The bass that never was, redefined

[JIO]

I could have pig-penned this on one of my other meandering threads, but instead I decided to start a fresh thread for this "re-project". It involves a long history which in some ways traces my development as a re-designer/modder/whatever so I'll be starting from the beginnings (over 10 yrs) of it to illustrate its trajectory to the present. I like stories - stories help define life as we know it. Hope you like stories too… if so, here we go…

In '06, I bought one of the very few (2) new basses I've ever owned, a MIJ Fender '51 P RI. It was near christmas and I was driving in the vicinity of a music store I knew (Banana's in San Rafael/Marin) after completing a big job successfully ($$) with time to kill. I just went in to see what was being offered and saw 2 basses I asked to play, a red Jaguar and the '51 RI. They both debuted that year and I'd noticed the promo's for them. I liked them both but something about the P sucked me in. I almost bought a '70 Tele bass new in 1970, and passed on it. (actually, I realized I really couldn't afford it!) In an unprecedented moment (for me) of 'why not', I said "I'll take it". It was a great feeling driving back home feeling really bold for making such a cool decision. Wow - a new bass! Brand new! Wow! (and my 1st Fender bass!)

So fast forward… I ended up really liking the Tele-style hs and maple board/neck (my 1st) and thought, it would be cool to have a fretless like it. No one at that time offered such, so I bought an AllParts Fender authorized maple Tele/51 P neck and de-fretted it. I'd never done that so it was challenging and fun. I finished it myself with a 'vintage' tinted lacquer and it came out good. It was originally installed on a J body, went through a few tuner variations and ended up on a modded Tele guitar body. This is where the story begins…

I was visiting a musician friend, a guitarist who plays in the style of Chet Atkins - an awesome player and a great guy! Anyway, in his garage he had a dusty box with guitar parts in it! I took out a raw maple Tele guitar body (brand unknown) from (date unknown - late 80's, early 90's?) and asked if he had plans for it. Alas a project never realized so he sold it to me for ($40?) A bit of reference is needed to help illustrate the inspiration of the project which was to unfold;

In 1968, Tim Bogert, bass player for The Vanilla Fudge (one of my favorite bass-players and bands then) designed and assembled his own "Tele" bass. (I know this in retrospect as he is on fb) It is clearly seen during their performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968. (very cool!) For historic reference, Fender had instigated its 1st unofficial RI by re-introducing the early 50's style P-bass with the name "Telecaster Bass" on the hs in '68. In 1970, it was further redefined with a Seth Lover mud-bucker pu at the neck butt. (this is the one I wanted back then) So I knew of that Tele-guitar body hybrid that TB had created, and thought - yah, let's make something along those lines. To note - this was prior to Fender introducing their Tele-guitar body styled basses (essentially replicating Leo's G&L Asat basses) and prior to their introducing a MM style hum-bucker at the bridge. (my 15 minutes of being ahead of the ball)

So, here's the bass I created;

rattle-can finish… ok but definitely not a pro-job

String-thru at about as low as you could go.

Combination of a deep body-bevel and a deep elbow scallop gave the top edge an interesting profile.

This is the neck I've described - (bone nut - my 1st nut that I cut)

Tim Bogerts custom Tele had a hottinanny-peg… so I installed one too! (tuners & strap-peg are from a 1966 Fender Mustang) HS had to be 'slimmed' to allow fitment of the shorty pops.

...and here's the inspiration for re-definition - I need to head over to get ready for our Bond Girl show tonight - so will pick up on this tomorrow -

 

[JIO]

So, what I meant by my inspiration to re-project showing the hs face on this bass is as follows; at the time, I wanted to create a 'bass that never was', meaning a Fender Tele (guitar bodied) fretless that looked like a production Fender. I realized after joining tb 5 yrs ago that badging a DIY project bass w/a Fender decal was next to writing bad checks to some people (yes I know all the potential angles and don't want that discussion here please) but I had no intention of selling it so I figured it was a non-issue to me. Well, now that I'm focused on growing my Gildaxe biz - I decided to sell a few of my basses to help finance my upcoming SuperB limited edition 5'r project. In a perfect world, I'd never sell a bass but over time I know which basses get played on a regular basis and I have another fretless. So the decal needed to go -

While the neck is off the body, I'm also going to re-surface the fretboard. I started out using flats on it but switched to rounds at one point and so there is some wear in the 'cash register'. So the crossroads I'm at right now is do I spray the hs face w/the same colour and badge it with my Gildaxe decal, re-surface and re-finish the fb and call it a day, or… do I take it further. The rattle-can finish isn't a pro job and so it could be an opportunity to take it all apart and do it right this time. Choices there would be a (Shoreline Gold or…?) pro re-finish by Pat or Marty, or a Gildaxe finish (followed by one of them). The bass 'as is' has a sort of classic vibe, which is cool, so maybe that's the way to go. Another thought would be to gild the entire neck and body the same. I have a few different varieties of a blue/green flavored variegated gold leafing and mixing them up over the bass could be pretty interesting. If going this route I would need to consider a suitable pg colour (black?) if the tort doesn't jibe. Doing the neck would be like having an unlined fretless - and am considering side fiber-optic markers if I can source something like Moses offers on their graphite necks with the adjustable module installed in the hs back. Tiny blue lights on the side could be cool with this treatment.

spiral forms

more amorphous

a bit more angular

and more butane-like

Here's examples of the use of this visually active leaf on a couple of very different basses -

Classic SG/EB (Epi) body with variegated orange/red and orange/amber tinted clear (Pat Wilkins)

A recent commission on a custom-sculpted Ibanez where the whole bass was gilded including fingerboard & pu's (covers)

And this is an example of it over a blue finish and finished with a blue-tinted clear-coat;

 

[JIO]

Looked into fiber-optics for the side dot markers. Apparently this is the better way to go. (over LED's) There is a unit out there that is externally applied to a neck (double stick tape) but since I'll be doing work on the fretless neck - routing the edge to open a channel and filling it w/a maple plug is entirely possible. If anyone reading this has knowledge of the unit that Moses uses (where I could source it) please let me know. I can see from their vid that the 'module' is of the type you can buy most anywhere (key-chain) but the switching pot for dimming etc is what I'd want/need.

After looking at this again, I'm wondering if the knob that adjusts on-off/dimming is actually just a screw-on type knob that once turned clockwise physically pushes on the key-chain battery pad like you would do with your thumb. ~!?!~ I'll have to buy one of these (I've had them in the past) and test out my theory. If this is so (and I think it is) - Bob's yer' uncle!

 

[Kaden Daniels]

I really loved those basses

 

[Kirk Bryant]

Staying tuned to your, as usual, "unusual and cool stuff" I got nothing else except that when I took the frets out of a 60's Jazz in the 60's I couldn't hang with the dots being in the wrong position, I.E. Off by about a 1/4 of a fret width. It was a total mind frack to me. So I traded it straight across to the owner of the music store I worked in for a 57' SB SC P Bass. I miss that one! Sigh.

 

[JIO]

Staying tuned to your, as usual, "unusual and cool stuff" I got nothing else except that when I took the frets out of a 60's Jazz in the 60's I couldn't hang with the dots being in the wrong position, I.E. Off by about a 1/4 of a fret width. It was a total mind frack to me. So I traded it straight across to the owner of the music store I worked in for a 57' SB SC P Bass. I miss that one! Sigh.

You are a brave man to admit defretting a '60 Jazz bass here on vintage judge-mental tb! I could be burned at the same stake for routing a 2nd hum-bucker on my '64 T-bird II in the 80's. (oh the fire would be hot!)

Yes, this is another selling point for gilding the whole neck and installing the fiber-optic makers in their correct position.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

Haha I know Geo but as I said it WAS the 60's if I knew then ....etc. I would have kept the dozens of 60's basses that went through my hands. And I'm a big boy, no really, big, haha I can take the heat.

 

[JIO]

Haha I know Geo but as I said it WAS the 60's if I knew then ....etc. I would have kept the dozens of 60's basses that went through my hands. And I'm a big boy, no really, big, haha I can take the heat.

Hopefully you got that I was winking in the same boat - the one that floated prior to the capitalistic feeding frenzy of the uber-inflated 'values' of today. How could any of us have known how out-of-control it would eventually get? That 100% stock/virgin "closet classic" (before I heard that term) '64 T-bird I bought in 1978 from an east coast 'vintage' dealer for (wait for it) $750 was considered vintage but still somewhat reasonable. (compared to a new '78 Bi-centenial T-bird that costed about 1/2 that!) For another $50, I could have bought a '64 T-bird IV (2 pu version) but couldn't afford the extra $50! My have times changed.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

I know man the one bass I kept that I got in A trade in 67', for the jazz I defretted, was a 1957 (sting type) Precision. I held onto that bass till 2007. When I was getting divorced I promised my wife I would not let our house go into default. We were waiting for it to sell when the bubble burst in 07'. I made good on the promise though I waited till 48 hrs before it went to be foreclosed. It really hurt to sell, the value was 12K then, I got 8K for it ( I paid $125.00 haha) and of course the house sold 10 days later and I had many thousands of dollars in My hand but the guy I sold the bass too wouldn't sell it back to me.

 

[JIO]

I know man the one bass I kept that I got in A trade in 67', for the jazz I defretted, was a 1957 (sting type) Precision. I held onto that bass till 2007. When I was getting divorced I promised my wife I would not let our house go into default. We were waiting for it to sell when the bubble burst in 07'. I made good on the promise though I waited till 48 hrs before it went to be foreclosed. It really hurt to sell, the value was 12K then, I got 8K for it ( I paid $125.00 haha) and of course the house sold 10 days later and I had many thousands of dollars in My hand but the guy I sold the bass too wouldn't sell it back to me.

yep - been there, done that. The need for immediate capitol necessitates selling the most valuable things owned. I try not to think about those past things and just be thankful for what I now have.

 

[BassHappy]

yep - been there, done that. The need for immediate capitol necessitates selling the most valuable things owned. I try not to think about those past things and just be thankful for what I now have.

My motto is:

Love what you do
Do what you can
Want what you have

Especially:

Want what you have....

 

[Kirk Bryant]

I do want what I have....but it's a bitch to not always have what what you want. Haha. Don't get me wrong I am very thankful for all the blessings I have. I do what I do, I have spent my entire life playing music, I have very few regrets, I'd be lying if I said I have none at all, but to honest I can live with the decisions I've made. I'm not rich in monetary terms but I am in life experiences, and those cant be bought. Funny story, I do regret not saving and framing my invitation to the Grammies. Our group was nominated for five Grammies and when I got the letter of invitation I was indignant to read they wanted hundreds of dollars to attend depending on the level of "Stars" you wanted to hang out with. Lol. I tore it up and threw it in the trash. Truth be told I would have had to cancel a lot of great paying gigs to go. At the time I was working 350-nearly 400 gigs a year plus working a day job so I couldn't go anyway. Or so I thought at the time. I wish to hell I had. As regrets go that's pretty laughable at this point in my life but I wish I had the invite framed on the wall. Live and learn.......hopefully!

 

[JIO]

My motto is:

Love what you do
Do what you can
Want what you have

Especially:

Want what you have....

and … love the one you're with (Steven Stills)

 

[BassHappy]

and … love the one you're with (Steven Stills)

AMEN!

 

[JIO]

AMEN!

just another way of saying "be here now"

 

[JIO]

Photon Micro Light LED Keychain Flashlight Blue Light Made in USA Model AB 790134001034 | eBay

I ordered the type of key-chain (blue beam) LED that Moses showed on their site used for fiber-optics fingerboard side-markers. These cheap little units were everywhere in hardware stores etc at one time but this isn't the case anymore. So of course ebay has them, mostly coming from China. I found this one which they state is made in the US. If I have an option - I don't order from China and will pay a bit more to buy from a US company, even if the part is actually made in China. I just prefer to support a US based company - so this is optimal for me being made in the US. Just ordered the fiber - 25' for $16.43 delivered.

I was correct about the dial function simply being pressure sensitive - so easy to replicate using a small plastic cover which is screwed into the hs back. I like how low-tech this design is. So that's my plan - rout a channel near the edge of the fb (under the E string), drill holes in the correct positions, rout the hs back to fit the LED unit, run the fiber and epoxy it in, plug the channel w/a maple strip including filling/sanding/leveling and gild the whole neck (& body).

 

[JIO]

Routed the channel for the fibers after creating a basic jig for that purpose.Will do the rest once the LED and FO fibers arrive

showing inside ledge that the router rests/slides on - an outside guide/outer rest could be added for good measure

hs and butt are secured in place

stopped before hitting the nut slot - I can angle the channel hole to the hs back where the LED will rest

once secured, a pretty straight-forward rout

and a shot showing re-located marker holes for the exit of the fibers

 

[JIO]

Decided to remove the old nitro finish - flat edge scraping & sanding - mo betta

 

[Mildew Jones]

Ouch!! I thought you were going in on the side of the neck, not the fingerboard. You the man, good luck, always fun following your builds.
MJ

 

[JIO]

The body finish needed to join the neck in nudity. Being (hard) maple, scraping & sanding after was the best tact.

Swimming-pool rout helped lighten it a bit and even gave it a bit of accoustic flavor

As it was a Tele guitar body - the 6 string-thru holes were plugged and 4 larger holes for ferrules added lower

… so now I'm back to scratch and it's ready to be reborn anew