cocco Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 I've often thought about going custom but something has always put me off placing the order. Mostly my lack of knowlege about tone woods/pickup configs, luthiers etc. So with that in mind I'm documenting my thoughts here in the hope that someone can lend a machete to my thickett. I'm a rock player through and through, alot of what I do is bass driven, I play with a pick mostly but I switch to finger style alot for dynamic purposes. I love my grabber for it's punch and agression. I love P's apart from the lack of a back pickup to rest my thumb on. I don't like that my bongo has no soul, I don't like that my jazz sits ontop of the mix. I love my T-40 in humbucker mode apart from the weight. I like 2 EQ rays but not 3 EQ rays, I love the ray neck profile too and I like G&Ls, especially the thinline ASAT I dont want a fancy top wood, I'm thinking maple, ash or alder for a body wood because my grabber is maple and my fenders and peavey are alder or ash. I'm not against bass wood after playing an aerodyne but I'd be worried about it feeling too light. Shape wise I'm thinking T-bird or explorer as a sort of enthwhistle tribute and Id like it to look 70s. Pickup wise I was thinking double Darkstar for the growl and depth or 2 fat humbuckers but defiantly passive, although after the aerodyne I'm tempted by P/J or even P/P because I don't really like jazz pickups. Can anyone help in any way? Ash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 (edited) I reckon the [url="http://www.lakland.com/decade.htm"]Lakland Decade[/url] ticks a lot of boxes - It looks very 70s, has double dark star type pickups (Chi Sonics), you can get passive versions and is made from non-fancy woods. The string spacing looks to be 19mm. Not sure how the neck profile compares to the Stingray Edited June 6, 2011 by Roland Rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 one thing I have thought.... everyone seems to like the sound of a peavey T40- but not the weight. Why not make a new body for it out of something lighter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 [quote name='cocco' post='1258491' date='Jun 6 2011, 03:42 PM']I've often thought about going custom but something has always put me off placing the order. Mostly my lack of knowlege about tone woods/pickup configs, luthiers etc. So with that in mind I'm documenting my thoughts here in the hope that someone can lend a machete to my thickett.[/quote] You don't need to know any of this. That's the luthiers job. IMO the most successful custom builds are when you simply tell your luthier how you want the bass to look, play and sound. Don't get into the specifics of woods and electronics. A good luthier will be sort those details out for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Sounds like it would be worth speaking to Alan at ACG to see what kind of bass he could make for you. Maybe something simple and elegant like a Graft bass would suit you? And he can tailor the electronics to suit you too, depending on what you want. If I was buying new (as I had planned to recently) I'd be going to Alan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 New T-body could be very cool . I like BRXs point though. I just dont know who the right luthier is. Do AGC make anything away from their shapes? And do they do passive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 [quote name='cocco' post='1259549' date='Jun 7 2011, 12:13 PM']Do AGC make anything away from their shapes? And do they do passive?[/quote] As a rule, no and no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 The right luthier is one that you get on with. Who understands what you want and will build you the bass that best achieves this. They won't be afraid to tell you when you might want to reconsider what you are suggesting and will have a good reason for it. On the other hand they shouldn't just blindly build what the customer asks for with no regard to overall end result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 How about a Lecompte? They do a bit of a T-40 Tribute... [url="http://www.lecomptebass.com/t4t/"]http://www.lecomptebass.com/t4t/[/url] Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 [quote name='cocco' post='1258491' date='Jun 6 2011, 03:42 PM']I'm a rock player through and through, alot of what I do is bass driven, I play with a pick mostly but I switch to finger style alot for dynamic purposes. I love my grabber for it's punch and agression. I love P's apart from the lack of a back pickup to rest my thumb on. I don't like that my bongo has no soul, I don't like that my jazz sits ontop of the mix. I love my T-40 in humbucker mode apart from the weight. I like 2 EQ rays but not 3 EQ rays, I love the ray neck profile too and I like G&Ls, especially the thinline ASAT I dont want a fancy top wood, I'm thinking maple, ash or alder for a body wood because my grabber is maple and my fenders and peavey are alder or ash. I'm not against bass wood after playing an aerodyne but I'd be worried about it feeling too light. Shape wise I'm thinking T-bird or explorer as a sort of enthwhistle tribute and Id like it to look 70s. Pickup wise I was thinking double Darkstar for the growl and depth or 2 fat humbuckers but defiantly passive, although after the aerodyne I'm tempted by P/J or even P/P because I don't really like jazz pickups.[/quote] Send that quote out in some emails to various luthiers and see what kinds of prices and suggestions they come back with. If one has an idea you like but is expensive, you can approach another one with the idea and see what he says. It also gives you an idea of what you can do to try and fit your criteria. BRX is right, you don't need to know what gives you the punch from your grabber etc. you just say what you like and the luthier should be able to make suggestions that you can then look into to see if it suits you. Looking at your list though, if the only problem with a P is having no back pickup, why not get a PJ or put a thumb rest on a P in the position you want? If you wanted Darkstars, you could always get a P routed to your needs and get them fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 [quote name='BottomEndian' post='1259552' date='Jun 7 2011, 12:16 PM']As a rule, no and no.[/quote] As a further consideration, if you're just looking for a passive rock bass, ACG are probably a little bit exclusive for that. Not to say Alan couldn't make you an amazing bass but surely someone else could do that for less somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Reckon it might still be worth checking in with Alan, his basses are amoung the best I've played and he's great to work with. He ain't a huge fan of passive basses, but he's made one in the past, you never know... Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 I just checked in with Bud Lecompte. I think we could be on to something there, Sent him my spec and am waiting on a price as we speak. No dark stars though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 [quote name='eude' post='1259833' date='Jun 7 2011, 03:53 PM']Reckon it might still be worth checking in with Alan, his basses are amoung the best I've played and he's great to work with. He ain't a huge fan of passive basses, but he's made one in the past, you never know... Eude[/quote] Im dubious about Alan to be honest, I want a balls out rock machine thats a little rough round the edges, I don't want fancy woods and I definatly don't want any more than passive controls. The spec I sent Bud is for a passive Fenderbird shape with either 2 T-40 style humbuckers or a single MM Humbucker. Ash body, Maple neck, Vintage tuners, Hi-mass bridge, bolt on, string thru, Ray shape neck. Thats it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 (edited) If you want a Fenderbird [url="http://cataldobasses.com/"]have a look at these[/url]. Edited June 9, 2011 by BigRedX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 They look awesome! Do you have any experience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Do you have a budget in mind? Something like a pair of DarkStars will add a good few hundred to the final price, but there's nothing quite like them for cool factor. That asides, what about a Precision with a humbucker (MM or double J) in the bridge position? You could probably put something like that together without going anywhere near a luthier My god! What am I saying???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMT3781 Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 [url="http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/custgal.htm"]http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/custgal.htm[/url] explorer at the top.. minus the flamed top and add darkstars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 Dark stars are out of the question, apparently you just can't get hold of them these days. Budget wise I want to keep it cheap ish, £1500 or there abouts would be enough. I did consider going down the moddinng route, but I don't really want a p or a j and I don't want a mahogany T-bird either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 [quote name='cocco' post='1263447' date='Jun 9 2011, 11:38 PM']They look awesome! Do you have any experience?[/quote] Not directly but there's a lot of love [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/just-order-jaebird-fenderbird-content-727827/"]here[/url] and [url="http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=4598.0"]here[/url]. I may well be ordering a 5-string version soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 [quote name='cocco' post='1263613' date='Jun 10 2011, 10:13 AM']Dark stars are out of the question, apparently you just can't get hold of them these days. Budget wise I want to keep it cheap ish, £1500 or there abouts would be enough. I did consider going down the moddinng route, but I don't really want a p or a j and I don't want a mahogany T-bird either.[/quote] Yeah Fred was never the quickest when it came to answering questions about his pickups but he does seem to have slipped right off the radar recently. You could get yourself a Warmoth Precision neck but with the optional slim profile to give it a more MM feel then get someone on the forum to sort out an alder, ash or maple explorer body for you. If you want to keep it really authentic you could get a pair of Mike Lull Explorer pickups installed. They cost even more than Darkstars but if you're saving money having an off the shelf neck it could still come in under your budget - especially as you're not going for any fancy active electronics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Maybe check out these pickups too... [url="http://thunderbuckerranch.com/"]http://thunderbuckerranch.com/[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 [quote name='eude' post='1263642' date='Jun 10 2011, 10:49 AM']Maybe check out these pickups too... [url="http://thunderbuckerranch.com/"]http://thunderbuckerranch.com/[/url][/quote] Blimey, that's a good hundred dollars less than the Lull pickups [i]each!!![/i] I'm getting me a pair of those. He's giving away all his trade secrets too - I've been puzzling for a while how to make silver TBird covers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 [quote name='eude' post='1263642' date='Jun 10 2011, 09:49 AM']Maybe check out these pickups too... [url="http://thunderbuckerranch.com/"]http://thunderbuckerranch.com/[/url][/quote] They've been developed for the JAEBirds. Although it isn't on the site at the moment, I believe that they are an option on the custom version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenhart28 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 [quote name='cocco' post='1258491' date='Jun 6 2011, 03:42 PM']I've often thought about going custom but something has always put me off placing the order. Mostly my lack of knowlege about tone woods/pickup configs, luthiers etc. So with that in mind I'm documenting my thoughts here in the hope that someone can lend a machete to my thickett. I'm a rock player through and through, alot of what I do is bass driven, I play with a pick mostly but I switch to finger style alot for dynamic purposes. I love my grabber for it's punch and agression. I love P's apart from the lack of a back pickup to rest my thumb on. I don't like that my bongo has no soul, I don't like that my jazz sits ontop of the mix. I love my T-40 in humbucker mode apart from the weight. I like 2 EQ rays but not 3 EQ rays, I love the ray neck profile too and I like G&Ls, especially the thinline ASAT I dont want a fancy top wood, I'm thinking maple, ash or alder for a body wood because my grabber is maple and my fenders and peavey are alder or ash. I'm not against bass wood after playing an aerodyne but I'd be worried about it feeling too light. Shape wise I'm thinking T-bird or explorer as a sort of enthwhistle tribute and Id like it to look 70s. Pickup wise I was thinking double Darkstar for the growl and depth or 2 fat humbuckers but defiantly passive, although after the aerodyne I'm tempted by P/J or even P/P because I don't really like jazz pickups. Can anyone help in any way? Ash.[/quote] I build custem bassies email me at [email protected] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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