Bass builds: My own & for clients (friends)

[ThaCoast]

Greetings,

For over a year, i've been focusing on a gibson grabber inspired build for my dad. Since high school, i've been figuring out what to do for my short scale trash bass build. & just recently, i started building a thunderbird bass with a few design changes to be opposite of my thunderbird goth.

I've decided to have one post where i document all my builds. & here's a new build that will start shortly. It's for one of my good friends who always fancied a gibson RD bass but he's a fender guy at heart. Why not mix both? Through designing, he & I brought the RD bass into the 21st century with a few modifications to enhance the performance. The specs are as follows along with the hardware used.

34" scale
2 piece alder body
Bolt on Maple neck w/dot inlayed rosewood fretboard
21 jumbo frets
Grover vintage series 2x2 clover tuners
Gotoh 201B-4 bridge
Seymour Duncan QP P/J set
V,V,T layout with tube jack output

We've also resized the body down by 10% since my friend is shorter than myself & to have it fit in his standard gig bag.

I've just received the 2 piece alder so assuming all goes according to schedule, i'll most likely have this bass done by xmas. Yes this post will have pictures update once work begins.

Cheers

 

[yoshi]

Show us a design you big teaser!

 

[ThaCoast]

Show us a design you big teaser!

This isn't a 1:1 scale, it's mearly how the whole bass will look in the end. above it is my thunderbird build minus the pickups.

 

[ThaCoast]

Had a gathering with friends including the one i'm building this bass for, & we started talking about the neck profile & finish option. He's got a custom pbass with a jazz neck but the profile is pretty precision, but narrow width like a jazz. At first we we're going for an all black look, but then he said: Actually, let's make it a natural finish, with a wood pick guard. Done, the alder wood for the body is pretty light coloured so having a darker wood pick guard will just make this bass really unique in it's own rights. Besides, it's really just aesthetics so it's no big deal. But i'm actually digging the idea as well. There are too many black finished instruments, so making something unique is even better.

So the headstock, the body & neck will all be natural finished, in semi gloss finish. We'll most likely stain the wood guard (if it's not darker to begin with). & on a side note, the two guitarists in his band have spoken to him (& briefly to me) about wanting their own custom guitars built by me. It's later works, but i'm glad i'm slowly expanding to more people. (I'm actually their Roadie since 2013 & i've always had a blast)

Building should start this upcoming thursday.

 

[wraub]

This will look awesome.
I can just tell.

 

[ThaCoast]

Thanks, we're pretty stoked that it's finally happening. & the better news for me, is that he's going to help me along the way, as i do as roadie for his band - both of us want the other to succeed. We're on the right track

 

[ctmullins]

Very cool. Subbed!

 

[ThaCoast]

The body portion of the build should start thursday. The blank is 2" thick so once my buddy, Orin, gets back to me w/how thick he wants it, i'll be planning it DIY (first by handsaw, then rasp & hand planer, then some sanding) No pictures til then. It's going to be an awesome project.

 

[Hopkins]

If you are going to try and make something of this, you may think about investing in a better camera so you can post some more visible images online.

 

[ThaCoast]

No money to invest in a proper camera yet & i'm in the works of upgrading my cellphone (because i do need it) & the new one is bound to have a better camera quality as well . I've started out modifying guitars/basses for friends & they have paid me a few bucks for it. Now it's really just the build portion that's really kicking off slowly. So i'm pretty stoked, & i'm 21 so what's not to enjoy! But i shall future wise have a better camera, but i think my next phone will do a much better job than the one i've got now. + since i post everything to instagram (on the suggestion of Orin nonetheless), i guess there's that reason as well as to why picture quality isn't the greatest. But i mostly blame my 2 year old cellphone on the verge of death

 

[Hopkins]

No money to invest in a proper camera yet & i'm in the works of upgrading my cellphone (because i do need it) & the new one is bound to have a better camera quality as well . I've started out modifying guitars/basses for friends & they have paid me a few bucks for it. Now it's really just the build portion that's really kicking off slowly. So i'm pretty stoked, & i'm 21 so what's not to enjoy! But i shall future wise have a better camera, but i think my next phone will do a much better job than the one i've got now. + since i post everything to instagram (on the suggestion of Orin nonetheless), i guess there's that reason as well as to why picture quality isn't the greatest. But i mostly blame my 2 year old cellphone on the verge of death

LOL, I would have guessed you were still using the camera from a Motorola RAZR

A new phone will definitely take better photos. My Galaxy S6 has the best phone camera I have ever seen.

 

[ThaCoast]

LOL, I would have guessed you were still using the camera from a Motorola RAZR

A new phone will definitely take better photos. My Galaxy S6 has the best phone camera I have ever seen.

I'm either going for an S4 or a onetouch by alcatel. Right now, i've got the oldest galaxy ace 2

 

[Will_White]

I'm either going for an S4 or a onetouch by alcatel. Right now, i've got the oldest galaxy ace 2

I would recommend the s4 I had one before I upgraded to an s5 only reason I upgraded is because I broke the s4

 

[Hopkins]

I'm either going for an S4 or a onetouch by alcatel. Right now, i've got the oldest galaxy ace 2

I would avoid an Alctel like the plague. My dad had one and it was the biggest pile of junk I have ever seen. The S4 is a good phone

 

[ThaCoast]

I would recommend the s4 I had one before I upgraded to an s5 only reason I upgraded is because I broke the s4

I would avoid an Alctel like the plague. My dad had one and it was the biggest pile of junk I have ever seen. The S4 is a good phone

Few of my friends who have Alcatel say it works great. But i'm still comparing & gotta go compare in person as well.

 

[ThaCoast]

BOOM!

Last week, i had started to plan the thickness down to 1.75" (to my knowledge it's a standard thickness amongst bass - feel free to correct). Two hours total work included using a router to carve small blocks (Most of builders have a jig to simply use the router to do the whole job of planning - unfortunately, i don't at the mean time so more manual work for me) then using a chisel to remove the blocks, a rasp to file down humps of wood left by the blocks & then i just sanded everything down. Today i spend another two hours doing the above picture: cutting out & sanding to the final shape. It's pretty light & i doubt it'll be prone to being neck heavy. I also removed the excess glue from joining the two halves together. & it's completely sanded to 400 grit.

At the end of this week, i'll most likely be carving out the arm rest & belly cut, mark the position for the bridge, layout the controls & it's cavity. So far so good

 

[ThaCoast]

Today, I carved the tummy cut & i also took an electric planer to the back of the body because 1-wasn't perfectly 1.75" thick, 2-when i was chiseling away, some chips & dings in the body itself. So after the planer was used to shave down 1/32", it's pretty perfect. Sorry no pics yet. Will get around to it once the arm rest cut & edge round off is done. Yesterday i stopped by the guys place to order some more parts & set up his pbass. So the bridge, tuning keys, electronics, & neck plate + cushion are on the way (should be about a week or so) til i receive them.

On a side note, i've made a deal with another musician friend that i've already modified a few things for him (& we're still talking about more projects) that instead of him paying me cash, the hours i tally up, wtvr he'd owe me in money, that he'd buy parts for me & my personal builds. It's a win win for both of us & i'm pretty glad about it

 

[ThaCoast]

As i'm awaiting parts for this RD bass build, here's a little back story & the many projects i've come to do over the past 3 years.

It mostly just started as setting up gear for myself since i didn't want to pay someone to do something so easy (action & intonation) every time i needed it. My first modifying job was my ex-guitarist's epiphone special SG that he wanted to convert into a 3 pickup guitar. He wanted an aged road worn look to it & i did my best to create that look to an extent some burn marks some chipping & many dings. This project along with another of his, never got completed due to him lacking funds for them. Sadly, due to his unhappiness with the fact that i wasn't able to finish them + that i supposedly ruined his Kramer guitar (it was white & i painted zebra stripes to make it more 80's looking but the varnish turned the white a bit yellow - what do you expect white yellows after use so this just speeds up the process of that look), he & i parted ways & haven't spoken since.

Another friend of mine & my fellow bandmate in a blink-182 tribute, billy talent tribute & my own original band has been the down to earth client i've had. His mods are a Squier mustang to replicate Kurt Cobain's, a Fender Mark Hoppus signature we upgraded the Duncan Quarter Pounder for Dimarzio Rails, the Standard MIM tuners & bridge for american deluxe ones, a new nut, new 500K potentiometer & a black pearl pickguard from WD parts. He's also got a Fender Tom Delonge Strat that we're in the process of slightly modifying - new 500k potentiometer, new pickguard (undecided at the moment) & that's it. The tuners & bridge work good.

I've fixed a couple broken headstocks (one epiphone les paul standard being turned into a gibson shape & an ibanez les paul shaped guitar not lawsuit era), i've done some repainting as well, & i build my own personal ideas & modify some of my gear to fit my specific needs.

It's a need that became a hobby that's now becoming my job

 

[Larry V]

Those look real nice, Andii! I look forward to seeing how the RD turns out. Keep the updates coming.

 

[ThaCoast]

Thanks ) i will, once i get more parts for the bass. Today i'm getting some mods & repairs done some friends & my dad as well. I started when i was 15 to fix my own stuff & 19 when i took the challenge of doing it for others as well. Now i'm 21 & the business is going good. Slow, but good.