GarethFlatlands Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 (edited) I did the Shuker build course back in February and thought I should should share my experience with any Basschatters who aren't sure if the course was for them. I haven't done any woodworking since high school, so picked a nice simple build. The specs were: Ash Jazz body (classic), stained black and rubbed back to highlight the grain Maple neck Fretless ebony fretboard Musicman style humbucker Passive electronics with stacked volume/tone to keep the front cleaner, but at Jon's suggestion a 3 way switch was added to be able to run the pickup in parallel/single coil/series for a few extra options Schalled elephant ears tuners and Gotoh bridge in black If you don't feel like reading the whole thread, here's the end result! Day 1 The 2 piece ash body had already been glued and planed, so once the centre line was found and the body outline drawn, it was onto the bandsaw for a rough cut. Then a template was used to guide a router around the body, removing about 2-3mm of material each pass until something that looked a bit like a bass happened. Once that was done, the forearm slope was cut out with a hand plane, and the stomach contour was done with a saw rasp. Then lots of sanding, starting at 100 grit paper, then moving on through 120, 180, 240, 320 and finally, 400. I'm a puny man and my arms were so gone by the end of the day I couldn't raise them horizontally, and had to buy a hot/cold pack from the train station Superdrug on the way home to try and get them ready for the following day's work. I decided I was going to take breaks if needed to make sure I got through the rest of the week. As it happens, that was the worst of the physical side of it, but I did get a good excuse to pet Jon's new dog lots, 10 month old Lily. Lily enjoys head scratches, singing the songs of her people and chewing everything, including my shoes, while I was still wearing them. Edited April 5, 2019 by GarethFlatlands 8 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 (edited) Day 2 Body routing for the control cavity, pickup and neck pockets. I was terrified of routers before doing the course, but by day 2 I felt very confident using them and the woodworking possibilities seemed vast with them. I figured with a good enough router and the right templates and jigs, you could build the vast majority of a guitar with a router. The body roundover was also done and you can see the scorch marks on the edges where I lingered too long. Nothing too drastic that wouldn't sand out thankfully. The neck was also done in much the same manner as the body. A channel was done down the centre for the truss rod and a hole drilled at the heel end for adjustment. Once the rod was inserted, a strip of wood was added and glued into place to cover it, which was then planed back until flush with the body. The ebony board was cut to rough shape, glued and clamped and day 2 was over. Things were coming together nicely! Edited April 5, 2019 by GarethFlatlands 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 Enjoying this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishman Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 (edited) Day 2 etc? Sounds like a fun thing to do – ah, then it loaded, ta Edited April 5, 2019 by Fishman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 Great stuff, thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 Day 3 The neck and board glued and dried, the refining of the board shape was routed with the same template as the neck. The order things were done is a little hazy but the jobs for today were: Cutting the nut slot Rough shaping the back of the neck with a router Radiusing the board (16" I think...) and then levelling using a straightedge Adding some markers to the top and front of the board Here's the neck with markers and a nut slot, but no shaping. And here's a neck with shaping done and on the table where I definitely remember doing the radiusing and levelling. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz39 Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 Nice! You’ll have to give details of cost and options when you’re all posted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 Day 4 The front of the neck was done, so Jon took the body away for a couple of layers of clear coat so that the staining could be done, and I got to work on the back of the neck. The heel and the headstock ends were done first, then I worked in to the middle using a flat file, a rounded file/rasp and a saw rasp, checking regularly until I felt like it was a shape I liked. Then lots of sanding and crossed fingers that no major re-working needed doing. There wasn't! Lots of detail sanding was done too. The holes for the tuners were marked out and drilled out on the drill press using a forstner bit. The body was stanined black with some stain diluted with acetone, being careful not to rub it in too aggressively and take any clear coat off. Once done, Jon's assistant rubbed this off until just the grain was black. Then more clear coat. The lion's share of the work done, Friday would be about installing the hardware and setup. I'd been travelling from Sheffield on the train all week but my fiancee and I decided to make a trip of it and stay at the Old Hall Hotel down the road on the evening of day 4 for a pub dinner and a sleep in a 4 poster bed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 Day 5 I'd saved a lot of time by not having frets, so I'd jumped ahead of the other 2 people on the course by about Thursday afternoon. But Friday was the scary part; drilling holes into all my hard work for the week and hoping I didn't make any mistakes. There was a lot of nervous butt clenching, which wasn't helped by Jon telling us stories of people who'd got to the last day and then made mistakes like drilling tuner holes all the way through the headstock! After the control cavity was lined with copper tape, it was onto the drilling for the neck pocket, front controls, bridge, tuners and anything else I've forgotten. Having most of the day for this, I took my time and thankfully there were no mishaps. The electronics were wired up and installed, and then the hardware and neck screwed into place. A bone nut blank was cut, filed down and polished once the strings (Rotosound flats, 40-100) were loosely installed and then glued in place. I quit eating meat at the start of 2018 and wish I'd asked about another material rather than bone, but didn't think about it until it was too late so just went with it. I might install a Graph Tec one in it's place at some point. Strings on, it was time to set the bass up. 1st fret height was fine, but the neck required a very slight shim to get the action low. A piece of veneer cut to shape was all it took, a slight adjustment to the truss rod and the height could be lowered sufficiently for easy play. Bridge saddle adjustments sorted the intonation out and everything was done! A quick blast through the shop amp ('Music for Chameleons' and 'Every Time You Go Away') checked everything worked as it should (apart from my intonation). The only cosmetic thing I don't like is the amount of the fretboard material that extends behind the nut. I wish I'd taken it back by 5mm or so, but that's really my only issue. Other than that, I'm extremely happy with it. I was worried my lack of woodworking experience would be an issue, but Jon and the man helping him on the first 3 days (none other than Tim Lever, former keyboard player for Dead or Alive) were both amazingly patient and all round great teachers and the whole thing was pretty painless. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 The bass looks fab & it sounds like you got a lot of enjoyment from the course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 25 minutes ago, Daz39 said: Nice! You’ll have to give details of cost and options when you’re all posted! Thanks Daz! The course was £900 which included everything for this build (no case included). You'd need to speak to Jon about additional costs for any build you have in mind as I'm not sure at what point the costs would be over and above that base. An active circuit was discussed for mine but this would have been extra for example, but Jon let me specify brand name hardware like the Seymour Duncan alnico pickup, Schaller tuners and Gotoh bridge without any extra cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 "The only cosmetic thing I don't like is the amount of the fretboard material that extends behind the nut." I actually like the look of this. 41 minutes ago, GarethFlatlands said: A bone nut blank was cut, filed down and polished once the strings (Rotosound flats, 40-100) were loosely installed and then glued in place. I read the sentence as in the bold... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz39 Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 48 minutes ago, GarethFlatlands said: Thanks Daz! The course was £900 which included everything for this build (no case included). You'd need to speak to Jon about additional costs for any build you have in mind as I'm not sure at what point the costs would be over and above that base. An active circuit was discussed for mine but this would have been extra for example, but Jon let me specify brand name hardware like the Seymour Duncan alnico pickup, Schaller tuners and Gotoh bridge without any extra cost. As a comparison - how would that compare to buying the same bass direct, i.e. without you building it or them training you? I like it though: teaching building skills with assistance to craft your own instrument. You must feel proud every time you noodle on the bass now, knowing you did most of the fiddly bits on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, TheGreek said: I read the sentence as in the bold... I could have worded it better! It'd keep the strings in tune I guess... 43 minutes ago, Daz39 said: As a comparison - how would that compare to buying the same bass direct, i.e. without you building it or them training you? I like it though: teaching building skills with assistance to craft your own instrument. You must feel proud every time you noodle on the bass now, knowing you did most of the fiddly bits on it. It's hard to say. A fretless Jazz by Sire, who by all accounts make great workhorse basses, is around £450, but with regular jazz pickups and active electronics. A Fender Flea sig Active Jazz bass has the humbucker pickup but is more like £1,500, and I can't see a fretless option for it. In fact, I can't find anyone doing a Jazz body, fretless neck and a humbucker so you'd be looking at a custom build unless you managed to find a nice fretless Stingray (or a fretted one and either de-fret it or get a fretless neck) which is pretty close. Shuker Basses have a regular Jazz up for sale on the website for £1,600 so that would be a ballpark figure at a guess. But like you say, it was partly about the experience and learning the skills, which in addition to having a bass at the end of the week, was well worth the money imo. It's got a lot of great comments and more importantly, I'm happy with it! I get a little tinge of pride whenever I take it out of the case, and I love the sound. I'll try and do a quick video at some point. Edited April 5, 2019 by GarethFlatlands 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 JOOI what was the cost of the week long course? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 £900 for the course alongside 2 other people doing their own builds. He also offers a one on one course which starts at £1,500 but you can build something much more complex on that one by the sound of it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 All things considered, that's quite reasonable for expert guidance on building your own handmade bass Very nice looking bass it is too 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 £900 seems pretty decent to me 🙂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 I'd recommend it to anyone considering it, he runs a few per year and the next is coming up in summer from memory. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 Interesting build diary ending up with a rather nice looking bass. And nice to be able to build a custom bass when the option you are looking for isn’t available. £900 for the week and materials seems like good value to me. Enjoy the bass! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 One day I will do a Shuker build. What is not to love? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edstraker123 Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 A dream week ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antnee Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 Gorgeous looking bass and a very similar to the design I would do if was building a bass. Great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 19 minutes ago, owen said: One day I will do a Shuker build. What is not to love? I keep saying that too!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 I’d like to do an @Jabba_the_gut build course! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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