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What would the specs and design be of your dream custom bass?


Baloney Balderdash
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Hypothetical question, if you had the money needed, or was willing to spend the kind of money it would cost, and you could have a custom bass designed exactly to your dream specs and according to your dream visual design, what would it be then?

 

Mine would be:

Something like a 4 string 28,6" scale length bass, with mahogany body, bolt on maple neck, with a modern slim C shaped profile, a 24 medium sized stainless steel frets, about 14" radius, ebony fretboard, 38mm nut width, and 17mm string spacing at the bridge consisting of mono rails, and an accordingly narrow neck that would accommodate that, likely with a Nordstrand, The Power Blade, P style pickup in the neck/sort of middle position, and a Nordstrand Big Blademan, Music Man style pickup, in the bridge position, with coil split, and series/parallel switch, and in matte black finish with all black hardware, with the body/headstock shape somewhat inspired by a fusion between the B.C Rich Zombie Revenge and Beast bass (actually mainly like the Zombie Revenge bass, but with asymmetrical "devil horns" on the head stock and bridge end of the body, and slightly slimmer, more down angled, front horns, like on the Beast bass), and beside the coil/series/parallel switch for the Music Man style bridge pickup, just a pickup blend control, no volume or tone pot, and all passive.

 

The B.C Rich basses that I am referring to looking like this:

b-c-rich-zombie-revenge-bass-105881.jpg

BC-RICH-BEAST__28931.1500019454.1280.128

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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One mans dream is another man’s nightmare :) 

BC is full of answers to your question. Many many folk have had their dream bass made for them. The problem is dreams change, so you need to get a different bass made a year later.  

Dare I ask , why 28.6 scale length ? 

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12 hours ago, Drax said:

One mans dream is another man’s nightmare :) 

BC is full of answers to your question. Many many folk have had their dream bass made for them. The problem is dreams change, so you need to get a different bass made a year later.  

Dare I ask , why 28.6 scale length ? 

The idea of this thread is to have those dreams gathered in one place.

And no offence, but after 27 years of playing and several basses, some of which were 1000$+ instruments, regular 34" scale basses as well as short scales, I would think I know what I want and what I don't want in a bass.

As for the 28,6" scale because I found that to be the perfect scale length for a 4 string bass for me, not too cramp, yet not too cumbersom to play, and to me without any negative side effects from the smaller scale, as far as I am concerned, after experience with a bass build out of Warmoth 28 5/8" (28,625") scale baritone parts, and a couple of Ibanez Mikro Basses. 

Seems to be about the smallest scale length for a 4 string bass before negative side effects will begin to come into play, and at the same time that scale length, for me, offers the absolute most comfortable playability, in my experience.

I agree that what you say might be the case for some, but I am pretty certain that I actually know what I want.

And even if other people shouldn't feel this way, what is there to loose, as said it was hypothetical question, not a binding contract to a commission work. 

To me at least it would be interesting to see people's preferences gathered in one thread, instead of having to read through the entire archive of posts on this forum from every member on it if one wanted that sort of information.

I for one think the premisses of my thread are perfectly valid, or else I wouldn't have made it.  

The idea is not to judge people on their wishes but to see the diversity of them.

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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Yeah guess my reply didn't land as intended. Meant it in good nature. Not heard of 28.6inch scale commissioned before so was intrigued why. 

Plenty of great luthiers out there that can realise your dream, hope you get there one day :)

 

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I’ve got an overwater custom jazz. Didn’t have any specifics in mind other than; fretless, ebony board, and looking a bit like the bass of doom in its current state. I absolutely love it and the neck is probably the best I’ve played. 

Otherwise a neck thru 5 string would be nice with a figured walnut top and back, flame maple centre and sides, 34” scale, 18mm string spacing, brass hardware, and Ken Smith pickups and EQ. Fortunately I can get that off the shelf if I win the lottery. 

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2 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

And no offence, but after 27 years of playing and several basses, some of which were 1000$+ instruments, regular 34" scale basses as well as short scales, I would think I know what I want and what I don't want in a bass.

And also no offence - Basschat classifieds is littered with the blood of people who have played for 20+ years, finally commissioned their dream bass, and discovered their tastes changed and the resale value of an unusually-specced custom bass is a fraction of the commission price 🙃

Perfect for someone like me who enjoys scooping up secondhand deals on high end gear. 

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My 'dream' bass would most likely be a neck-through jazz bass, with the neck profile of on my 86 Jazz bass and maybe a musicman pickup at the bridge instead of the single coil. Being a dream bass there would be a way of having the neck pickup passive and the musicman through an active MM EQ. :) Bound dark wood neck and white inlays, finished in black with matching hardware.

Fun to dream :)

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention the string spacing at bridge would be 17mm

 

 

Edited by ahpook
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I've already had mine built.

IMG_20200602_184104.thumb.jpg.1a068c393d58024e928a6535695a32bf.jpg

The only thing I didn't like on the build was the pickups, so they've been swapped out. The knobs it came with weren't the chickenhead's either.

Edited by Skybone
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- 19 mm string spacing at the bridge

- 36" scale, fretted/fretless = 2 instruments

- no front dots, they are useless

- a single pickup will do, another is an optional extra

- no controls, they can be in the pedal board

- lightweight, chambered/hollow

- dark top and fretboard

- local timber, oil finish

- black HW

- 5 strings (BEADG)

- 40 - 125, ss rw

I think I am ready, where's the gig?

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27 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

Mine would probably change completely every six months, thus is my fickle nature! :laugh1: 

This week it's like a 51 Precision with an upside down headstock but it'll look remarkably like a Thunderbird come September!

Better wait with commissioning one till nano technology is at the stage where the bass would be able to transmorph completely according to your at any given time current wishes then.

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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48 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Better wait with commissioning one till nano technology is at the stage where the bass would be able to transmorph completely according to your at any given time current wishes then.

Or, finances allowing, simply get 40 different ones!

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Ah well, since we’re dreaming:

 

six string, 33-30” multiscale

16mm spacing at bridge, 8mm spacing at nut

Stu-Hamm-Urge style J/P/J pickup setup... or Roscoe Beck

Sadowsky pre with VTC

RMC piezo saddles

Chambered Singlecut roasted ash body, roasted maple bolt on neck

ebony board, no front inlays, side LEDs

bridge stringable through body at an angle (a la my Yamaha BB435) to allow easy use of long scale strings
Ultralite tuners

total weight of 4 pounds

😉

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19 hours ago, Jus Lukin said:

I struggle to think of any extreme metal bands with brass of any sort, but certainly no-one playing the bugle in any of them. You may have a point there! 😉

I love 'em, especially the magma red ones from a few years back!

I've fairly recently sent a pretty comprehensive spec to a builder on here, so I'll keep it brief:
Through neck, short scale, headless, with a chambered body and three SIMS Super Quad pickups, 3 3-way switches for coil selection, 3 on/off switches but the one for the most neck-wards would have a third position to take it out to a separate jack for dual output, and then very simple passive controls, likely one of @KiOgon's kill/tone switches. The body shape would be along the lines of this, owned by @TheGreek...
1188799985_32HL.jpeg.992bea9b681f550dec0bd1e340e7c9b5.jpeg

Interesting.

Especially your pickup choice, wasn't aware of the existence of these pickups, but just looked them up.

Not something I would personally ever have need of, I just need one basic great tone that fits my personal preferences, but I can totally see how the options these pickups gives you could prove very useful and practical for some bass players. 

Quite cleverly thought out, at least as long as you like the basic tone of those pickups, which I guess will reflect itself through the different modes/wirings they are capable of, but even then, especially with 3 of them, you will be able to cover a tremendous amount of different tonal ground.

No doubt going to be a super versatile bass you will get there.

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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I don't think I'd ever have a custom built. Although I think I know generally what makes up a bass that suits me, I know there's something about the sum of the parts and the way they work together that cannot be quantified or specified. I'm sure some of us have at some time had more than one example of what is 'the same model' bass but found they sound, play or feel slightly different. 

I'd much rather find the bass for me by trying lots that have already been built, and upon finding one that feels right, adjust and modify it as necessary.

I'm 100% sure that if I specified a custom build that was on paper exactly the same as 'my bass', it would sound feel and play completely differently.

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4 minutes ago, ped said:

I don't think I'd ever have a custom built. Although I think I know generally what makes up a bass that suits me, I know there's something about the sum of the parts and the way they work together that cannot be quantified or specified. I'm sure some of us have at some time had more than one example of what is 'the same model' bass but found they sound, play or feel slightly different. 

I'd much rather find the bass for me by trying lots that have already been built, and upon finding one that feels right, adjust and modify it as necessary.

I'm 100% sure that if I specified a custom build that was on paper exactly the same as 'my bass', it would sound feel and play completely differently.

Been there, done that. 😉

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I think the danger is having too many bells and whistles that the final product is less than the sum of its parts. For my custom builds, I took bass designs that I liked, but were lacking in some way for my own, personal tastes and corrected those anomalies. Doesn't stop me tweaking with them though (a thumb rest here, a knob change there) after years of ownership.

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I saw this recently and thought, bloody hell, Jon has pretty much nailed my dream bass with this!

image.png.196b33bfc45b8b2012933f1edcacc6d9.png

How might I tweak? Perhaps a set neck rather than bolt on, possibly reverse P and a different wood finish (and I'd also check that he's using light-weight tuners - as there's a possibility of saving nearly 1lb in weight there and getting less neck dive).

But in terms of key features: PJ, 24 frets, 3 band John East EQ, meaty pups and great looking bass - just wow!

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An easy to play Ric neck profile, and with Laredo/Cheyenne pickup placement and Laredo pickups. (Just get a Laredo then!), Wouldn't have to look like a Ric, I'd like a bolt on neck too. Maybe have one regular Ric scale length, and the other a short scale.

Edited by barrycreed
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