Jabba_the_gut

I had noisy pots on one once. John provides some fine spring that sat between the stacked knobs - I think this provided an electrical connection between the knobs and removed the noise. Did the job for me.

I've cut a new fretboard for this bass and this time I measured twice and cut once!! The previous neck was 31.5" with 24 frets, for the new neck is 29.5" and obviously has to fit in the same neck pocket and the bridge has to be in roughly the same place. So this works out as the replacement neck being 22 fret for it to fit correctly. As the chance of me getting the intonation exactly right having not tried this scale length before I think is minimal, I'm removing the original brass inserts for the bridge and filling the holes so I can repositioning it later. I'm also going to redrill the holes for the string anchors as I have a better version I'm going to install. This is done by widening the top 4mm of a 10mm hole to 12mm diameter. to do this I have a small piece of mdf with a 12mm hole in it that is placed over the original hole. One of the string anchors is used to centralise it before clamping the template in place. This is the body with the brass inserts removed Then this the body with the holed infilled The body had also picked up a very small dent which I sanded out. I tried refinishing but couldn't get it to match so I sanded the finish off the walnut and started to finish it again. Fussy, but I want it to be right This is the body with the topped sanded and the string anchors holes redrilled.

And a superb book if anyone hasn’t got a copy!!! Lovely bass build.!

I recently built a bass with magnetic covers - I used 0.5mm thick magnets in the cover and 3mm magnets in the body. Magnets are readily available on eBay. Here's the build diary for info - I think the magnets are on about page 4.

So time to cut the fret slots in the ebony fretboard for the short scale bass. I'm using a StewMac mitre block and a GW fret scale template. Here's a picture of the slotted fretboard and a Specsavers letter. Note to self 'measure twice, cut once, look at what your doing;.... Ended up cutting slots for 27.5" scale rather than 29.5". Still, will use the board to make an extended shortie bass at a later date. Time to cut a new board!!

You can get some cheap and cheerful drills off eBay such as these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7Pcs-Extra-Long-Wood-Drill-Bit-Set-12-300mm-Woodworking-Tool-4-5-6-7-8-10-12mm/162806105922?epid=4011493968&hash=item25e8000742:g:YJwAAOSwmWNclKKx if you are are running wires pretty much the length of the body you would be best routing a channel before you put the top on. You might also want to do something to protect the channel from glue ingress. There would be nothing worse than having the channel blocked by glue once the top is on. I have used things like milkshake straws for this - sounds daft but works for me!!

Love it!

And feels very long after my recent short scale and mini basses!!! I've never actually played a Thunderbird - must try one sometime.

The Overwater is lovely but feels very long due to the bridge placement and a 24 fret neck. Your neck is a 21 fret one so will sit further into the body - have you worked out how far back the bridge will be?

It's a similar-ish shape to my Overwater (I think this is the Deluxe model - I got it in the 1980's). Lovely shape but an absolute pain to get a gig bag for it!! Edit: I got this bass off another kid when I was at school. It had fallen off a stand and taken the head off. I was going to have a go at making a bass back then so I bought it for parts. My dad glued the head back on and it's remained like that since - perfectly usable! I keep threatening to get the finish redone by the guys at Overwater but have never got round to it. Not a bad bass for £60....

Totally agree with Rubis. Routers can be viscous. Try it on scrap first and only take a little off at a time. The router can snatch and launch things across the workshop (learnt by experience!!) Always make sure your workpiece is securely clamped too. I’ve had a few issues with some cheap cutters too - get a few decent cutters rather than a selection box full of stuff you won’t use!

Ah, not that close to me. Drop me a message if there is anything I can help with. if you get a chance, pop along to the Midlands Bass Bash. All the best Jez

Hope you enjoy the process! Whereabouts are you located?

Think of it as losing 8 litres of water....

Completely agree Andy - sycamore is lovely wood. It works and finishes beautifully. I've used it a couple of time before - I have one bass that I started a long time ago and still haven't got round to completing - that has two different shades of sycamore in the body. The two slabs of sycamore I started this thread about, were bought as a bit of a punt as they were cheap (I think about £20 each). They need drying and processing as they are around 3 1/2" thick and 18" wide so to big for any tools I have. I expect getting them processed will cost several times what the wood cost!! As with any rough sawn wood, it is a bit of a lucky dip as to what the finished wood may look like - I'm just pleasantly surprised by the rippling I have found on the one piece so far. I'll have to source some more...….!!! Edit: You can tell it was late when I posted this as I wrote ‘maple’ not ‘sycamore’ - doh!! Updated it now

Not sure yet! Each of the 2 slabs I bought should be big enough to make 2 bodies from. I will probably make a solid body bass the same shape as the semi hollow one I did recently, and I'm also thinking about a making a shorty from it as the ripple would look lovely. But nothing definite yet. What are you thinking by 'different'? Cheers

Unfortunately this one is too far for me but I would highly recommend going to anyone of any ability with any type of kit to go as these are really enjoyable social events. Always nice to meet fellow bass players and try out lots of different kit. Have a good day!

I bought a couple of slabs of sycamore from a local place in 2016. It was relatively fresh cut hence why I have been storing it to let it air dry. I weighed both pieces when I bought them so I decided to weigh them again today to see how much moisture has been lost. This one slab started at 24kg and now weighs 16.8kg. I've scraped the surface of it to get through the saw marks and there is a really nice tight ripple. You have no idea what the wood will be like until this point. Now I just want to turn it into something!! The other slab is still very nice but no signs of rippling - will still make something nice though. Just got to figure out how to get this wood processed....

Originally, I was toying with the idea of fitting two passive jazz bass pickups on the buckeye topped one but ended up just fitting a single active jazz purely for aesthetic reason as it seemed to follow the wood grain. I think I'll try the two pickup design on the next one. I've also got another EMG BTC preamp that I could drop in to see how that changes things. As you say, I'm not sure if it is the pickup or strings so I'll have a bit of a play to see what happens. Cheers for the feedback regarding the lower horn - I've drawn out a slightly modified design and will see how that goes.

I will build another couple of these that will have a slight tweak to the lower horn, based on feedback from the last bash. I've also started looking at making a new neck to try on one of these to give a scale of around 27" rather than 23" just to see how that feels and balances - details will be posted on here as usual to how that goes! I'll be taking these two mini basses to the Midlands Bass Bash next month for anyone that wants to give then a go. Cheers Jez

It was great to see the looks on peoples face when they tried these little basses - it was probably similar to when I tried Ped's Wingbass 18 months ago. You think they shouldn't sound like proper basses but they do! This is the rough spec of the two basses: The Buckeye topped one has a single active EMG jazz bass pickup with volume and tone controls. The strings on it are old roundwounds .105 to .045 and tuned to standard EADG tuning. The Maple topped one had an ENG 35DC fitted with an EMG BTC preamp with volume and stacked treble/bass controls. The strings on it are roundwounds .130 to .065 (roughly) also tuned to standard EADG So, same scale length, same tuning but completely different gauges!! And they both feel fine to play to me!! Not to floppy and not too tight.

Cheers chaps. I think you have pretty accurately summed me up!! I'm certainly no salesman, and I'm not the most confident person in my own ability - if I were ever on 'The Apprentice' I would lose!! For those that don't know me, my day job is in quality assurance and involves reviewing paperwork and writing reports. I started doing some woodwork a few years back as an outlet to make something other than a bigger pile of paperwork, and to physically see something constructive that I'd made. I really enjoy the design, build and learning that I get from making a bass and the recent feedback I've got is genuinely much appreciated. I'm not a particularly good bassist (even though |'ve played for long enough!!) so I really enjoy the bass bashes to hear what my basses sound like in other hands and for the constructive feedback I get. Building basses is something I do as a hobby that fits around my family life which is probably why I struggle when anyone asks me how much I would sell something for!! That isn't the reason I build basses and I don't count the hours it takes to make (I've been asked a few time and I haven't a clue!!). I've got a couple of builds in the pipeline that I'm going to do for a couple of people so we'll see how that goes!! Cheers again for all the positive and constructive comments!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I ate them all......

I believe the clear coat is put on to seal the body then the stain applied so it sits in the sunken parts of the grain but does not penetrate the raised parts of the wood (if that makes sense). You then rub the finish back to remove any stain that doesn’t sit in the grain and you’re left with that lovely contrast. Please correct me if I’m wrong!!

That's rather nice....