Peaty

Here is a link to someone's home build eub looks pretty good [url="http://www.tomaatnet.nl/~jandijkstra/eub/specs.htm"]http://www.tomaatnet.nl/~jandijkstra/eub/specs.htm[/url] Also this guy has some usfull info [url="http://www.eclecticbass.com/eurb.html"]http://www.eclecticbass.com/eurb.html[/url] Although he seems to have stopped building and started dealing in NS and other EUB as he says "with the WAV4 at $895, and it's become hard to justify building one like I did when you can get into such a nice bass at such a low price" Hmmm if only they were that price here Pete

+1 for check your diet, get plenty of dairy products, if I dont make an effort to do this my nails start to split a lot. When they do split I find a little dab of supper glue can stop it getting any worse and will see me through a gig (of course let it dry before you touch anything... including your bass).

Nice Bass tone and playing especially on the track 'Laura' sounds really good with the fiddle over the top. Very enjoyable Pete

Hi All, yup, I took it out of the cabinet and the speaker had no info on it what so ever, hence my question.

Hello folks, Does any one know who actually makes the speakers in EBS Evolution NeoLine Pro cabinets. Is it EBS or do they source them from another manufacturer? cheers Peter

Hi Neepheid, To get the width of the neck at the heal you will also need to know the string spacing on the bridge and total width of the bridge so that the strings stay parallel to the edge of the neck all the way along the neck. Once you know the nut width and bridge spacing and scale length you should have no problem drawing it all out in plan view. For drawing out plans I use long rolls of graph paper marked with 1 mm grid (I have a load of this stuff as we used to use it in chart recorders) so if you want a six foot length let me know and I can post you some. Good luck Pete

Hmmm I am happy playing four strings but i would love to have a go at a stick equally I would love to put together a broom handle and tea chest one string bass (as per my uncle in his skiffle days) Way back in the thread someone said listen with your ears not your eyes and I would totally agree but I would go further if you enjoy it, if you think you might enjoy, even if you think you wont enjoy it but wonder what all the fuss is about, well it give it a go, try something new, diversity is a treasure and it is waiting to be found. Pete

Thanks BB2000 your a star. I will try to order one up if that fails I will be in touch. Cheers Pete

Here we go [url="http://www.myspace.com/stevehoggart"]http://www.myspace.com/stevehoggart[/url] give a gap in time a listen Pete Hmmm while you are at it you might enjoy a track called 'turning point' by a band called BackDoor which is my all time favorite bass chordal sounds it really is very beautiful.

If you liked that you might like to check out Steve Lawson [url="http://www.steve-lawson.co.uk"]http://www.steve-lawson.co.uk[/url] and Steve Hoggart [url="http://www.stevehoggart.com/"]http://www.stevehoggart.com/[/url] both worth a listen for Chordal bass and beyond. I believe Steve Hoggart posted one of his tunes recently "a gap in time" which i really enjoyed I will see if i can find the link. Pete

This has been a great build thread and a fabulous bass. Also that is one neat and good looking work shop you have there. Where did you get the bits for the custom router table it looks an interesting set up and some thing that i need to address myself. great build, very impressive. Pete

Those courses sound a really good way of learning techniques and getting experience but prior to doing that there are several good books worth reading. I would recommend Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvyn Hiscock and Building Electric Guitars: How to Make Solid-body, Hollow-body and Semi-acoustic Electric Guitars and Bass Guitars by Martin Koch Pete

Thanks BassBalls I would say I would be a very long way from taking orders, maybe one one day. I have the greatest respect for those people who have made a living out of building instruments, making it work as a business looks like very hard work indeed and I have no plans to go down that road. What got me started, well, seeing great basses on some of the web sites Overwater, GB, JayDee and Shuker certainly fired my imagination. Seeing very beautiful wals and not being able to get close to owing one provided a bit of a push. Reading Melvin Hiscocks book made me feel confident I could give it a go but what I realised when I started making the first one was that making basses is every bit as enjoyable as playing them. So I was hooked. cheers Pete

[quote name='Chopthebass' post='88914' date='Nov 15 2007, 01:11 PM']Nice bass design. Love spalt timber. Looks like you haven't routed the pickup cavity? I always use Rustins Plastic coating. You can spray coats at 15min intervals. And it buffs to a mirror. Plus it is so tough, its unbelievable. I normally thin the first 3 or 4 coats and brush on to let it soak in and seal the timber - particularly with spalt.[/quote] Hi Chopthebass, I think you are quite right about the 15 min interval I was just being cautious as it was my first time but with a bit more experience now I would probably be able to get it done much quicker. As for the pup cavity routing yup it is there it is just a poor photo, here are a couple from earlier in the process where the routes are a bit clearer. Pup and two pice bridge routes was done from an MDF templates I made using the pup and bridge bits as a patterns, the neck route was done by carefully clamping the neck in place and then clamping batons along side the neck, then removing the neck and using the batons as the router template. The pup and neck routes are deeper so it goes a little way into the ash, but the bridge routes dont penetrate through the beach.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='88924' date='Nov 15 2007, 01:28 PM']I'm incredibly impressed by anyone who can seemingly knock a bass together in their back garden out of a few bits of wood - especially when it comes to the neck shaping bit. How do you ensure you don't take too much out of the neck?[/quote] Measure and keep measuring I have a good pair of calipers and I had the neck of another 5 string that I was using as a patten handy. As I knew the starting thicknesses and the depth of the truss rod route it is all controllable, so set the spoke shave fine, dont rush and keep measuring. Also I have learnt my lesson in home build 1 where I took too much of the neck at the nut end in that case it was the end with the thick part of the truss rod and yup it popped through and I had to start all over again. I should post it on the home build wall of shame, it lives in a prominent place in my garage/workshop so the memory is there to haunt me and keep me measuring. Pete

Hi Neepheid The plastic coating is pretty forgiving and I will definitely be using it again. It comes with pretty good instructions and i found spraying it easy going. I was using a cheep touch up spray gun from axminster power tools (same place as i got the plastic coating from) and i was spraying at 65 psi. is you have access to a low pressure spray system then you will need to thin down with the thinners that come in the packet as per the instructions. Try to find a good place to spray I was able to use a spray booth at work but spraying this would not have been a good idea to try at home, at the very least get a good face mask and make sure it fits. Next time around i would only be looking to spray on the last few coats, the early coats that fill up the grain and help build the depth of finish could be painted on with a good quality brush. the plastic coating flows out really well so brush marks were not so much of a problem as runs when spraying. As I had plenty of time on my hands I was giving each coat 48 hours then rubbing down with 600 then 1200 wet and dry. Do rub down between coats not only does this deal with pimples and the like but spraying or brushing onto a un-dulled surface was not good. The plastic coating comes with its own burnishing compound and it is this that gives you the final finish. it works a treat. Rustins do a little starter pack with the plastic coating, hardener, solvent (its not just the usual cellulose thinners) and rubbing/burnishing compound. If you went down that route you would need maybe 2 or three packs. I got one pack to experiment with then bought larger quantities as it is much more cost effective. I have plenty left over but shelf life does not seem to be a problem. Once you mix the hardener to the plastic coating (it is a two part finish) you have about an hour befor it is touch dry but if you store the mixed stuff in the fridge and put a lid on it it remains sprayable for much longer (in my case at least 4 hours) All in all highly recommended.

Shielding going in to the control cavity and home made neck plate in place. Making my own neck plate was really more trouble than it was worth, next time I will get an off the shelf neck plate and arrange the neck bolts to suit it. Ok electronics next

shaped and routed body sanded and ready for finishing which brings me onto the recent work and the joys of spraying with 'rustins plastic coating' I am new to spraying so there has been a steep learning curve to climb but all in all I am pretty pleased with the results. After a lot of coats most of which went into filling the grain of the ash, a lot of rubbing down with wet and dry which is quite therapeutic and a few cock ups, runs and other crimes against smooth and shiny (which means more rubbing down). This is what I got. front back and mocked up with the hard wear resting in position Now it is time to fit all the bits

rough shaping Getting there trying my hand at the volute shaping (I would think twice before doing that again) Threaded inserts to take the neck bolts, probably overkill but it was some thing I wanted to try

Neck construction here is the glued up and planed blank (3 bits of maple 2 of mahogany) marking out the route for the truss rod. Blank with truss rod and carbon fiber stiffeners in place getting ready to glue on the finger board more clamps

I posted the start of this project on the old bass world site but it didnt make the jump to basschat. Anyway after a work imposed lay off during the summer this is up and running again and hopefully to be done by the festive season. The plan was to make a five string fretless from ash with a pretty wood top on it. so a few historical posts of the work done earlier in the year Ash jointed and planed to thickness Spalted beach top roughly cut out close up of the figure router template in place top and body ready for gluing can never get enough clamps body ready for contouring next post will be neck construction

Hi bass chatters Can any tell me what is the impedance values of the push pull pot used in the steamer 1 (part no M84500) I am guessing 500k ohm based on the part no. but if anyone knows for certain please let me know, also is this likely to be log or linear taper. Does any one have any recommendations as to where would be the best place to get one in the UK. thanks Pete

All the warmoth bits I have seen (a few necks and one body) have been good quality, but not cheep especially when you factor in the import duty. still they are good quality parts if you dont want to make your own. Pete

Danish oil gives a good finish and is easy to apply, gun stock oil is a little tricker and tends to be a slower process but will give a great finish. If you want and oiled look but a bit tougher you could consider spraying with a two part lacquer like rusitns plastic coating, just a couple of coats of this will leave coarse grain features of the wood showing through giving a oil like textured finish but it will be a lot tougher. Pete