What's the dumbest mistake you have made?

[jordan_frerichs]

A couple days ago, I was drilling the holes to mount a bolt-on neck, and I drilled right through the fingboard. How careless is that?

been there done that. i am going to try and stick to neckthrough/glue necks when i can. my first neck was a 100% fail. 30 degree scarf joint, didn't have a plan when i carved the neck and it ended up too thin, and uneven, the screws going through the fingerboard, and also, i tried to make it look like a glue neck by having 1-2" of neck after the end of the fingerboard, only itead of making it flush, i rounded ver the end of it, i laminated the other way, decided an unusual pup combo and didn't think about the result (mm, and a p in reverse where you would find the neck mm on a stingray) if i could do that again, i would replace the p with a j or a second mm, or put it in the regular coil arangement right up against the mm. even though the neck was awful, i regret destroying it.
that was build one, and i am in the middle of builds 2 and 3, and 3 is for a customer, and that bass has many crazy features that needless to say, i have not attempted. i may be in over my head, but so far my 2 current builds are going almost flawlessly.

 

[pilotjones]

A nice 35" scale 5-string neckthrough neck, and I trimmed the sides to the actual string width instead of width + .125. So it's too narrow for a 5'er and not many people want a 35" 4 banger. I bet I'll have that neck forever

Maybe good for someone who wants a dedicated BEAD bass.

 

[jordan_frerichs]

a few people would enjoy a wide 4. i wish fender had a slightly larger string spacing (then again i wish they had a more comfortable neck feel, and a more organic shape) someone who is crazy at slaping would appreciate it. might help for tapping as well (idk whether thinner or wider is better. just started getting into it).
you could also try an 8 string bass. it still might be wider. but it would narrow the gap

 

[pringlw]

My dumbest mistake(s) have nothing to do with bass playing or bass making. I actually can't think of much I regret on that front.

 

[starvingbassist]

let my girlfriend move in:scowl:

 

[DuffMac87]

I knew these would be funny. I almost laughed when I accidently drilled through the fingerboard. Almost.

I drilled through a mighty mite neck once and i laughed my ass off i felt so dumb

 

[tjclem]

I have done a few of these but have one to add. was working to fast and hard on one and flipped it over to do the control cavity and put it in the upper part of the body no the lower. Had it all routed out then didn't realize it until I flipped it back over.

I contacted the customer and told him to look for a new top for me to buy him, he suggested further hollowing it out and putting a back on it and that is what we did.

The ones I have done several times are routers not tight enough, templates slipping and the horror of shaping the back of the neck and carving right into the truss rod.

 

[lowendblues]

A nice 35" scale 5-string neckthrough neck, and I trimmed the sides to the actual string width instead of width + .125. So it's too narrow for a 5'er and not many people want a 35" 4 banger. I bet I'll have that neck forever

How about making it an 8-stringer?

 

[rob4001va]

let my girlfriend move in:scowl:

marrying my future ex.

It had to be said.
You knew someone would.
Aren't you glad that's done, so we can move on to better, bass-related stories?

 

[SwamiRob]

Blowing up my NV215, still don't really get how that happened when I was only using a 750W poweramp without doing anything too silly with my EQ. Maybe something to do with most people that make dedicated bassamps putting in some nice idiotproof features that stop you punishing your cabs when you don't even realise that's what your doing...

 

[tekkentool]

On a small lake one day, digging into my box looking for my favorite bass lure. Found it. Held it up. Said "Yeah, that's the one. Bass love this thing". Then I tossed it in the drink. Realizing too late that I probably should've tied it on first.

Oh wait! Wrong forum. Man, bass... bass... Who can tell! Sorry.

This guy can't

 

[AltGrendel]

Maybe good for someone who wants a dedicated BEAD bass.

That's kinda what I was thinking.

 

[jworrellbass]

On a two trussrod neck I put the rods too far apart and cut though the neck where the rods where. The real dumb part is I started to build a new neck and did it to the the next neck as well.

 

[tjclem]

On a two trussrod neck I put the rods too far apart and cut though the neck where the rods where. The real dumb part is I started to build a new neck and did it to the the next neck as well.

1 reason I don't really want to build a neck wider than a 6 string......t

 

[Basschair]

Guys, the point of this thread (though not specifically stated) should stick with the topic of this forum: makin' basses. I definitely enjoy the humor, but think it's more valuable to talk about your build mistakes.

 

[BigDaveyTwinkle]

Drilling a pilot hole for mounting a jazz bass, neck pickup and the plunge depth took the drill bit right out the back of the body. Luckily, it was a small bit and not very noticeable, except to the idiot driving the drill.

 

[Beej]

I've shared this one before but if it helps someone else prevent idiocy then great. Asked to redrill a jack hole on a friend's precious Gretsch, measured twice, lined everything up perfectly, double checked the bit in the drill press and very carefully went over everything twice to make sure there were not uh-oh's to said precious Gretsch. Started drilling and immediately realized I had forgotten to clamp the body to the press. The thing flew across the shop with a hunk of body torn out and dozens of scratches and marks. That took a lot of apologies I tell you what...

 

[Tom Howland]

Trading a sweet 1963 P-bass.
For my first 5-string. ( a Pedulla)
The Pedulla was very nice.
But, the P-bass is worth four times that now?

 

[THand]

I was drilling a hole to run the pickup wires to the control cavity...got a phone call...got angry....drilled through to the back of the bass. It's now filled w/epoxy and covered with a sticker.

Same bass...was buffing the painted neck and a nut came off of the buffer and chipped the finish. Luckily that looks kinda natural since it chipped where my thumb goes.

 

[PasdaBeer]

Jeez, can we only list one.


Buying crappy mounting tape, and sticking my neck taper template to a nice neck, running it through the router and realizing after I glued on the FB and starting to radius that there was a huge dip in the treble side. Bye bye neck blank.

First bass I started to build. Glued the really nice rosewood top on the WRONG SIDE on one of the body wings. Went back to LMII and checked out 200+ tops to find a matching and couldnt find one. That thing is still sittin in my shop waiting to get planned down.