Umm... where to start?

R

Randomguy

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Jun 13, 2017
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#1
So I really would like to build my own bass sometime soon just because I want to. Nothing crazy but I do have a few ideas that are not being done by other makers major or small. I would like to start easy but making everything completely meaning not buying a precarved body or already made neck. I feel like I will learn more by making everything myself (not hardware and pickups obviously).

So question is what would be the most economical way of making a bass. Like what woods would be best. Neck through or bolt on? I don't mind spending money on good parts but I can't afford nor do I have space for stuff like a jointer or other big space taking tools so a lot of it if not all is going t have to be done by hand with hand tools. I do make knives for a living and at work I do have acces to some tools that can be used for wood working like various belt sanders and band saws so I could do some stuff there on the weekends but mostly it will be manual and power hand tools I will have to use. What things would you say are must haves for building a bass from scratch?
 
#2
Randomguy said:
Like what woods would be best. Neck through or bolt on? What things would you say are must haves for building a bass from scratch?
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Welcome to LC

I can give you what I think, but you will receive different input from others. This is the nature of the beast.
Wood - Rock maple for neck. Alder, Ash or Mahogany for body. Rosewood for the fingerboard. All very affordable

Neck Construction - Neck through and bolt on both have their own set of pros and cons. I prefer bolt on, but am trending towards neck through. In either case, you will probably want to create a laminated neck. It's more stable.

Must haves for building - I'd say a router.

One thing you will want to do is just follow some of the build threads here. Really good info comes out of here

Cheers
 
#3
Scoops said:
Welcome to LC

I can give you what I think, but you will receive different input from others. This is the nature of the beast.
Wood - Rock maple for neck. Alder, Ash or Mahogany for body. Rosewood for the fingerboard. All very affordable

Neck Construction - Neck through and bolt on both have their own set of pros and cons. I prefer bolt on, but am trending towards neck through. In either case, you will probably want to create a laminated neck. It's more stable.

Must haves for building - I'd say a router.

One thing you will want to do is just follow some of the build threads here. Really good info comes out of here

Cheers
Click to expand...

Awesome stuff so far. I was thinking neck through Because I have some ergonomic design ideas that I will eventually want to do that won't be possible with a bolt on. For now I'm just going to K.I.S.S. it probably with just doing a jazz copy of some sort. I know I need a router. I was just going to borrow a co-workers router till I could get my own.

What about files? I know I'll need some just don't know what kind I'll need.
 
#4
I would get a Shinto rasp, outside of what I do with the router, I use the Shinto and card scrapers to do 95% of my shaping. The only other place that files come into place for me is slotting the nut. I bought a set of files specifically for that, but you can get by using regular files.

I agree with everything @Scoops says about wood. You can get maple at Home Depot, which is probably the cheapest place to get it. I buy a lot of my wood from Ebay, just stay away from anything that has the word "luthier" in it, as that triples the price.

I used to think neck through was the easier of the two, after building a bunch of both types, I'd say they are about equally difficult, in different ways. Definitely do a laminated neck.

And now that you've asked the question, you have to start a build thread here on LC. Lots of friendly experienced people who will give you advice.
 
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#5
Randomguy said:
Awesome stuff so far. I was thinking neck through Because I have some ergonomic design ideas that I will eventually want to do that won't be possible with a bolt on. For now I'm just going to K.I.S.S. it probably with just doing a jazz copy of some sort. I know I need a router. I was just going to borrow a co-workers router till I could get my own.

What about files? I know I'll need some just don't know what kind I'll need.
Click to expand...

I'd suggest you float your ideas here, as you can save a LOT of wheel-spinning time by not re-inventing the wheel. You'll find lots of folks who have tried various "new ideas" and can add insight as to why it may or may not be a good idea.

Where do you start? At the beginning! It helps to follow a known path if you're new to making instruments. There's a bunch of specialized skills that you'll need, and you don't really know what you don't know untill you get into it.

Do some research and work out what you need as you go. Each person who builds does things in a slightly different way, so it's hard to throw out a laundry list of tools that's applicable to everyone. Just as an example, there's a lot of different ways (and tools used) for neck carving, hand and power versions. If I were recommending a good starter rasp I'd say one of the $20 Sculpture House rasps from Dick Blick, but someone else might have an entirely different recommendation.

The important thing is to ease into it and have fun in the process.
 
#6
Based on my very limited experience, making an accurate set of templates for body, neck, and headstock shapes is a key first step. Most people use 3/8" or 1/2" plywood or MDF, available at HD in 2'x4' or 2'x2' panels. MDF is easy to cut and shape, but does produce a lot of nasty dust. Spend as much time as you need to get your templates perfect, and you can use them with a template router bit to cut out all your major parts. 1/2" MDF is thin enough to be cut well with a Jigsaw if you don't have access to a bandsaw. If you dont own a router yet, id suggest something with both 1/4" and 1/2" collets. 1/2" shank router bits are much more rigid and accurate for template cutting. Beware the cheap Luthiers tools available on Ebay, I've found out the hard way that many of them are junk. The internet is your friend, you can find almost anything listed in the Stewart Macdonald catalog for less elsewhere, and many hardware store tools and materials can be repurposed for Luthiery. There are Youtube instructional videos on every conceivable aspect of construction, watch a few for each step,.and post here on LC.
 
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#7
Depending where you are, HD is often not the cheapest source of decent wood. If you have anything in the lines of a local sawmill, they are almost always the good deal. There might also be a serious hardwood supplier (to the furniture/wooddorking customer) which might or might not be a decent deal, and will have non-local woods the local sawmills might not. But yes - beware the "luthier" multiplier, it's rather absurd. When seeking to build a coffee-table bass, best to keep it at coffee-table when shopping for the wood.

The cheapest source of all (but highly sporadic and they often advertise poorly) is the relatives of an expired wooddorker trying to clean out the house/shop/storage or a not-quite-expired elder wooddorker being forced to move into a place with less space.

Clamps - you almost literally cannot have too many clamps. It's a standing joke with a giant boulder of truth to it.
 
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#8
Harbor Freight has a lot of pure class-A crap, and some amazing deals, clamps being one of them. Most of the hand tools you see in hardware stores are made in China anyway, so you aren't costing anybody a job by buying them at HF. They have every clamp size and style you'd need CHEAP! The deep-throated screw clamps are particularly useful for clamping across the width of the body. I have a jointer, but you can get away without one using a simple router table setup like this one:
Router Table Precision Edge Jointer

You can get around lack of a table saw using a circular saw and a panel cutting guide like this one I have:
Johnson® Tru-Line Cutting Guide (J4900) - Saw Accessories - Ace Hardware
Its two aluminum straightedges that clamp together long enough to cut a 4'x8' sheet of plywood, but I use a 4' piece for all kinds of stuff, including router straightedge guide. I would recommend investing in one really good quality straightedge, I have a 36" one I use to check other tools, etc. Some of the older cast aluminum levels you can find at flea markets and yard sales are incredibly straight, and can be used for fret leveling, but you need a straightedge to evaluate them on the spot.

Edit:
The power tools available at HF are generally crap, but I have seen builders buy them as "disposable" tools, run hard until they die and then trashed. Their routers are absolute junk, but their jigsaws are at least useable. They have a pretty honest customer rating system that reveals the worst junk. I have a used tool place nearby that I drop in once in a while, they randomly have good deals on stuff like drills and hand tools. I've tried yardsales, but most suburban Handyman types buy cheap Craftsman and Black and Decker stuff, which will do in a pinch. Buy the best tools you can afford, its cheaper in the long run, a lesson ive learned most painfully the hard way.
 
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#9
Thanks for all your replies. Really great stuff. I will of course start a build thread when I start. Have some other projects to finish first. There are no saw mill that I am aware of here in Orlando but there is a rockler and a woodcraft near my inlaws which we visit often enough for me to justify a visit there.
 
#10
Pretty thin there, yes. So for you, keeping an eye on the "hardwood" at HD/Lowes might be a good part of your overall plan.

Picking an Orlando zip code at random on woodfinder: Woodfinder: Find Sources of Lumber, Veneer and Sawmill Services

Woodcraft - Orlando, FL Fern Park FL (4 miles)
Rockler Woodworking and Hardware #36 - Orlando Altamonte Springs FL (5 miles)
Hardwood Lumber & Millwork Lakeland FL (53 miles)
Boat Builder Central Vero Beach FL (92 miles)
Woodcraft - Clearwater/Tampa, FL Clearwater FL (95 miles)
Advantage Trim & Lumber Co Sarasota FL (110 miles)
Woodcraft - Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville FL (122 miles)
Alva Hardwoods LaBelle FL (126 miles)
FLORIDA TEAK - Teak lumber, decking and teak wood products West Palm Beach FL (147 miles)
Foreverwood, Inc. Miami FL (205 miles)
 
#11
Yeah I read a couple of threads about people using pine and kiln dried #2 southern yellow pine is easily available at every Home Depot near me for about 8 bucks for a 2"x12"x8' board I was thinking about doing that for a body and then I can get anything at woodcraft for a neck for not to terrible of a price. I figure southern yellow is plenty hard compared to a lot of woods some of the main companies are using like basswood or agathis. Don't won't to do anything to fancy for my first one so if I mess it up it's not financially ruinous.
 
#13
T_Bone_TL said:
Depending where you are, HD is often not the cheapest source of decent wood. If you have anything in the lines of a local sawmill, they are almost always the good deal. There might also be a serious hardwood supplier (to the furniture/wooddorking customer) which might or might not be a decent deal, and will have non-local woods the local sawmills might not. But yes - beware the "luthier" multiplier, it's rather absurd. When seeking to build a coffee-table bass, best to keep it at coffee-table when shopping for the wood.

The cheapest source of all (but highly sporadic and they often advertise poorly) is the relatives of an expired wooddorker trying to clean out the house/shop/storage or a not-quite-expired elder wooddorker being forced to move into a place with less space.

Clamps - you almost literally cannot have too many clamps. It's a standing joke with a giant boulder of truth to it.
Click to expand...

I worked with a guy who had hoarded tons upon tons of hardwoods in his shop. One day he started voicing his plans to move it all to the basement of his house. I couldn't believe it. I said, "so your kids have to deal with it after you die?" That was 10 years ago... Far as I know he hasn't used a square inch of wood in that time.
 
#14
#15
I probably will do a bolt on neck for the first one atleast just so that if I mess up the either the body or the neck I won't be out the whole project. I feel like the hardest part is going to be the neck especially getting an even taper down it and making both sides symmetrical. I know there's asymmetric necks but I feel like trying to do that and make it work comfortably would be even harder.

The routing would be my other are of concern as I have never done that before but atleast I can buy templates for that
 
#17
Jisch said:
If you use the facet method it's pretty easy to carve a neck and have it be symmetric (or asymmetric if so desired). You draw lines then take away the wood between the lines, it's pretty easy and relatively fool proof (famous last words).
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Well I guess I can use your totally logically seemingly easy method that makes a lot of sense and I can't believe I didn't think of that. One of those things where I focused so much on the problem that I missed the easy solution
 
#19
+1 on facet neck carve. I'm an idiot, and its nearly idiot proof. I have great admiration for people who can just carve the nut and heel ends and then "connect the dots" with a spokeshave, not me! I did the facet method with cheap Harbor Freight rasps, not the best tools by far, but it was pretty stress free and controllable, I just nibbled away the facets and voila! A neck emerged.
 
#20
I used a Stewmac template for the control cavity, they sell matching covers, and it worked really well. If you are using any kind of stock P or J pups, there are lots of stock templates for cheap. Making your own templates isn't easy, but MDF is cheap, if you screw it up, no great loss. Better the MDF gets trashed than your expensive lumber. Its good basic woodworking practice too.
 
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