Jabba_the_gut

As you like Gibson basses, the 'Gibson Bass Book - An Illustrated Tribute' by Rob Van Den Broek is an interesting book full of excellent photos if you don't have it already.

Hi Christine, Looking forward to seeing this build thread progress. I've always liked the Thunderbird shape but I've never actually tried one. I keep thinking of building myself one with a pair of EMG's pickups but there's always too many other things to do - I'll make do watching this for now! Do you mind me asking where you source your wood for bass projects? Cheers Jez

Interesting build this one. I like the offset rosette - nice touch!

Cheers Andy. It's my first proper router table and I've started to see how else it can be used - such as for joining to halves of a top (as per your post the other day). This one has a couple of rods that can go into the aluminium extrusion to act as a shim to make 1/16" or 1/32" difference between the two halves of the fence for jointing. As you say, not the cheapest thing but looks like it should make life a bit easier and give some good results. Just need to get the garage cleared so I can use it now (I bought it 4 weeks ago and its still in the dining room)!!

I was down in Surrey the last couple of nights at 'Weyfest'. Brother Strut were one of the bands playing - Paul Turner's not bad is he?...….Damn talented man!! Also, Willie and the Bandits are mighty fine and their bass player is another talented bloke. Anyway, I've also routed round the bodies to tidy up the edges and make them the same size as the templates prior to starting to cut the neck pocket, neck bushings, cavity covers and string retainers. I've made templates for the position of the drill holes etc. so this has been pretty quick to do this time (making accurate templates can take quite a bit of time though). The maple body has some really nice flame to it I'm going to use black hardware on these as I think it looks nice matching the ebony but also the contrast with the spalted beech and walnut I'm going to make the cavity covers next then round the edges of both bodies. I got a new router table a few weeks (as my old router failed and my other router doesn't fit - I also wanted something sturdier than before due to a near mishap with the router being perfectly vertical...) which has been drilled to accept my Triton router but is currently sitting unused in the dining room whilst I clear space in the garage!! Not sure how much longer Mrs_the_gut will tolerate it - especially with the toolbox in the utility room.... Waiting to be used: Waiting to be moved:

I've been quite busy in the last month or so. Started a new job, been on holiday for a couple of weeks and been having to keep the two small inhabitants of the house occupied during the school holidays. I have got a few tasks completed on these two builds though. Firstly I decided to make the bridges. As usual, I stated off by making some templates. The template I made for the original semi-hollow build was okay for the bridge outline but the piezo will be a different size so a new template for the slot needed to be made. Small pieces like these bridges can be a bit trickier with a router and need to be well clamped to prevent them being ripped to bits and thrown across the room when the router is angry.... Firstly, the ebony for the bridges was cut roughly to size and the mounting holes drilled. These holes will also be used to hold these still whilst they are being routed. The bridge blank was then clamped under the template and a surround made to support the router whilst cutting to size and rounding the edges. The edges were then trimmed to make the blank the size of the template. I then cut a slot the size of the piezo into some more mdf to use as the slot template. The bridge was then mounted behind the slot template and the slot was cut. The blank was then put back on the original template and the edges were rounded. A bit of filing to slope the long edge a bit and some sanding and that's the bridges made.

Bought a pre-amp off Massi. Great communications, pre-amp was exactly as described, really well packaged and posted quickly too - couldn't ask for more! Many thanks!

Really nice project - looks superb.

I like the quality of their parts but delivery can be quite long (8 weeks last time). Cheers

ETS do a straight bar but a more modern design. http://www.ets-hardware.com/mk_3.php

Hi Mike, I do like the sound of your set-up - think the bass sounds really good through your SWR. Cheers for posting this! All the best Jez

Interesting project - let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Cheers

Lace do a thin pickup only 5/16" thick apparently - http://www.lacemusic.com/USAB.php

I have a home made router table but the router that went in it terminally failed and it flexed slightly so I wanted something more solid and to suit my other router. As you say, not cheap but should be worth it (I haven’t assembled mine yet as I’m on holiday!!). And should reduce the mess...

I know what you mean. I just bought a Kreg router table and fence for the same reasons. On my build thread for the short scale things there is one of the necks that had a small chunk out of it due to the router.

Take a look at the different string manufacturers websites as they explain the length of their strings and often give the measurement from ballend to silk. Heres Rotosound as an example http://www.rotosound.com/jazz-bass-77/ http://www.rotosound.com/bass-string-scale-length-guide/

I bought a pair of humbuckers for my B2A from Kent Armstrong and they came with surrounds drilled 2 on one side and 1 on the other. Might be worth a call.

Really liking this thread! There's always things to learn and seeing different approaches taken to solving problems. I'm still jealous of your workshop!! Cheers Jez

Looking nice!

Not much progress as I've been working on my semi hollow basses but here's a piccie of what builds I've currently got on the go....it gives a good impression of how dinky these headless things are!!

Exactly!! Andy - that poplar looks really nice!

Here's where I'm currently at with these - two bodies glued up and roughly cut out. Quite noticeable weight difference between these; the maple/walnut one is 1.5kg and the Sapele/spalted beech one is 2.0kg.

I quite like the spoke wheel truss rods for their ease of use and that there is no nut to round off!! I have had a few Musicman basses and think that this is an easy and tidy enough solution. It also means you don't need to have an exact tool to make adjustments (though I'm a firm believer in the right tool for the job). Having said that, on the basses that I've made I've always used the barrel type truss rods with the adjustment at the heel. Only reasons for this are I don't have volutes on my necks so I work on the principle that leaving the most amount of wood around the nut is a benefit and I prefer the cleaner look of the headstock. No experience or scientific reason for this decision - just my preference. Cheers

You’re right. Just had a look - they’re not cheap!!!