Does anybody cut custom bass bodies?

[Shalomante]

Hey guys! I'm new here, but my whole purpose of joining TalkBass.com was to see if anyone knows anybody who could cut a custom body for me. In the future, I'm wanting to build a custom bass with a jaguar style body, PJ pickup config, and a reverse neck. I thought about just buying a player series jag-bass and modifying it, but I think it'd end up being more expensive, and building it would just be more fun. They don't offer jag-bass bodies on any major sites, so I wanted to see if anybody here could cut a body blank into a jaguar body and route it for a PJ pickup configuration, and if so, how much would that cost? Don't know if this is the right forum to ask in, but I though I'd give it a go. Thanks!

 

[[skyraider]]

Try warmoth.com

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Here we tend to encourage and support "anybody" being "you." Building more of it can be more fun.

The terms of use here do not permit self-promotion but there certainly are folks who do work for money for others, and you can look around at build threads and PM people who's work you like. But consider taking a stab at it yourself, with the support of the LC to help you along.

 

[Shalomante]

Try warmoth.com

I have. They don't have any jag bodies that would work for what I'm trying to do.

 

[Shalomante]

Here we tend to encourage and support "anybody" being "you." Building more of it can be more fun.

The terms of use here do not permit self-promotion but there certainly are folks who do work for money for others, and you can look around at build threads and PM people who's work you like. But consider taking a stab at it yourself, with the support of the LC to help you along.

Here we tend to encourage and support "anybody" being "you." Building more of it can be more fun.

The terms of use here do not permit self-promotion but there certainly are folks who do work for money for others, and you can look around at build threads and PM people who's work you like. But consider taking a stab at it yourself, with the support of the LC to help you along.

I'll definitely look around the build threads. I would try building it myself, but I don't have the equipment nor the money to make mistakes. I know you learn and grow by messing up, but my wallet doesn't have time for that lol. Maybe after this first build I'll try.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I'll definitely look around the build threads. I would try building it myself, but I don't have the equipment nor the money to make mistakes. I know you learn and grow by messing up, but my wallet doesn't have time for that lol. Maybe after this first build I'll try.

Just for your reference, having a one-off custom body made, like you are describing, will cost around $250-$400. That's in bare wood, not painted. Painting adds another $200-$300, depending on the complexity of the finish.

 

[Shalomante]

That's wild! I knew it'd be expensive, just not that expensive. Would it cost less if I cut the body, but had someone else cut out the shoe for the neck and route the space for pickups and tone pots?

 

[Slidlow]

That's wild! I knew it'd be expensive, just not that expensive. Would it cost less if I cut the body, but had someone else cut out the shoe for the neck and route the space for pickups and tone pots?

If you go that route you may consider getting the neck pocket, pickup routes and control cavity done before cutting the blank to the desired body shape. You will need to supply a drawing or sketch of the finished body outline so things can be positioned.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Hey guys! I'm new here, but my whole purpose of joining TalkBass.com was to see if anyone knows anybody who could cut a custom body for me. In the future, I'm wanting to build a custom bass with a jaguar style body, PJ pickup config, and a reverse neck. I thought about just buying a player series jag-bass and modifying it, but I think it'd end up being more expensive, and building it would just be more fun. They don't offer jag-bass bodies on any major sites, so I wanted to see if anybody here could cut a body blank into a jaguar body and route it for a PJ pickup configuration, and if so, how much would that cost? Don't know if this is the right forum to ask in, but I thought I'd give it a go. Thanks!

@Shalomante Like this?

Jaguar Electric Bass Body All Cavity Routed Unfinish Project Okoume Wood | eBay

Travel Electric Guitar & Bass. Electric Guitar. Electric Ukulele. Pocket size: 64 16 92. We will try our best to solve any problems about the order.

www.ebay.com

There are more available there too!
How about a finished body?

Squier Jaguar Bass Body And Neck Parts | eBay

<p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">The neck and body are ready to be put together for a project. The body has a chip and a noticeable ding. However, the electronic cavities are shielded with shielding paint.</p>

www.ebay.com

 

[Bruce Johnson]

That's wild! I knew it'd be expensive, just not that expensive. Would it cost less if I cut the body, but had someone else cut out the shoe for the neck and route the space for pickups and tone pots?

I don't know why that's wild. A small Luthier shop like mine, even with all the machines and tooling, will take 4-8 hours to build a one-off bass body. That's what it takes. There are a lot of steps involved, whether making up custom routing templates, or pencil lines and hand shaping. And most of us charge in the range of $25 to $50 per hour shop rate. The wood costs $50 to $100.

I'm not just making these numbers up. I've been building basses for 30+ years, and I've made many one-off custom bodies.

 

[Max Bogosity]

To be fair, somebody who has never done that kind of work can't really be expected to guess the economics. I'd bet most of us came into this thinking "I can do this cheaper than Fender!"

(Edit for spelling.)

 

[Bruce Johnson]

That's wild! I knew it'd be expensive, just not that expensive. Would it cost less if I cut the body, but had someone else cut out the shoe for the neck and route the space for pickups and tone pots?

I hope I didn't scare you away! But that's the reality of the labor and material costs of building a custom one-off. Even for a company like Warmoth, which has lots of machinery and tooling, a custom body is going to be 2-3 times the labor of one of their standard models. Their selling price for a custom wouldn't be 10% higher than a standard model, it would be double or triple. and most people wouldn't be willing to pay that. That's why a company like Warmoth doesn't offer full custom service for a single body. Only if you order 100 is it worth their trouble to tool up for it. The limited custom ordering that they offer is combinations of patterns and tooling that they already have.

When you see a bare-wood bass body for sale on the web for $100, it's coming from a factory in the far east that's fairly highly automated. They'll build bodies in batches of 1000 at a time. They can make them cheaply by using minimal labor and buying the lumber by the containerload. They sell most of their bodies in quantity to larger instrument manufacturers. And they sell off overruns and seconds for cheap to individuals (sometimes employees at the factory) who then sell them off on the web. Those low prices are all because of mass production from an efficient factory. They don't build them one at a time, and you can't go to them for a one-off custom.

Here in Luthier's Corner, we encourage you to try building it yourself. A custom body of your own design is a good project to start with. Do you have any tools and a shop space? We'll be glad to guide you through the process.

 

[SpoonySmalls]

i love grape stompe!