Summer Build Off 2024: Superseding Sanity

[Spiky_Bassist]

I’ve wanted to build a bass for many years now and have read Melvyn Hiscock’s “Make Your Own Electric Guitar” many times over the years. Now, I’m biting off a lot with a very (overly) ambitious first scratch build for SBO24. This will be a VERY non-traditional bass; if you’re looking for a FSO P-bass with tort, look elsewhere or be prepared for (massive) disappointment. This will be a journey.

• Multi-scale (34-37”)
• Headless 5 string (Nova Headless Single String Bridge Tuners); still waiting for info on shipping & hoping they will arrive soon!
• Fishman Fluence PU
• Unusual “no frets” neck (a first on bass as far as I’m aware, inspired by the "step" design of the Bond Electraglide)
• No truss rod. I always hate dealing with them and building it into an already stiff neck of this design seems more complicated than I want to deal with.
• No wood; I’m going through an Al casting kick. Loosely inspired by Burl’s Art Aluminum and Brass tele-style cast guitars, I want to do something more modern, lightweight and use aluminum to my advantage.
• A couple of required side projects: making my own greensand, building a casting flask
• This is my first build. I’m an (electrical) engineer and mechanically inclined so hoping I can actually complete this by the deadline. Actually quite nervous; my wife reminded me I used to have a problem finishing things, but now I just….

 

[13ghosts]

Cool! Looking forward to it!!

 

[2groggy]

You're not the only recovering engineer here in Luthier's Corner.

We know that you need a forge - Pix please. You also need greensand molds... Moar Pix! Aluminum body that weighs less than wood? Hollow? how?

 

[Max Bogosity]

Aluminum body that weighs less than wood? Hollow? how?

I have one of those aluminum Stratocasters that Fender made for about five minutes in the 90s. It's been years since I had it apart, but I think it's a sheet metal top and back welded or brazed over a skeletal core structure that could be a casting. Don't know the exact weight, but it's not noticeably heavy or light compared to solid wood guitars.

 

[Spiky_Bassist]

Will update with a few pictures shortly, been slow going and still waiting for some parts/tools for side projects. I was gifted a small propane foundry kit a few years back. I'm pretty limited on size since the crucible is not too large (maybe 7-8# of Al). Concerned about needing to do a fairly large pour for body and neck as one piece so I'm trying to design around it. So by keeping the body and neck thin, especially compared to Burl's Art's cast guitars, I'm crossing fingers I can do the neck and body in one pour.

For greensand, I have a 50# bag of cheap pool filter sand. I don't really care that it's not super fine, I mostly want it to be uniform since I'm too lazy to sift/filter it further. I purchased a $20 blender (hooray Walmart) to destroy by using it to grind super cheap kitty litter (which is almost entirely bentonite clay). I have some also cheap 1x3 pine/whitewood and OSB I'll use to make some flasks.

If you're sensing a trend on stingy-ness, that's cause I blew the budget on quality headless bridge hardware and pickups. I was hoping to do this whole project <$750, but just those two items have cost over $600 and I still needed to buy some tools and such.

 

[Spiky_Bassist]

Alright, still waiting for the bridge (after some lost parts, shipping/customs snafus) should be receiving bridge in the next week or two (hoping before end of the month). Also ordered some nichrome wire for the first of several side projects. First up: foam carving!


I'm not going to be doing lost foam; I'd like to make the sand quality enough that I can reuse the shaped form/blank (I only kinda-sorta know the correct terminology to sound like I know what I'm doing). Speaking of forms, I'm hoping to make this in two parts: a finger/fret board pour and a neckthru body/neck combo. To reduce metal and weight, I'm going to have the body be cast with tons of hex holes, similar to the PrusaCaster or other 3d printed guitar designs. It'll massively increase complexity in the form and casting, but that's the tradeoff for low weight and limited crucible melt/pour volume. Here's the foundry and crucible I'll be using (ignore the cobwebs; it's been sitting in a dusty corner of the garage since last fall). Sorry, no banana for scale, but it's pretty small. Crucible just barely swallows a (whole, unsquished) 12oz Red Bull can from top to bottom.



So first order of business has to be making the original blank from foam. Got a fullsize print of the scale lengths and neck and slapped it onto an oversize piece of foam to start shaping the stepped finger/fret board. In trying to cut and shape the foam, I realized that most of my cheap woodworking tools will be massively overkill and probably need a lot more fine detail than I really want to do. And to make more work for myself, side project #1 is making a hot-wire foam cutting tool! Ordered the nichrome heater wire and should be here later this week. Once I have that and a couple of jigs for slicing the foam, I'm hoping the foam shaping goes faster.

 

[Alex Xander]

You're not the only recovering engineer here in Luthier's Corner.

We know that you need a forge - Pix please. You also need greensand molds... Moar Pix! Aluminum body that weighs less than wood? Hollow? how?

I would love to do a poll on how many of us here are engineers of some persuasion. For whatever reason, I think.we a disproportionately represented in the world of lutherie.

Exciting project, BTW @Spiky_Bassist

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I would love to do a poll on how many of us here are engineers of some persuasion. For whatever reason, I think.we a disproportionately represented in the world of lutherie.

Yes, and I've also noticed that engineers who become Luthiers are more likely to get into electric basses than other instruments. Quite a few of us here on Luthier's Corner. I've met very few electric guitar Luthiers who come from an engineering background. However, there are many engineers in the world of hobbyist acoustic guitar building.

 

[Alex Xander]

Yes, and I've also noticed that engineers who become Luthiers are more likely to get into electric basses than other instruments. Quite a few of us here on Luthier's Corner. I've met very few electric guitar Luthiers who come from an engineering background. However, there are many engineers in the world of hobbyist acoustic guitar building.

I wonder if that's because the defining properties of bass reproduction (primarily speaker design) are buried in science, whereas the merits of an electric guitar's tone is a very subjective matter?

 

[Spiky_Bassist]

I wonder if that's because the defining properties of bass reproduction (primarily speaker design) are buried in science, whereas the merits of an electric guitar's tone is a very subjective matter?

Ooooooo! Is this where we can start a flame war about tonewoods? As this is my first build and one of a rather small subset of completely inorganic basses, I'm trying to answer the ancient question that goes back to antiquity: What is the best bass tone-metal for metal?

 

[Phe]

When I get my cybernetic exoskeleton I will get a bass made fully out of Damascus steel.