- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,615
- 222,141
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Dave needs to trim his fingernails every now & then... 
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SHOW YOUR DISTRESSED FINISHES!
- Thread starter JIO
- Start date
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,615
- 222,141
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,615
- 222,141
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,615
- 222,141
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Mostly.
The body is from MJT. I purchased it, by way of a bid, from their Ebay store. It's 3 pounds 11 ounces of pine and the price was quite a bit less than the direct made-to-order price, and it's in a perfectly faded Fiesta Red, so I could not pass that up. That weight was the primary driving factor for getting it.
About 90% of the relic work on the body is MJT's, the rest of it, finishing touches, were done by me.
The neck as Fender AO '60s I got for a discounted price. I did the fret level and dress, sorted out the nut, rolled the edges, replaced Fender's too dark clay dots with so-call "real aged clay dots" from Musikraft.
As the body came new from MJT, the degree of relicing to start with, everything else would have looked out of place so I did the aging of the neck all around, including the back, plus all the other metal hardware and plastic parts.
The machine heads are nickel Gotoh Res-O-Lites. Pickups are Fralin. All the other parts and hardware are from Fender and Gotoh.
It sounds and feels great. How light it is is wonderful and helps make it effortless to play.
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- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,615
- 222,141
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Very cool - light weight basses are the way to go. I've made basswood bodied basses which are light and sound great (resonant) - but never done a bass pine body. I've seen the natural pine-bodied Tele guitar bodies with knots which are cool in a rustic sort of way. (I grew up with knotty pine rec-room paneling!) Does it dent easily? (generally soft, like basswood?) MJT is good - I had them do one of my bass bodies as a biz competitor reference.
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Pine is very light, sounds great and resonant as well. I'm sold on it, I love it.
So much so, I now have two ultra-light builds using pine bodies from MJT, the other being a gorgeous faded Sonic P bass joined with a made-to-order neck from Musikraft. That P bass build is so new I haven't shown anything about it here on TB -- yet. It's turned out fantastic, but I'm still waiting for the Klein Epic '59 pickups to be delivered to replace a placeholder set of FCS '62 P pickups to complete the intended build.
The point bring, I've worked with two pine bodies so far and I haven't found that denting to be a problem or an issue. However, mounting screw holding up, without stripping out--pickguard screws for example--can be a thing to deal with. Even though I've been very careful, some holes will strip out without modification.
My solution is simply glue in maple dowel inserts for all mounting points, re-drill the pilot holes, and refasten. After that, the screws hold about as well as if the body were made of hardwood.
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- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,615
- 222,141
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
That sounds like basswood. Unless screws are being taken off and re-screwed more than once or twice - it isn't a problem I've had w/basswood. Usually the pg, if there is one, is the last thing to attach and once on - it stays on. Looking forward to seeing the blue P.
BTW, that Frank Lloyd Wright quote, "Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union." is one of may favorites.
My main background and education, starting back from when I was a kid, has been pretty much all about various forms of artistic expression and design. I studied Industrial Design but almost studied architecture. A lot of the work I've done is in environmental/spatial design and product design; including all categories/types of furniture and lighting. My whole preferred approach to design is aligned with the philosophy expressed by Wright in that statement.
Perhaps ironic on it's face, aesthetically speaking, what I've done and what I do outside of this whole bass guitar building side-hobby to my bass playing hobby makes a rather stark contrast to the stuff I show here.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,615
- 222,141
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
'65 Guild Starfire - I bet it sounds awesome with that original Darkstar in the perfect location.
I remember when this bass was first discovered. Apparently, the daughter of a guy who had a business clearing out old homes in Detroit found it in one of the homes they were working on. The instructions were to throw whatever was in the house into a dumpster. However, the business owner was also a guitar collector. The daughter having found the bass text him a photo, asking if it was worth anything. Pure gold.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,615
- 222,141
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
