"Dream Bass" by Bassworks

[Bassworks]

First of all thanks to those who have been following and engaging positively with the Bassworks build diaries involving stock and custom builds for clients.

I'd like to tell you about my "Dream Bass" service.

 

I design your dream bass for you AND you get a voucher for £100 off your instrument if you wish to proceed!

 

Normally this service costs £25, (or $25, or EUR25). For a period of time I will offer a group of 3 Basschat members this service for FREE, per month. I'm not offering this elsewhere. It's exclusive to Basschat members.

 

As well as a clearly identified discount, we'll spend 30 minutes together by video conference to scope out your detailed written specification which I will document for you. You'll get a high resolution 2D colour render of the bass, a fully detailed cost breakdown and an easy stage payment plan where the build time can be tailored to fit with your cash flow situation. So for example if you want to delay the spraying of the instrument whilst you save the cash to fund that - you can do it!

 

There is no obligation to proceed at all.

 

IF you do choose to grace me with an order, we'll create a build diary on Basschat too.

 

This will operate as a competition. Here's what to do if you fancy a shot...

1. In this topic describe your dream bass in your own words, colour, materials, hardware and (if you play in a particular genre) what main genre(s) of music it would be played in. No pictures, just your words.

2. A panel of Bassworks judges will consider the submissions made by the end of each month.

3. As long as there are 3 great concepts per month as judged by the panel, those 3 Basschat members will win the Dream Bass Service for FREE that month.

 

Feel free to watch the video over on my Bassworks Facebook page. Hit my page and then search the page for "Dream Bass".

 

Thanks for reading and have a Funky Friday...

[Sammybass]

Amazing offer Bruce! You already know my dream bass though...

[Bassworks]

Any takers Bass chatters? I'll give it a week and if it's not getting any traction here I'll open it up to tut rest of interweb thingy!

[Sammybass]

Come on! Where are all those dream basses?  A semi acoustic Flying V with a piezo? A fretless Explorer in shell pink with three P-bass pups? Let your imagination run free!
 

Actually, can I order both of these please Bruce?

[Si600]

Reverse multi scale Flying V 5er with P, J, MM and Thunderbird pickups. V, T and micro switches to control the pickups.

To be honest, I think that would actually be horrible, more nightmare than dream.

[jimmy23cricket]

Ok, I'll play.

I have always had a hankering for a custom 5. I like the idea of a reverse thunderbird type shape, with slightly softer lines and angles then the originals. 

Body would be swamp ash, with a figured top of some kind. Nothing too fancy, just something with a nice grain or flame. I would then want the facing coloured with a blue/turquoise burst or fade and then a demarcation line on the facing. I would then like to have a trans white stain over the back and sides of the body showing up the grain of the swamp ash nicely.

Pickups would need to be quite hot and quiet as I play hard rock with a fair bit of dirt on my tone. So EMG X's or maybe Nordie big blades. Definitely either a soap bar layout or PJ. A nice top end 3 band EQ would also be nice, but I'd take a 2 band too. 

Hardware to be black or chrome. Babicz or Hipshot with through string.

Neck could be either through or bolt on (depend on cost of course!), but neck would be roast maple (birsdseye if possible) with a roast maple fingerboard. Pearl white block inlays with luminlay side dots. Quite like a fan fret too. 

I wouldn't need a matching headstock, quite happy with roasted maple. Shape do be determined by tuning key layout, although a "fender-esque" is what I'd probably go for. Hipshot Ultra lights by the way.

That's it really 😁

[itu]

This is not an easy task if your customer hasn't been thinking of the details at all. I had similar possibility with a local luthier few years ago. He was good enough to interpret my thoughts to shapes and ideas. It took over two months, numerous WA messages and phone calls before he was able to start.

Slow speed was very helpful. We had time to consider the ideas and changed quite a few details during the design phase.

36", light weight (under 7 lbs.), small body, birch, walnut, blackwood, oil, a hi-Z humbucker, a step attenuator and a coil switch. Square neck, plays like a dream.

[Bassworks]

9 hours ago, jimmy23cricket said:

Ok, I'll play.

I have always had a hankering for a custom 5. I like the idea of a reverse thunderbird type shape, with slightly softer lines and angles then the originals. 

Body would be swamp ash, with a figured top of some kind. Nothing too fancy, just something with a nice grain or flame. I would then want the facing coloured with a blue/turquoise burst or fade and then a demarcation line on the facing. I would then like to have a trans white stain over the back and sides of the body showing up the grain of the swamp ash nicely.

Pickups would need to be quite hot and quiet as I play hard rock with a fair bit of dirt on my tone. So EMG X's or maybe Nordie big blades. Definitely either a soap bar layout or PJ. A nice top end 3 band EQ would also be nice, but I'd take a 2 band too. 

Hardware to be black or chrome. Babicz or Hipshot with through string.

Neck could be either through or bolt on (depend on cost of course!), but neck would be roast maple (birsdseye if possible) with a roast maple fingerboard. Pearl white block inlays with luminlay side dots. Quite like a fan fret too. 

I wouldn't need a matching headstock, quite happy with roasted maple. Shape do be determined by tuning key layout, although a "fender-esque" is what I'd probably go for. Hipshot Ultra lights by the way.

That's it really 😁

That's a heck of a bassjimmy23cricket!

[Bassworks]

9 hours ago, itu said:

This is not an easy task if your customer hasn't been thinking of the details at all. I had similar possibility with a local luthier few years ago. He was good enough to interpret my thoughts to shapes and ideas. It took over two months, numerous WA messages and phone calls before he was able to start.

Slow speed was very helpful. We had time to consider the ideas and changed quite a few details during the design phase.

36", light weight (under 7 lbs.), small body, birch, walnut, blackwood, oil, a hi-Z humbucker, a step attenuator and a coil switch. Square neck, plays like a dream.

______________________

That's all great to know ITU, since you appear to already have this bass/these basses, I assume you're not submitting this for the panel to consider for my Dream Bass Service?

Bruce (Bassworks)

 

 

[itu]

Please no, although I would love to. The right amount of basses is +1.

To be honest, I just tried to tell to my fellow chatters that a pure custom is not a simple or easy task. And that a seasoned luthier is one very important help in the process. I will follow this super interesting topic.

[Lee-Man]

Interesting. I’d quite like to find a home for some oversized Aero dual coil pickups I have.

A j4 string jazz body (potentially reduced size) and 34” neck. Natural finish - Tru oil neck, thin satin nitro body.

Rosewood type fingerboard, nickel silver frets, graphite rods. Neck radius from my vintage Sadowsky. Truss rod wheel adjuster at body end similar to the MusicMan design. Bone nut.

Chrome Nickel hardware: Hipshot Type A bridge, BT1 machine heads and D-Tuner.

The Aero pickups coupled to an Aguilar OBP3 preamp. Magnetic electronics cavity. Bell control plate. Liminlay side markers.

[Bassworks]

21 hours ago, Lee-Man said:

Interesting. I’d quite like to find a home for some oversized Aero dual coil pickups I have.

A j4 string jazz body (potentially reduced size) and 34” neck. Natural finish - Tru oil neck, thin satin nitro body.

Rosewood type fingerboard, nickel silver frets, graphite rods. Neck radius from my vintage Sadowsky. Truss rod wheel adjuster at body end similar to the MusicMan design. Bone nut.

Chrome Nickel hardware: Hipshot Type A bridge, BT1 machine heads and D-Tuner.

The Aero pickups coupled to an Aguilar OBP3 preamp. Magnetic electronics cavity. Bell control plate. Liminlay side markers.

Sweet! Like the combination of Aero Instrument PUs with the Aguilar OBP3.

[mrdreadful]

Blew the dust off my account just for this thread!

My dream bass would be lightweight Jaguar-style ash body with walnut top, maple neck, purpleheart fretboard with pearl blocks and white binding, 4 string 30" scale, nickel hipshot hardware and narrow string spacing, single guitar-sized humbucker in 'sweet spot' (Dunable Baphomet or similar), single volume, no tone, passive electronics

Edited June 2, 2021 by mrdreadful

[Bassworks]

On 02/06/2021 at 10:37, mrdreadful said:

Blew the dust off my account just for this thread!

My dream bass would be lightweight Jaguar-style ash body with walnut top, maple neck, purpleheart fretboard with pearl blocks and white binding, 4 string 30" scale, nickel hipshot hardware and narrow string spacing, single guitar-sized humbucker in 'sweet spot' (Dunable Baphomet or similar), single volume, no tone, passive electronics

Ooh er another belter just when I was thinking of opening the dream bass thing up to a few other forums. Tell you what, I'll keep it focussed on Basschat a little longer then. Come on guys need more input! mrdreadful that's a sweet concept. I think the panel might be nodding this one through, let's see...

[Pea Turgh]

I’ll play!  A little similar to the above, but full walnut Jag body (stealth-chambered if that would make it too heavy), black anodised aluminum pickguard with chrome bell (symmetrical like on a Jazz) control plate.

Neck would be precision width with tele headstock, roasted flame maple with roasty fretboard.  No face dots, them blue luminays on the top edge.  Lollipop lightweight tuners (chrome).

Hipshot vintage bridge (chrome).

Hmm, pickups would be some sort of Musicman style affair.  Passive for simplicity.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Pea Turgh
Oh, and wide flat chrome volume & tone, so has that stack knob jazz look!

[Bassworks]

17 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

I’ll play!  A little similar to the above, but full walnut Jag body (stealth-chambered if that would make it too heavy), black anodised aluminum pickguard with chrome bell (symmetrical like on a Jazz) control plate.

Neck would be precision width with tele headstock, roasted flame maple with roasty fretboard.  No face dots, them blue luminays on the top edge.  Lollipop lightweight tuners (chrome).

Hipshot vintage bridge (chrome).

Hmm, pickups would be some sort of Musicman style affair.  Passive for simplicity.

Nice one Pete!

[Simon.]

So many choices, but, keeping it fairly simple to start with:

Ash bodied, modern take on a P-bass. Slightly slimmed down from normal, and chambered. Through body stringing, decent high mass bridge. 4-string.

3-piece, 22-fret neck with carbon fibre rods and 2-way truss rod, with adjustment at the head. Ideally a rosewood board, but intrigued by the roasted maple option. Quite a shallow radius on the board - at least 12", possibly more, but not flat. Pearl inlays and binding - not tied to standard blocks, but nothing too outrageous. A single bass clef or bass-clef love heart at 12th fret, if space allows. Fender-esque headstock with Hipshot ultralites. Medium-slim frets. String tree that covers the A string as well.

I would like to try a Norstrand p-type pickup, but want something that's going to cover the spectrum from Stax to Steve Harris. Probably passive. Rear cavity to have the guts of Phil Jones Big Head installed, with recessed (or edge mounted) sockets for headpone & audio inputs, and also the controls. Micro switch to switch the pickup output between the main jack and the input to the Big Head.

Lake Placid Blue, with matching headstock. Ideally the shade Fender Japan refer to as Old Lake Placid Blue, which is a tad deeper than the US version. Aged white pick guard (if the binding is cream) or Mop style.

 

Hope that all makes sense!

Edited June 4, 2021 by Simon.

[Bassworks]

21 hours ago, Simon. said:

So many choices, but, keeping it fairly simple to start with:

Ash bodied, modern take on a P-bass. Slightly slimmed down from normal, and chambered. Through body stringing, decent high mass bridge. 4-string.

3-piece, 22-fret neck with carbon fibre rods and 2-way truss rod, with adjustment at the head. Ideally a rosewood board, but intrigued by the roasted maple option. Quite a shallow radius on the board - at least 12", possibly more, but not flat. Pearl inlays and binding - not tied to standard blocks, but nothing too outrageous. A single bass clef or bass-clef love heart at 12th fret, if space allows. Fender-esque headstock with Hipshot ultralites. Medium-slim frets. String tree that covers the A string as well.

I would like to try a Norstrand p-type pickup, but want something that's going to cover the spectrum from Stax to Steve Harris. Probably passive. Rear cavity to have the guts of Phil Jones Big Head installed, with recessed (or edge mounted) sockets for headpone & audio inputs, and also the controls. Micro switch to switch the pickup output between the main jack and the input to the Big Head.

Lake Placid Blue, with matching headstock. Ideally the shade Fender Japan refer to as Old Lake Placid Blue, which is a tad deeper than the US version. Aged white pick guard (if the binding is cream) or Mop style.

 

Hope that all makes sense!

I'm liking this Simon, but would it not be more practical to mount a Phil jones Big Head on your bass strap and keep it intact? two output jacks one main to an amp and the other to the Big Head, switched on the bass?

[Simon.]

Hi @Bassworks, yes, it would keep the Big Head unit intact but, for me, pretty much 100%  of the time I'm likely to want to use the headphone amp, I'm going to be sitting down anyway, so wouldn't have the strap on.

I'm looking to minimise the amount of gear and cables I need to deal with, when I want to rehearse. Ideally there would be a Bluetooth receiver in there as well, to feed the audio input of the Big Head, but that's an additional level of complexity for now.

[Lee-Man]

Right, more GAS! 

I'd like a fiesta red PJ,  BW JPJ 4 body, Tort p/guard. 

Rosewood jazz type neck with 'clay' dots, nitro finish,  synthetic bone nut, graphite rods. Not sure if I'd go for 21 or 22 frets.

Chrome Nickel hardware: Hipshot vintage bridge, Hipshot Ultralite machine heads and D-Tuner.

Herrick White PJ pickups with V/V/T passive controls. 

Should be a good recipe for a versatile vintage styled machine.

 

Edited June 19, 2021 by Lee-Man

[Bassworks]

On 19/06/2021 at 20:37, Lee-Man said:

Right, more GAS! 

I'd like a fiesta red PJ,  BW JPJ 4 body, Tort p/guard. 

Rosewood jazz type neck with 'clay' dots, nitro finish,  synthetic bone nut, graphite rods. Not sure if I'd go for 21 or 22 frets.

Chrome Nickel hardware: Hipshot vintage bridge, Hipshot Ultralite machine heads and D-Tuner.

Herrick White PJ pickups with V/V/T passive controls. 

Should be a good recipe for a versatile vintage styled machine.

 

Ooof! That's a belter, it doesn't have to be complex to be good. I remember Herrick from way back with the Wal basses. Hmmm. Proper food for thought this one. Gonna go for the White covers on the PUs Lee-Man?

[Lee-Man]

5 hours ago, Bassworks said:

Ooof! That's a belter, it doesn't have to be complex to be good. I remember Herrick from way back with the Wal basses. Hmmm. Proper food for thought this one. Gonna go for the White covers on the PUs Lee-Man?

100%

Would look great.  

[mrdreadful]

This still a thing? All gone a bit quiet

[Bassworks]

On 04/08/2021 at 14:46, mrdreadful said:

This still a thing? All gone a bit quiet

Hey Mr. Dreadful we need 3 great ideas per month. There's maybe 1 of interest above and (not counting the chip in's from existing Bassworks Artists), so I'd say it's probably not a thing on Basschat at least.

[uk_lefty]

Guess I'm too late then 😟