V8 project

[God's Favorite Bass]

He knows a thing or two about a thing or two

 

[Beej]

This looks like fun @JIO

What are you going to do with the headstock?

 

[JIO]

Especially when it's a cheap Chinese instrument.
OP appears confident that he's up to the task though.

I take it as a challenge and frankly have turned around far worse. It will be a different instrument by the time I'm finished with it.

 

[JIO]

He knows a thing or two about a thing or two

You are correct sir! It's just a matter of problem-solving and accepting the chance of failure as openly as success. Sometimes you don't know if you can do something until you do it.

 

[JIO]

This looks like fun @JIO

What are you going to do with the headstock?

Good question Beej - there's no reason to glorify a counterfeit Gibson branding*. In fact, I'm currently dealing with the China seller on a partial refund for sending a bass that was unlike pictures of the bass in the Ebay post I bought from. I don't think they are clear that I can have their account shut down for false advertising, not to mention counterfeit branding. Kind of a blatant ignorance of laws that one must follow to do biz in the US. I'm doing them a favor by negotiating with them instead of simply reporting them to eBay. We'll see how stupid they are very soon. UPDATE - I'm giving them a negative feedback rating on eBay and reporting them. They obviously do not care to understand.

*I need to plug the large tuner holes and re-drill for the smaller diameter guitar tuners (octive strings), so I'll probably add a thin laminate on the hs face.

 

[Ric5]

I thought about buying one of the 8 string basses from China ... I decided to build my own instead

 

[JIO]

I thought about buying one of the 8 string basses from China ... I decided to build my own instead

Going that route will most likely be a wash financially - it's something I always weigh out when taking on a project. (parts, finishing, labor, etc) No right or wrong - just different tacts.

 

[Ric5]

Going that route will most likely be a wash financially - it's something I always weigh out when taking on a project. (parts, finishing, labor, etc) No right or wrong - just different tacts.

a lot of my projects don't make sense but it is fun to do them

 

[JIO]

a lot of my projects don't make sense but it is fun to do them

And you hit the nail on the head - give the man a ceee-gar!

 

[JIO]

 

[RichterScale]

You can't negotiate with crooks. They already know what they're doing is shady and they'll just continue until they get caught/shut down,...then open under a new name.
As for the bolt-on neck comments?
Set necks and neck-thrus don't usually have alignment issues. Preferring bolt-ons so that you can adjust the alignment issues that they are prone to, seems like an odd way to look at it, to me.

 

[JIO]

You can't negotiate with crooks. They already know what they're doing is shady and they'll just continue until they get caught/shut down,...then open under a new name.
As for the bolt-on neck comments?
Set necks and neck-thrus don't usually have alignment issues. Preferring bolt-ons so that you can adjust the alignment issues that they are prone to, seems like an odd way to look at it, to me.

Right on both accounts. At least my negative feedback will warn potential buyers of that bass. And as I initially stated - the neck is good. If it wasn't - I would send it back and demand full reimbursement. All the rest is addressable considering what it is and what it cost.

 

[JIO]

I'm considering back-facing 'banjo' tuners for the octave strings. It would free up the 4 main tuners and make differentiating them easy. The current tuner holes are 14mm and guitar tuner holes are 9.9mm. So what makes these attractive is that the cylindrical 'stop-unit'/base is 14mm. What that means is that once I plug the holes and drill for the smaller 9.42mm post - the cylindrical stop-unit on the hs back will cover the original hole visually. On the front, I can double-up the small banjo washer with the original bass tuner washer to cover that 14mm hole. (or just add a thin laminate)

Soooo... the $24,000 question is - will these (actual) banjo tuners be sufficient to tune (and stay in tune) the 4 octave 34" scale bass strings. (abet light-gauge) I've already checked the smaller guitar tuner post-holes and all the strings will work. (thread through the small hole in the post) If anyone has some experience/background on this - feel free to chime in.

Kluson Gibson-style guitar back-facing tuners are beefier (adding more weight) and more expensive. Most likely they would be sturdy enough for this application.

 

[JIO]

The more I thought about it - I'll just use the smaller guitar tuners I got which should work fine. The Kluson's are big, heavy and expensive and banjo-tuners won't cut it. I saw the Steinberger gear-less locking tuners but they are for guitars - they may work, but they are a strange design. The knurled locking part is on the back, and the string loops in and out of the paddle part on the hs face??? It's minimal, yet maximal... and weird.

 

[JIO]

Also... been holding off on doing anything further until I resolved the eBay transaction issue. Which I did earlier. Long story. Best not to extrapolate here due to tb rules about politics etc. In short, dealing with it was a learning experience - based on what I already knew; a thumb in the dam hole won't keep the dam from breaking. Welcome to the world of libertarian capitalism.

Please - just personally acknowledge this.., don't further address it here as it gets into restricted territory. The rest of this thread will only be about the bass. That's why we're here right?

If you need specific info because you were interested in purchasing from that eBay seller - PM me.

 

[JIO]

Will cut some aluminum using this template. It's not expressly aesthetic as it is primarily a 'fix' for bad design, but painted matte black it will disappear on stage wearing a dark top. It will screw into the exaggerated heal. I usually do the 12th fret, but because of that big heavy hs, I'll go to... 11. Thinking about this and adding the hs face veneer - I will do some Forster-bit 'lightening' there as well!

1/16" matte plastic to laminate on the hs face after routing 1/16" off.

Taped off the body table to prepare for routing. But first I'll cut & bevel the pg & sections and determine screw location before routing under each. The body is 1.5" so I'll remove 1-1/4" where I can. The stripped of parts body is 6lbs/9oz! Some pretty heavy parts - especially the bridge. I should be able to loss those 9oz routing, maybe a bit more.

 

[Beej]

I worry a little about things becoming possibly too flexible with that very large rout around the neck join - just a thought, but I think I might leave some meat in these red marked areas meself.

 

[JIO]

I worry a little about things becoming possibly too flexible with that very large rout around the neck join - just a thought, but I think I might leave some meat in these red marked areas meself.
View attachment 4800160

Good point!

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME I plained 3/16" off the hs face (goodby illegitimate "Gibson"), plugged the octive-string post-holes & re-drilled for smaller tuners, did a bit of Forster bit "lightening" and capped with a couple layers of plastic. The neck is maple - it will hold. Oh.., and the V8 badge ...

1/16" acrylic layer

1/8" engraving plastic layer - tomorrow the bevel routing.

 

[Flamingo21]

Set necks and neck-thrus don't usually have alignment issues.

But as you and I know, a builder can get it wrong....

JIO you've sparked my curiosity again.

 

[RichterScale]

But as you and I know, a builder can get it wrong...

Maybe other builders. I've never been wrong or made a mistake.
At least that I can remember.