Winter 2017 Build Off - Mystery Bass (winter themed)

gsnad2000

gsnad2000

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Aug 6, 2011
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Owner of Wrong Way Customs
#1
So first off, I just love build challenges! They are so much fun! For that reason alone, I am in!

First challenge faced - What the heck am i going to build??? At this point i have absolutely no idea. All i know so far is that i want it to have some sort of winter theme. Maybe that just means white paint, might mean an odd shaped body, maybe some ice blue highlights. Probably no frosty the snowman magic hats, but, you never know.....

So thats it for now! I promise I will get my stuff together soon and make a real plan!

Edited on 1-4 for my list of challenges faced....

1. First time carving top and back plates.
2. First time using a preamp.
3. First build as a fretless.
4. New body design.
5. The finish I am planning will be a new challenge.
 
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#3
A few thoughts on this build....

I'm thinking about a neck through with wenge as the main wood in the neck beam. White painted body wings. Also maybe fretless.

No body shape plans yet.

The challenges presented so far would be,

1. I've only made 1 neck through so far.
2. I've never done a "partial" paint job like that, where the wings are painted and the neck beam is unpainted.
3. The only fretless I've done was pulling the frets out of an old twisted squier neck several years ago.

That's it for now, probably won't start acquiring parts and making sawdust until after the new year.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!
 
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#5
Updates!

I finally started a little work on this.

Here is the new plan so far...
Hollowbody with carved top and back.
Wenge neck with some white (maple) accents.
Either glued in neck or bolt on, not sure yet.
30" scale.
Possibly fretless.
Might go with lipstick tube pups and some kind of preamp.
body on the bigger side.

So today I picked up some maple that will be used for the body. Plain soft maple for the core and curly for the top and back.

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Also started cutting some wenge I had on hand for the neck. It's a bit yellow on the inside, but I think that will darken up to the usual chocolate brown.

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Neck blank is currently glued up in clamps, no pics of that yet.
 
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#7
Curious, as someone who has never built a bass, where would you get bass quality wood? (I'm in Canada btw, Canadian or international store would be helpful). How much does it cost to get a sufficient amount to build a bass on average?
 
#8
Felken said:
Curious, as someone who has never built a bass, where would you get bass quality wood? (I'm in Canada btw, Canadian or international store would be helpful). How much does it cost to get a sufficient amount to build a bass on average?
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You can get maple from just about any home improvement store, probably for a whole bass you're talking $40 or $50 of wood, less if you're using a pre-made neck. I'm not familiar with places that will ship to Canada, but there are surely saw mills and wood supply places nearby.
 
#9
Jisch said:
You can get maple from just about any home improvement store, probably for a whole bass you're talking $40 or $50 of wood, less if you're using a pre-made neck. I'm not familiar with places that will ship to Canada, but there are surely saw mills and wood supply places nearby.
Click to expand...

What quality should I look for (as in what do I ask for), because most woods in home improvement stores are more used for housing and things like that.
 
#10
Felken said:
Curious, as someone who has never built a bass, where would you get bass quality wood? (I'm in Canada btw, Canadian or international store would be helpful). How much does it cost to get a sufficient amount to build a bass on average?
Click to expand...

In Calgary, we've got a place that stocks a wide variety of hardwoods, my luthier mentioned them to me. Hard to believe Ottawa wouldn't have one as well. If you can isolate a local luthier who does their own builds, they might be a good resource, otherwise fire "Ottawa hardwood" into Google and follow some links.
 
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#11
It really depends on your goals. For a first build I would recommend getting some poplar or similar wood that is cheap and relatively easy to work with. Also what tools do you have? My first build was done with maple and poplar i got at my local lowes. I had no means to work with rough lumber at the time so the surfaced 1xn lumber they sell was perfect for that. For the body I just glued up 2 pieces to get the thickness I needed.
I get almost all my lumber from a local place now so I can't be much help for getting it where you are but if you do some searches here in luthiers corner I know it has been talked about quite a bit.
 
#12
Yesterday's progress.... neck blank out of clamps, cleaned up, scarf joint cut and glued.
Cut the fretslots which will be filled with maple veneer as this is to be a lined fretless.
Body core glued up.

Today I will work a bit on some layout options such as pickups and locations, rear access for preamp, battery, etc... and figure out just how much wood I can remove from the core. I really want this to be as hollow as can be. And frankly, considering I'm constructing the body from 4 inches of maple, I'm going to need the weight reduction!

IMG_5001.JPG IMG_5003.JPG IMG_5006.JPG IMG_5007.JPG

That first pic is also my entry for the messiest workbench competition.
 
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#13
MY KINGDOM FOR A BANDSAW!

That is the theme of today's updat....

Today saw the resawing of my curly maple top piece. Of done a bit of resawing using my table saw, but this bass is 16" wide which means my top wood started out over 8 inches wide! My table saw maxed out just over 3", so I was left with about a 2" strip of maple to cut by hand. 20" long. Got through it though and it is now glued up in clamps.

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Also rough cut the body core to shape. Gave my jigsaw a workout on that one. I've cut a lot of hardwood with this thing but this was a fight. Guess most of the bodies I've cut out with it have been slightly softer woods. Usually a little thinner too. Just realized I haven't taken a pic of the body yet. Sorry will get to that later.
 
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#15
Still forgot to take a pic of the body progress, but we have some new neck progress.

I usually like to cut my neck to shape first and then use that as a template to route the fretboard. This build I am reversing that however and have already cut the fretboard to size (excluding the body end which will be dealt with later). The reason for this reversal is top secret, but let's just say it's part of yet another first time thing I am challenging myself with. Also cut the truss rod slot and glued headstock ears on today.

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#16
Picked up some thin white styrene? from the local hobby shop today and glued in the fret marker lines. Also rough cut the neck to shape.


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I guess it's time to reveal one of my "top secret" challenge yourself challenges. Fiber optic side dots. I have the back of the fingerboard routed for a path for the fibers and the side holes drilled. Today I picked up some 3/32 styrene tubing and installed it. The actual fibers are snaked through but not epoxied down yet.


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#18
Felken said:
I like how you actually update us. I've subbed to a few threads for the build off challenge and you're the only one that updates us.
Click to expand...

Haha hey thanks! There are quite a few threads going on this challenge, some are definitely more active than others. Take a look around though there are some good ones going on!
 
#20
So much for me being the one that updates his thread! I've been laid up with the flu for the last week so haven't gotten a thing done on this build. I HAVE been jealously watching the great progress on so many of the other challenge builds.

I did get some pickups in the mail the other day, so I guess that counts for progress. Pics will follow hopefully soon with some real forward progress.
 
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