Winter Build Off 2022 - Essence II

[Jeff Siddall]

That's a cool bass with lots of unique touches. Limba is one of my favorite woods, but I have never made a neck or fretboard out of it. Seeing how amazing yours looks I might have to do one like it. Well done!

It means I couldn't fit the strap button on square because the neck is in the way. The strap button at an angle irritates me.

For installing screws in tight spaces I highly recommend bit wrenches. Here is one from a store local to me but there is probably something similar available in the UK:

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You can install/remove a screw with as little as a few cm of head clearance. I can't count the number of times this thing has come in handy over the years.

EDIT: If you need a pilot hole you can get 1/4" hex shank drill bits also.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

That's a cool bass with lots of unique touches. Limba is one of my favorite woods, but I have never made a neck or fretboard out of it. Seeing how amazing yours looks I might have to do one like it. Well done!



For installing screws in tight spaces I highly recommend bit wrenches. Here is one from a store local to me but there is probably something similar available in the UK:

Link Removed

You can install/remove a screw with as little as a few cm of head clearance. I can't count the number of times this thing has come in handy over the years.

EDIT: If you need a pilot hole you can get 1/4" hex shank drill bits also.

Lowes here has something similar. I use one regularly at work. Can’t find it on the website immediately though.

 

[smart51]

Do new basses bed in? Mine has developed more growl, which I like a lot. What's going on to do that?

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Lowes here has something similar. I use one regularly at work. Can’t find it on the website immediately though.

I forgot about this post. Found the Lowes one if anyone’s interested.

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[smart51]

This is my submission for the winter build off 2022

Aims

This was a bass build from offcuts and leftovers. The idea was to build a successor to my earlier project Essence, which was a bit neck heavy because of the conventional headstock and semi bodyless construction.

Specification

30" scale headless 5 string
Ash and black limba through neck, beech body wings and maple laminate arms.
EMG35P pickup and electronics
custom brass headless tuners and headpiece
control knobs and strap buttons turned out of body wood offcuts

Lessons learned

The length of string pull needed to get from slack to standard pitch is much less than I thought - about 7mm. I'd allowed 30mm. The tuners don't need to be as long as I'd made them. They're the heaviest part of the bass.

The gap between the nut and the headpiece could do with being a bit longer - just for ease of feeding the strings through.

Basses don't need bodies for tone, for sustain or for stability. You just need an upper horn to hang a strap from, a lower cut out to rest on your leg and a lower bout to rest your plucking arm on. The rest is just counter balance for a headstock full of machine heads.

Result

The bass is light at 2430g (5.35lbs) and comfortable to play. It's tone is bright with long sustain - something I was concerned about because of the lack of body wood. It's stable too, it never seems to need tuning.

A couple of things that I particularly like: stripy woods like limba hide the joins really well. You can hardly tell where the fret board stops and the neck starts. And neck through instruments allow a smooth blend between neck and body.