Tractor build

[Eric Frey]

The Preamble:
I want to make a Tractor bass. I gave it a lot of thought, and almost went the route of buying a VM Jazz Bass and modifying it, but I really want to just make it all from scratch *(the fingerboard is pre-slotted). This will be my 2nd full build, and I know this will be a challenging project for me. I greatly appreciate TB and especially Luthier's Corner for all the guidance and expertise offered. I spend quite a bit of time reading through all of your build posts for ideas and inspiration. Merci Beaucoup!

The Plan:
Wood - 3-piece Alder body, Roasted Maple neck, Rosewood fingerboard
Pickups - Novak BSDS (No tap) and el cheapo JBass pickups (Guyker? I don't recall)
Hardware - Nickel finish. Either Gotoh or Hipshot Lollipops, and everything else is either from Bitterroot, or AllParts / 7ender that I could get

The Soundtrack:
I have set a rule that I will only listen to music by or books about the ABB while working on this bass in the Shop. I've been listening to the "One Way Out" audiobook, and pausing the book to listen to the albums as they are discussed in the book.

 

[UntitledProject]

Thread 'Assembling a 'tractor' jazz bass clone/tribute.'

Oct 4, 2024

I bought a Guild bisonic neck pickup from the USA. I ordered a jazz bass clone that has a ash body and I ordered a maple block neck.

For people who don't know what a 'tractor bass' is.

Berry Duane Allman was a bassplayer in the Allman brothers band. He put a guild bisonic pickup in the front jazz pickup place. It means it has some extra sub bass and the two single coils get somewhat more high end and aggressive. I hope to modify the body and finish the body and neck in nitro. Still waiting for the neck. And I might need some new pots and I am in...

• Muziekschuur
• Replies: 193
• Forum: Basses [BG]

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Might find some inspiration here

 

[Eric Frey]

I started out routing the slot for the truss rod using a simple routing jig (not pictured, but makes an appearance later as part of my radius sanding jig). I just use double-sided tape to secure it to the blank, line it up with the center line and it works great. Then I drilled holes for the "clay" markers. I decided to go with dots instead of the blocks because they are easier to install, and I like the look better anyhow. From what I have read, the original blonde Tractor had a neck with dots prior to the neck that remains on it, so I guess that's what I'm copying. Also, this is more of a tribute, rather than a replica anyhow.

My radiusing "jig" is a scrap and my routing jig (both checked for straightness) screwed to my bench. Simple and effective.

 

[Eric Frey]

Thread 'Assembling a 'tractor' jazz bass clone/tribute.'

Oct 4, 2024

I bought a Guild bisonic neck pickup from the USA. I ordered a jazz bass clone that has a ash body and I ordered a maple block neck.

For people who don't know what a 'tractor bass' is.

Berry Duane Allman was a bassplayer in the Allman brothers band. He put a guild bisonic pickup in the front jazz pickup place. It means it has some extra sub bass and the two single coils get somewhat more high end and aggressive. I hope to modify the body and finish the body and neck in nitro. Still waiting for the neck. And I might need some new pots and I am in...

• Muziekschuur
• Replies: 193
• Forum: Basses [BG]

• 
• 
• 

Might find some inspiration here

Oh, you bet I have seen this! I've scoured TalkBass for everything I could find about the Tractor.

 

[UntitledProject]

Oh, you bet I have seen this! I've scoured TalkBass for everything I could find about the Tractor.

The tractor is awesome. And Berry was the guy that got me to play bass in the first place. I don't have a tractor, but I have a lawn mower...

Medium scale with bisonic and a gold foil.

 

[Eric Frey]

I didn't take any pictures of the next part of the process, but I roughed out the neck shape on the bandsaw, and then sanded it to final shape on my oscillating belt sander. I've had bad luck in the past using a router to get a smooth neck, and on top of that, my table router gave up the ghost a while back. I've been watching a lot of Geoff from Fanblade Instruments' videos, and I never see him use a router for shaping the neck, so I gave it a go and it worked great! I just used a higher grit paper and took my time.

 

[Eric Frey]

The tractor is awesome. And Berry was the guy that got me to play bass in the first place. I don't have a tractor, but I have a lawn mower...
View attachment 7224066
Medium scale with bisonic and a gold foil.

Haha! I thought about calling mine the "Lawnmower" but you beat me to it! What pups did you use?

 

[UntitledProject]

Haha! I thought about calling mine the "Lawnmower" but you beat me to it! What pups did you use?

Oh, I was just kidding. I don't really call it that. I just always thought it would be a good name for a scaled down version of the tractor.

 

[Eric Frey]

When I sawed the fingerboard prior to glue-up, I must have marked it too close because it ended up not being proud of the neck blank all around. It ended up coming out alright, because I carried the curve of the neck over to the fingerboard, but I was really worried there for a bit. I thinned out the blank a bit, though it is still pretty chunky, which I prefer. Then, used the facet method to get a basic shape, not really trying to match any shapes, just going for what feels good. I blended in the heel and headstock and got everything pretty well shaped up and sanded out to 120. It feels great, and I can't wait to play on this one!

 

[Jazzdogg]

I didn't take any pictures of the next part of the process, but I roughed out the neck shape on the bandsaw, and then sanded it to final shape on my oscillating belt sander. I've had bad luck in the past using a router to get a smooth neck, and on top of that, my table router gave up the ghost a while back. I've been watching a lot of Geoff from Fanblade Instruments' videos, and I never see him use a router for shaping the neck, so I gave it a go and it worked great! I just used a higher grit paper and took my time.

My favorite way to shape a neck is decidedly old skool: pencil lines, pattern maker's rasps, spokeshaves, scrapers, and sandpaper; there's something cathartic about using hand tools in the service of instrument making.

Not what I'd do on a production basis, but for for my needs, nothing satisfies quite like hand tools, quiet time, and the precision afforded by time.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

how would you wire that up? There's an interview with Oteil in which he stated that they let him play the Tractor and he said it was nearly impossible to get the right sound out of it. And only Berry know how to.

 

[Eric Frey]

how would you wire that up? There's an interview with Oteil in which he stated that they let him play the Tractor and he said it was nearly impossible to get the right sound out of it. And only Berry know how to.

That's a great question, and it's one that I've given a lot of thought. My first inclination was to just wire it like the mono version of the Tractor, so VT for the Bisonic, VVT for the Jazz pickups. However, I'm not a fusser-overer of tone all that much. I'm more of a set it and forget it kind of player, and make tonal adjustments with how and where I play on the bass. So, my plan currently is to do VT for the Novak, then the control cover will have a Master Volume, and VT for the Jazz pups. To do this, I'm planning to wire the Jazz pickups in series, maybe even do a switch to have the option to change it to parallel, but a single volume for both pickups.

I don't even know if this is even possible, and I plan to reach out to the folks over in the Wiring and Electronics forum for help. I'm certainly open to suggestions, but I do want to keep the number of pots the same as the og.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

Good idea! I was actually thinking earlier today that Fender would do well to consider a Tractor bass "reissue". Or Stu Cook's bass. Or Mel Schacher's. Just a thought...

BBB

 

[hennessybass]

Sub...

 

[bassnyc1]

Subbed. Looking forward to the rest of this build?

 

[fnp5150]

Oh, I was just kidding. I don't really call it that. I just always thought it would be a good name for a scaled down version of the tractor.

Could call it "The Bulldozer", that would be cool

 

[UntitledProject]

Could call it "The Bulldozer", that would be cool

The backhoe
The combine (actually a great name considering all the pickup combinations)
The harvester
The skid steer
The snow cat (only if Arctic white)

 

[turf3]

Ummm...

The bass player's name was Berry Oakley. Duane Allman was the guitar player.

 

[turf3]

Of course I thought it was about this:

 

[Eric Frey]

Ok, it's been too long since I've posted. I've had time to either journal the process here or actually build the thing, but not both ! (working FT and a now 10 month old...). I still plan to document the process here, but I didn't want to hold out with the finished product: