• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Winter Build off - Mash Up - Get Ready

#621
8F2592FB-4769-4372-B617-7AAB65C1C708.jpeg
Was just looking at short scales strat neck conversions...
and on the lipstick front...
Mine played two services this weekend and was amazing. Her first time in the wild. There will be more lipstick pickups in my future for sure! Never thought it would keep up with a choir in a big room but there was really good clarity and more than enough thunder in it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ronaldpdbrandt and moonshinegtrs
#622
Tejas Thumper said:
Time for me to enter the fray. I got the idea for my project after reading all of the posts prior to this one. I truly liked the automotive themed bass's early on. Then came the interesting / amazing resonator ideas. I almost lost my mind over the cigar box idea. As some of you know I am a lap steel nut that's just learning how to play bass. Then as it sometimes does, my mind started crafting a plan. I asked myself...… "What can I do that will do justice to and help me win this competition?" The answer that kept popping up..... Nothing!

So being a free willed person with nothing to loose or win and some time on my hands between builds, I made a decision based on my skill level, parts available, lack of money (I'm retired), & obvious questionable visionary conception abilities..... Out comes my project plan. "A CHEVY CORVAIR IN A BEAUTY CONTEST WITH A PACK OF CORVETTES:

I'll start with a used strat-like neck pulled from a junk caster that I salvaged parts from and modify it to work as a ss bass neck, add to that a (Feral Flying Pig) cigar box that currently houses used pull off pickups in my shop. They will be mated with a backbone made from a black walnut cutoff from a lap steel project earlier this year. In the aformentioned cigar box, I found my last Danelectro sized lipstick pickup, so of course it's gonna be used since I have never seen one used in a bass (except for the old Danelectro bass's). Now for the automotive angle, I don't have the tools or skills to do a sweet 60 caddy grill or 57 chevy fin design but I do have a 1960 (Year of my birth) Texas license plate that's in good enough shape to use as a pick guard. At least after I clear coat it to protect me from tetanus from the err ummm patina.... LOL!!!!! That license plate will also allow me to add a little metallic resonation to the mix.

Well this is my idea so far..... An automotive themed, short scale, cigar box, resonator, semi hollow, junkyard, steel guitar, bass that wont win anything but a few laughs. But then again I won't spend a dime on it since I'll be using nothing but pull off or NOS parts found in my garage & hobby luthier shop. Considering her automotive lineage…. She will be dubbed the rat rod bass.

OK OK I will buy some strings.

So..... Is there gonna be a prize for the least spent on a project? LOL!!!
Click to expand...
That sounds like a fun build, I'm interested to see how the license plate resonator works on a bass, I've used a cat bowl resonator and it has a mighty thump plugged in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Novarocker, moonshinegtrs, Fat Freddy and 1 other person
#625
Will_White said:
That sounds like a fun build, I'm interested to see how the license plate resonator works on a bass, I've used a cat bowl resonator and it has a mighty thump plugged in.
Click to expand...
I have done the cat bowl thing with dulcimers and they all had a good tone. But the license plate was just an idea this old motorhead conjured up..
 
  • Like
Reactions: Will_White and Fat Freddy
#626
ReasonablyHappy said:
View attachment 3250312 Was just looking at short scales strat neck conversions...
and on the lipstick front...
Mine played two services this weekend and was amazing. Her first time in the wild. There will be more lipstick pickups in my future for sure! Never thought it would keep up with a choir in a big room but there was really good clarity and more than enough thunder in it.
Click to expand...

That is sweet. Now I may put a lipstick in my Bronco bass also. Thanks
 
  • Like
Reactions: moonshinegtrs, Fat Freddy and ReasonablyHappy
#629
Wood shot.... Curly maple and a killer lightweight piece of mahogany for the neck. Laminations are next.
TB Winter Build Off 2018 2.jpg


I'm cutting up wood for laminations (I'm building inventory, cutting and sanding several different species in different thicknesses. Purple Heart here (I will most likely use walnut for the neck thru laminations for the Mashup build though I my use curly maple).
TB Winter Build Off 2018 3.jpg




Moonshine :bassist:
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: postalflunkie, Reedt2000, ctmullins and 4 others
#634
Scoops said:
Finally got a piece of Bubinga. I was thinking I would put a Holly cap on it. My design director asked "what are you Smokin? You should make the cap the same as the body and the neck"!
So Now I'm thinking a 100% all bubinga bass. Body, cap, neck and FB. Don't know if I have ever seen that.

View attachment 3251015
Click to expand...
Are you going to bind it? Otherwise I would think it would look too monotone.
 
#635
Will_White said:
Are you going to bind it? Otherwise I would think it would look too monotone.
Click to expand...

Yes, there will be a binding on this one.

Every now and then I go against the advice of my design director, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't
Still not totally dedicated to the materials for this one.

If I go Holly top, it will be a Ric checkerboard binding. If I go all Bubinga, it will be a red tortoise.
 
  • Like
Reactions: postalflunkie, Will_White and ReasonablyHappy
#636
Scoops said:
Finally got a piece of Bubinga. I was thinking I would put a Holly cap on it. My design director asked "what are you Smokin? You should make the cap the same as the body and the neck"!
So Now I'm thinking a 100% all bubinga bass. Body, cap, neck and FB. Don't know if I have ever seen that.

View attachment 3251015
Click to expand...
A mono-wood mashup; a certain irony there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rojo412, ReasonablyHappy, Scoops and 1 other person
#637
Scoops said:
Finally got a piece of Bubinga. I was thinking I would put a Holly cap on it. My design director asked "what are you Smokin? You should make the cap the same as the body and the neck"!
So Now I'm thinking a 100% all bubinga bass. Body, cap, neck and FB. Don't know if I have ever seen that.

View attachment 3251015
Click to expand...
Bubinga body and neck, maple binding, maple fretboard with bubinga blocks?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ReasonablyHappy and Scoops
#639
Jon Clegg said:
A mono-wood mashup; a certain irony there.
Click to expand...
Hadn't thought about it in that manner, but yes there is some irony.

Reedt2000 said:
Bubinga body and neck, maple binding, maple fretboard with bubinga blocks?
Click to expand...
One thing that will be in common with all the builds will be a crushed MOP shark tooth position markers and epoxied FB. Binding will be per the build (see below)

Slidlow said:
View attachment 3251264 Not quite monotone but close at two tone. 100% bubinga could work if the design supports it.
Click to expand...
As I said before, I'm not totally locked down with the materials I'm using. I have three builds I'm contemplating, and one plan of attach is to make each one 100% a single kind of wood. One all bubinga, one all ash, one all mahogany.
The all ash would be for a T40 like design. I'll use tort binding.
The all mahogany with cherry red stain in a LP special design. I'll use ivoroid binding.
The all bubinga would most likely be a LP special design. Probably a checkerboard binding.

Highly doubt I'll finish 3, but giving it serious consideration.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ronaldpdbrandt and ReasonablyHappy

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back