Winter 2017 Build Off - Speak of the Devil

mapleglo

mapleglo

Warp Engineer
Gold Supporting Member
Sep 7, 2013
12,213
41,520
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phoenix, az
#1
Since it's within the rules, I'll throw my planned devil bass in the ring.

wjjlts.jpg


Headless, with a head (huh?), Eye of Sauron, all maple, bolt-on, 5 string, 33.25" scale. No idea what pickup(s).

Here's the wood:

35lra7t.jpg


The smaller piece will be the body - one piece.

Here's the bridge and tuners:

2uzsc3p.jpg


No sawdust yet. I was planning on building a template from 3/4" plywood first, though I might start on the neck first. I never built a bolt on neck. I actually have a cast off from my last build where I totally messed up the neck blank, but I may be able to use that. If not, plenty more maple in stock.

That's where I am so far. I'll note the Fenderbacker thread that updates will happen in this thread.
 
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#6
Sartori said:
Pickup ideas:
1. Custom recreation of an actual magnetized horseshoe pickup
2. Thunderbuckers
3. Darkstar or Guild Bisonic or whatever.
Click to expand...

I had looked into making an actual magnetized horseshoe pickup at one point. It takes some doing. Obtaining the right kind of metal, and then bending it into a "U" shape is pretty tough. I came across a youTube video of someone building one, including the metal bending. Wish I had saved the link. Then I thought to have a machine shop just mill some aluminum to make a fake one. Then I figured it's just easier to buy one. It now lives in my Jetglo.

2i6gmti.jpg


Still, it would be pretty cool to build one.
 
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#7
#9
fjadams said:
As much as I love the new Guild Bi Sonic pickups not sure they'd look right on this one.

Maybe look at a Nanomag pickup for this one. I'm thinking of trying one in a future build.

I'm looking at this one: Shadow Sonic DoublePlay Acoustic Guitar Soundhole Preamp with Nanomag Soundhole | eBay

But this one would also work for a lot less money: Shadow Acoustic Guitar NanoMAG Pickup with Endpin Preamp | eBay
Click to expand...

Will an acoustic guitar pickup work on a solid body bass?

Well, now that I'm finally done with my 2nd Greg Lake tribute song, I can get started on this project.

 
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#10
Yeah. The Epiphone Ultra II and III uses them along with the traditional pickups. Actually does get an acoustic sound.

I'm thinking of a Ric shaped 28 1/2" or 30" semi hollowbody using the Nanomag. Still in the thinking stage as I have no woodworking tools nor really the space to put them in my brother's house where I live.
 
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#12
Gonna watch this one; I missed all the fun on your Fenderbacker build.

Besides using an acoustic guitar pickup, I wonder if there's a way to hide a pickup under the veneer or something?

I think a "faceless" bass would be creepier and more devil-looking.

I've been told my Westone Spectrum is kind of evil-looking because of its dark red and black color scheme along with the Westone body shape. The pickups and hardware are blacked out.
 
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#13
Spidey2112 said:
I'm bringing beer over, just to watch... the symmetry of your design exudes coolness, far below Middle Earth... Good luck on the project!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Spectrum said:
Gonna watch this one; I missed all the fun on your Fenderbacker build.

Besides using an acoustic guitar pickup, I wonder if there's a way to hide a pickup under the veneer or something?

I think a "faceless" bass would be creepier and more devil-looking.

I've been told my Westone Spectrum is kind of evil-looking because of its dark red and black color scheme along with the Westone body shape. The pickups and hardware are blacked out.
Click to expand...

I thought about an invisible pickup. If I can get the strings close enough to the body, I may be able to hide the pickup right into the body. The other alternative is a piezo setup under the bridge.

*edit - or, I can make it a set neck, and extend the fretboard right to the bridge, and hide the pickup under the fretboard somewhere in the body.
 
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#15
I drew out the neck on paper.

t4xm51.jpg


I could extend it to the bridge though it might be a little hard to radius. And I always liked a little space between the strings and body face - never went for the "ramp" thing. We'll see - it may be too cool not to try.

*edit - and I had planned on putting the truss rod adjustment nut at the bottom of the neck next to the body keeping the headstock clean. Hmmm.
 
#16
mapleglo said:
I thought about an invisible pickup. If I can get the strings close enough to the body, I may be able to hide the pickup right into the body. The other alternative is a piezo setup under the bridge.

*edit - or, I can make it a set neck, and extend the fretboard right to the bridge, and hide the pickup under the fretboard somewhere in the body.
Click to expand...

If you go this route it would be easy to wind a pickup or two using neodymium magnets, which would give you some extra room. Using thicker magnet wire and fewer winds will drop the impedance and output with will require some extra components to match what most amps will expect to see, but you could go full passive if you wanted by using a transformer or two.
 
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#18
mapleglo said:
I came across a youTube video of someone building one, including the metal bending. Wish I had saved the link. Then I thought to have a machine shop just mill some aluminum to make a fake one
Click to expand...
If you wanted to machine one yourself...I could get you a deal on the membership rate for a month at tech shop...the you could use their CNC mill.or.....regular end mill, & metal lathe etc...etc...
Just putting it out there....
.....again ;)
 
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