,6" x 43"

P.S. Sorry for my English language, I'm from Lithuania :)
 
#2
What kind of wood is it?

The fact is that strings will mark the face of any piece of wood. My ebony fretless fingerboard shows wear from the flatwound strings I use on it. There's no getting around it. You can coat the board in polyester, cyanoacrylate, epoxy, or even mylar, but it'll still show wear eventually.
 
#6
Looks very much like pine.

If you are going to make a neck from that I would strongly suggest that you laminate it. Pine is a very soft wood so it will bent easily something you don't really want in a neck. You must also avoid that knot in the wood as that will be weaker than the rest of the plank.

Using it as a body should be ok, but be aware that it will dent very easily. (Try to push a fingernail into it and you'll see.)

On the upside, it should be pretty light. :)
 
#8
I concur. If that isn't pine I don't know what. Do you intend to layer it with a truss rod or support rods within? And possibly another veneer for the fingerboard? If you look on the double bass side of TB (and this side) you'll see examples of layered necks. I don't know if a solid pine neck will be strong enough at that length. Since it's a 2-3 stringer maybe you can do a shorter scale as well.
If you're going for something akin to one piece maple fretless you may have to use a shorter scale or get a maple veneer. In other words a discretely layered & supported pine neck because I doubt you can get away w a pine. Who knows--maybe w less strings that has to be less tension.
Also tapewound strings will do less damage to your fingerboard.
 
#9
Since it is from one plank of wood, I don't know how I would put truss rod in, because truss rod is only 17" long. I'm thinking of layering neck and maybe doing a shorter scale. What scale size would you prefer?
 

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