having another go

[mickhardup]

Hi all, out of hibernation and back in the shed, decided to have another go at building a bass, i have some wood from an old door and a Chinese neck and some old pickups, so here we go, i have decided to build a telecaster shaped body with a jazz neck, your comments and advice gratefully received.   

[itu]

If you put the bridge as far back as possible, you may be able to play with the balance and reach (how to reach the half and first position) a little bit. The neck has to be "deeper" in the body. The instrument becomes slightly shorter, too.

I like the idea of having the hum at the neck position. Would have been my choice, too.

[Rikki_Sixx]

1 hour ago, itu said:

If you put the bridge as far back as possible, you may be able to play with the balance and reach (how to reach the half and first position) a little bit. The neck has to be "deeper" in the body. The instrument becomes slightly shorter, too.

I like this idea, but it would restrict access a bit to the skinny frets. But then who plays up there anyway? 😆

[Rikki_Sixx]

This is already looking good Mick, it's such a great shape. Plus using an old door is coooool.

[mickhardup]

On 10/04/2019 at 09:35, itu said:

If you put the bridge as far back as possible, you may be able to play with the balance and reach (how to reach the half and first position) a little bit. The neck has to be "deeper" in the body. The instrument becomes slightly shorter, too.

I like the idea of having the hum at the neck position. Would have been my choice, too.

thanks for the advice itu its all a bit trial and error at this stage, i thought there may be a bit of neck dive so i have gone for a heavy ish  bridge, i am also going to round off the neck pocket to help reach the frets but like rikki sixx says i dont play that far up the neck

[Andyjr1515]

The rule of thumb I use for balance on the strap is for the strap button to be in line with the 13th fret or lower.

This at the moment is sitting at around 16th?  

I think neck dive might be an issue however heavy the bridge is.

As such, I would also bring the bridge further back. You could always deepen the lower horn cutaway so you don't lose access to the upper frets?

[Soledad]

That's a bold thing to undertake - respect! I wonder if one day I may have a go. I did once make a tea-chest bass with a broom handle, so I have previous experience

This is all personal taste of course but I wonder if the Tele shape is forcing some compromises - upper neck access being one? Tempting to move the bridge back, but only if you then deal with treble cutaway, then the body shape starts to get lost.
I would personally move the hum pup back somewhat as you'll get loads of bottom end anyway, but somewhat back will help the high bass / mids a lot I think. Think MM, Warwick, even Jazz. Andy's point re balance is also important. I once owned a Gibson EB3 (as a kind of punishment) - big hum pup at neck made a wall of toneless air, and the neck dive was horrendous. So basically, look at the EB3 and do the opposite.

Will follow with interest. Enjoy.

[mickhardup]

7 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

The rule of thumb I use for balance on the strap is for the strap button to be in line with the 13th fret or lower.

This at the moment is sitting at around 16th?  

I think neck dive might be an issue however heavy the bridge is.

As such, I would also bring the bridge further back. You could always deepen the lower horn cutaway so you don't lose access to the upper frets?

thanks for advice and comments all are very appreciated, nothing is set out yet i haven't even taken any measurements neck and pups are just placed on there to see if i like what the bass will look like, have lots to think about like colour or stain or oil do i put binding on it, too much to think about. 

[mickhardup]

Hi all, cant believe 2 months has gone since i last had time to play with this, i had some spare time yesterday to get out in the shed and have a look at the project i cut the body out and tidied it up, today i done a bit of sanding and i thought about some of the previous comments about neck dive so on and pickup position  and fret access. I did a few measurements and came to the conclusion that it would probably be unplayable up the high end so i was going to scrap it, but then i thought f_ _ k it  i dont play in a band in fact i cant play at all but it might look alright so what pickup configuration shall i have any comments to help me make up my mind would be appreciated,           

[Pea Turgh]

I can’t tell you why (because I don’t really know), but I’d go for the bottom one - MM at the neck, J at the bridge.

[TheGreek]

H/P would be my choice...

[ezbass]

Aesthetically speaking, I like the P/J config. However, tonally speaking, I’m a fan of a P/P config.

[Crawford13]

PJ for the win!

[Jimothey]

P/J wins for me too...........😀 

[jebroad]

J/M all the way

[hooky_lowdown]

Tele body with just MM in bridge position and clear/transparent pickguard. 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Make yourself a simple jig to test the pickup positions and combinations in the same way that Leo Fender did, and listen to the sound they make rather than other peoples opinions.

 

[mickhardup]

Hi all sorry i haven't  done much lately but life has got in the way at the moment but things should be getting back to normal soon, i have an Ibanez bass on the bench for repair as soon as that is done i will get back too this one  

[mickhardup]

Hi all, managed to do a bit today between my other jobs, finished the shape of the body around the neck pocket and routed it out, have got to  tweek it a little to make it fit perfect, decided to go for a fender type bridge  and a p/j pickup config, don't know whether to bind the body or round of the edge's i am sure you will help me choose, also colour i thought a nice light shade off green or pale yellow,       

[Jimothey]

Looking good!!..........👍

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Jimothey

[TheGreek]

Playing Spectors has radically changed my view on the shape of bass bodies. So much so that when I commission my Psilos Bass with @Andyjr1515 I specifically asked for an "acknowledgement" of these.

The concave back makes them so much more comfortable to "wear"and the large radius curves soften the contours making the bodies aesthetically much more pleasing and easier to play.

Have you considered these options?

Colourwise...love a green bass.

[TheGreek]

I thought I'd seen what I was describing - I thought it was a MM Reflex - looked at Google images - it isn't. Now it'll bug till I remember where I saw a soft contoured Tele shape...

Damn!!!

[Dom in Dorset]

I built something similar a few years ago and would also advise you to put the bridge as far back as you can. The body I used was a cheap p bass modified by removing the upper horn and reducing the thickness to make it more slab like.

The wood is quite light and due to the loss of the upper horn the neck dive was serious. I eventually solved it by adding a strap button extension and fixing the other button further along the body.

As for pickup regimes , I tried just about everything , including a three pickup monstrosity before going back to a plain old P (Entwistle neodymium) . The hole left by the bridge pickup is now filled by a bit of wood held in place by two gert big wood screws.
That old door was made of some nice wood , looking forward to the finished product.

 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by Dom in Somerset
It was a bit crap.

[mickhardup]

Hi all, took your advice and moved the bridge back and re routed the neck further into the body, apart from looking better i can reach the end of the neck, made a rough template for a pick guard will decide what colour later,have got to get some shorter neck screws all the one's i have are too long and too near the fret board for my liking have just used some old one's at the moment, i haven't shaped round the neck pocket yet as i haven't decided whether to contour the body or not i am a bit worried because it was an old door i am going to expose the old pegs that used to hold the door together i put them all on the inside joints. i have some feral's for string through body but i don't know weather it's worth the extra hassle of getting another bridge will have to see how much pension i have left.          

[mickhardup]

On 01/09/2019 at 08:45, Dom in Somerset said:

I built something similar a few years ago and would also advise you to put the bridge as far back as you can. The body I used was a cheap p bass modified by removing the upper horn and reducing the thickness to make it more slab like.

The wood is quite light and due to the loss of the upper horn the neck dive was serious. I eventually solved it by adding a strap button extension and fixing the other button further along the body.

As for pickup regimes , I tried just about everything , including a three pickup monstrosity before going back to a plain old P (Entwistle neodymium) . The hole left by the bridge pickup is now filled by a bit of wood held in place by two gert big wood screws.
That old door was made of some nice wood , looking forward to the finished product.

 

 

i like the tele shape that's why i wanted to have a go at building one i didn't know about all the issue's that arise just because of the shape of the body but i am determined to finish it, i am not to worried about neck dive because it will spend most of the time on the wall with the rest, as long as it makes a reasonable sound i will happy.