The Twins...

[J. Wes]

Finally finished my Twins...a fretted and a fretless set of Jazz basses. They are as identical as I could make them...

They are based off of a '75 Fender Jazz bass template set:
Swamp Ash body
Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard
Bolivian Rosewood inlay (no pickguard, just a pickguard/control plate shaped inlay)
Matching Bolivian Rosewood rear control cover...its rear routed for the electronics cavity
Hipshot A Style bridge
Hipshot HB1 tuners (with drop D)
Delano 4FE/M2 Jazz pickups
TUSQ XL nut
Noble pots/Switchcraft plug
StewMac roller string retainer
Ebony knobs
Paisley design neck plate
Grover strap-locks

...and finally my name on the headstock!

These are my first 2 builds...the fretless was done 2 months before the fretted bass was...and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. It plays nice and sounds great. The Delano pickups are for real!

Anyway, just wanted to share...thanks for looking!

 

[Philonius]

The inlaid PGs are a cool detail!

 

[Son of Wobble]

That fretless fretboard looks most inviting. Nice work, Sir!

 

[yoshi]

Is that a battery box on the front of the fretless?

Both look great! Any sound clips? Keen to see how they differ!

I am doing a build right now with ash body...absolutely no idea what finish I will use. Though I think I cannot leave it "ash" looking (light coloured) due to the maple fretboard I have.

 

[J. Wes]

The process:

Started with 2 Swamp Ash body blanks from Warmoth...

 

[J. Wes]

...and cut them out on a band saw. Really rough cuts...

 

[J. Wes]

...but that's what a router is for!!!

 

[J. Wes]

Routed a slot for the truss rod!

 

[J. Wes]

Glueing the rosewood onto the neck. At this point, it's a flat piece of maple with a flat piece of rosewood glued on it.

...it's at least somewhat shaped.

 

[J. Wes]

Pressing the rosewood inlay into the body. Yes, I used a couple of old necks as a clamp. MacGyver!!!!

 

[J. Wes]

Both bodies with inlays...still raw wood, but starting to come together...

The edges are rounded off, but the rasping of the arm contour and the belly cut isn't done yet, or any routing...

 

[J. Wes]

Rasping the back of the neck...

 

[J. Wes]

Sanding in the fingerboard radius. I chose a 12" radius.

...and yes, again. I'm using an old neck as a "fence" for sanding the fingerboard.

 

[J. Wes]

Done...ish. Still had a lot of finish sanding to do.

 

[J. Wes]

The 90% finished fretless neck next to the just started fretted neck.

...on the back of my quad...or "workbench" as the case may be!

 

[J. Wes]

Spray lacquer! I may have gone overboard with the safety precautions, and since this is Texas, it was HOT in there!

...man, I'm fat!

 

[J. Wes]

Fretless woodwork...done...

 

[J. Wes]

Headstock labeled...tuners installed!

 

[J. Wes]

Body wired up...my bridge was a little late arriving, so it was added later! It's coming together!

 

[J. Wes]

Fretless bass...done. I finished it and played it for about 6 weeks to find things to adjust. There were a few minor adjustments and the neck is strange...more on that later!