This build is a partial build using a partially finished neck I bought from Rojo412. I was going to only do my other build (thread pending), but then I saw this neck for sale in the classifieds. After minor haggling, I met Judge Smails in a dark parking lot somewhere in the wasteland between Cleveland and Akron to trade some cash for the opportunity to make something absolutely useless. The build will be a modern-ish bass vi that is not a 1960s semi-ergonomic Fender shape, but a super absurd pointy Randy Rhoads V shape instead. Here is the crappy drawing I made in Illustrator to check to see if everything would fit.
The squares are 1". Yes, I know there are seven tuners for six strings. I like tuners. I am also still working on the headstock design. The block outline is the size of the body blanks you can buy from Keim. Lots of waste cuts for making the pointy part that sticks out of the box (thinks outside of the blank?)
The pile of parts with appropriate stuff scribbled on a piece of paper:
Specs are:
Body: Poplar slab from Keim lumber. My favorite basses all have poplar or mahogany bodies. Same size as a normal RRV. Scaling it up to be proportional to a 30" scale neck would have made it the size of Rhode Island.
Neck: 30" scale rehabbed Warmoth neck from Smails. Will need to fill and redrill the tuner holes. That is why the block of maple is there. I'll turn some appropriately oriented plugs.
Bridge: Tremo...ahem...vibrato via a Trem-King, because pointy basses need vibratos for maximum absurdity.
Tuners: Some sort of Hipshot locking tuners.
Pickups: two Lace Sensor Aluma 90 (P-90 shape)
Electronics: passive pots of some sort, likely VVT
Paint: lots of it. Not sure what color. Probably white to contrast with my black leather pants.
Strings: Sringjoy bass Vi strings - 0.090" - 0.032" (QUALIFIES FOR THE SHOW BABY!)
Cat: As always, Piggy will help move small things to the floor and test strings.
Bass building and woodworking in general is new to me and I get to learn new things. I can buy fancy basses, but learning things while making them is more fun (but no less costly!). New things for me to learn how to do:
Make body templates from scratch drawings
Make a body from templates
Fret a neck (leveling, too).
Paint a body with some sort of solid color.
Modify tuners (more later).
The neck is roasted maple with a purpleheart fretboard and some fancy Mother of Plastic dot inlays. It is sanded down to a 20" radius, which I thought about modifying to my preferred Fender radius of 9.5, but then I realized I was too lazy for that. It still needs frets, so I get to pound in the frets and do all that fret stuff. It is a nice neck. The judge does good work.
The whole body will come from this slab, but I will have to cut things out selectively to make the long side of the V, which is stupid long (Figure 1).
I will update this thread sporadically. I just got to Keim Lumber today to buy the body wood and I'm already two weeks late. Nice!
The renewal/rebirth angle is finishing the neck that Rojo412 partially fixed. It had a different fretboard at one point and poorly defretted.
The squares are 1". Yes, I know there are seven tuners for six strings. I like tuners. I am also still working on the headstock design. The block outline is the size of the body blanks you can buy from Keim. Lots of waste cuts for making the pointy part that sticks out of the box (thinks outside of the blank?)
The pile of parts with appropriate stuff scribbled on a piece of paper:
Specs are:
Body: Poplar slab from Keim lumber. My favorite basses all have poplar or mahogany bodies. Same size as a normal RRV. Scaling it up to be proportional to a 30" scale neck would have made it the size of Rhode Island.
Neck: 30" scale rehabbed Warmoth neck from Smails. Will need to fill and redrill the tuner holes. That is why the block of maple is there. I'll turn some appropriately oriented plugs.
Bridge: Tremo...ahem...vibrato via a Trem-King, because pointy basses need vibratos for maximum absurdity.
Tuners: Some sort of Hipshot locking tuners.
Pickups: two Lace Sensor Aluma 90 (P-90 shape)
Electronics: passive pots of some sort, likely VVT
Paint: lots of it. Not sure what color. Probably white to contrast with my black leather pants.
Strings: Sringjoy bass Vi strings - 0.090" - 0.032" (QUALIFIES FOR THE SHOW BABY!)
Cat: As always, Piggy will help move small things to the floor and test strings.
Bass building and woodworking in general is new to me and I get to learn new things. I can buy fancy basses, but learning things while making them is more fun (but no less costly!). New things for me to learn how to do:
Make body templates from scratch drawings
Make a body from templates
Fret a neck (leveling, too).
Paint a body with some sort of solid color.
Modify tuners (more later).
The neck is roasted maple with a purpleheart fretboard and some fancy Mother of Plastic dot inlays. It is sanded down to a 20" radius, which I thought about modifying to my preferred Fender radius of 9.5, but then I realized I was too lazy for that. It still needs frets, so I get to pound in the frets and do all that fret stuff. It is a nice neck. The judge does good work.
The whole body will come from this slab, but I will have to cut things out selectively to make the long side of the V, which is stupid long (Figure 1).
I will update this thread sporadically. I just got to Keim Lumber today to buy the body wood and I'm already two weeks late. Nice!
The renewal/rebirth angle is finishing the neck that Rojo412 partially fixed. It had a different fretboard at one point and poorly defretted.
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Oh wait, we're not in the same category... err, you're gonna do great! 
