Re...making, pretty much. Help?

[Franny]

So I'll be the very first to admit I know next to nothing about fixing up/building any instruments, but I figured since I want to do a senior project on creating my own bass (an upright) I'd start on something simpler. I figured taking an old, beatup electric would be a good place to start. Unfortunately, I don't know, well, anything. What are some of the steps you would use for a project like this?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Pilgrim]

You have a grand ambition - but you have much research to do and much learning to undertake before you can build a bass. It appears from your profile that you already have experience with uprights.

Unfortunately, there is not much you will learn about uprights from working on electrics, especially solid body electrics. The two are completely different instruments with completely different types of construction.

To learn more about electrics, I recommend that you do the online research to find the answer to your question yourself instead of asking those on TB to provide answers. The first step I would recommend is to go to Amazon.com and buy Dan Erlewine's book on Guitar Repair, which is the bible of the guitar repair hobby. READ it carefully and you will start to get a sense of what's going on.

The older version of his Guitar Player Repair Guide is here:
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player...bs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229961078&sr=8-3

The updated version is here:
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229961078&sr=8-1

In terms of upright basses, I suggest you open a Google search and type in "building upright basses" and similar variations. You will get hits. I did find one hit that offers plans for an upright - the plans cost $175, but that would probably be well worth it, because an upright will not be cheap to build.

 

[T-Bird]

Hi.

+1 for the above if You're talking about acoustic upright.

However, if it's an electric upright You're talking about, then yes, a cheap fretless electric might get you started. You could then design and build the body to your liking and choose whatever scale you want.

Other option would be to purchase a broken (cheapo) acoustic upright and make a solid body for that, there would probably be more usable parts than in an electric bass. This would be my advice as the first step if You want to build an acoustic upright too. By learning the construction while repairing an instrument, You'll develope some understanding about the structure.

What ever You decide to do, please post progress pics .

Regards
Sam