anzoid Posted May 5, 2023 Share Posted May 5, 2023 After (mostly) putting together a cheap jazz bass kit from eBay the bug has bitten... I decided to put together something a bit custom that would hopefully get me the sound I'm looking for in a package that would be doable for a newbie. I have no real woodworking skills, no proper place to work and no tools (apart from a drill and a chisel...). Enter guitarbuild.co.uk - discovered whilst looking for kits that might get me heading in the right direction. So, then a question of whether to just buy "off the shelf" or go a bit wild. Went a bit wild. The spec I put together: Body: 2-piece walnut P-bass with rear-routed control cavity. Battery box routing. And custom routing for a Stingray pickup. Quite a lot of research, including some very useful posts on this very site led to deciding to put the pickup as near as possible to the proper Stingray spot. Neck: walnut with 38.8mm nut, maple fretboard, medium jumbo frets and abalone dot markers front and side. Headstock shape was going to be my own design, but ended up going for the "house" style as it was pretty much what I had ended up with anyway with my own design and I figured they had already got it right. Jasmine from Guitarbuild looked after the process from beginning to end with some very helpful advice about what would actually work and what was possible. For basses the choice is between p-bass and j-bass bodies in a variety of woods and for the necks you can choose one-piece or two-piece, woods and dots. Then it's just a case of communicating what you want in the way of custom routs. I found an outline of a p-bass body in a usable format for the graphic design program I often use for work. Adding the Stingray pickup outline was easy enough and putting writing on the picture to explain exactly what I wanted did the job. Only thing you can't change on the neck is that it has to be a four in-line headstock, which suited me fine anyway. I went for the option whereby they put together three body blanks and I got to choose one (though would have happily bought at least two of them... just couldn't afford to). One body was a definite "no" - just wasn't what I was looking for but it was a hard choice between the other two. Neck blanks was also choice of three and, again, it was hard to choose between them. From first email to the boxes arriving was just over two months and that included me faffing around some... Quality is excellent - the neck in particularly is very nicely made. The neck is made for the body and is a tight fit with holes pre-drilled. All that remains is finishing it, possibly a bit of light sanding on the body in a couple of places. The plan is to finish it using a Wudtone transparent finishing kit. I recently used a "Dark Tease" to finish the "zebrawood" composite body of the cheap jazz in order to dull down the stripes - was very easy to apply and gave a very nice result. I used Danish Oil on the jazz bass neck and didn't like so much how it yellowed the maple a bit much. Hardware is going to be EMG MMCS pup, with volume and EMG BTC Control for treble and bass, Hipshot Vintage bass bridge in black - all bought second hand. Machineheads will be Hipshot Licensed Lollipop Ultralites in black - special order from the US via BTN Music and a Hipshot 3-way string tree. Other bits and pieces will be from the parts bin. So far the whole process has been a lot of fun. Guitarbuild were (are) fantastic to work with - quick replies to emails and seemed to be happy to answer all my "I don't really know what I'm doing" type questions. Photos are below. And I'll add more as things progress. As browsing this particular part of BC was what got me thinking I might be able to do this, you all get to see the results 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard R Posted May 5, 2023 Share Posted May 5, 2023 Following with interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted May 5, 2023 Share Posted May 5, 2023 (edited) Very Nice... Enjoy! My Bitsas were fun to do, but significantly cheaper i think... Edited May 5, 2023 by PaulThePlug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted May 5, 2023 Share Posted May 5, 2023 2 hours ago, anzoid said: As browsing this particular part of BC was what got me thinking I might be able to do this.. We have all been there. You are doing much better than some of us have managed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted May 6, 2023 Author Share Posted May 6, 2023 12 hours ago, PaulThePlug said: Very Nice... Enjoy! My Bitsas were fun to do, but significantly cheaper i think... Some nice basses there @PaulThePlug Inspiring to see what can be done with parts from different sources. The jazz bass mentioned above is from Twin--cam on eBay like the neck you bought. He swapped out a maple/rosewood neck for all maple to go with the zebrawood body. I should probably post that in a different thread - it's not quite ready for prime time and is never going to win any awards - mainly because it was more of a "learning experience" thing than a "this going to be an amazing (or even playable) bass" thing. The Guitarbuild.co.uk bass is going to come in at about the same price as a new Fender MIM Jazz bass, and significantly less than a US Music Man Stingray. And I got to choose a slim neck for my Stingray-a-like. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted May 16, 2023 Author Share Posted May 16, 2023 Been taking advantage of the decent weather to make a start on putting the Wudtone finish on the body and neck. I'm working outside on a garden table with an old towel on top to protect both the table and the bass. The finish has been very easy to apply (using an old sheet cut up into smaller pieces. Whole sheet in one go would be a bit much...). Done a coat each evening from Sunday - so third this evening. Wil now leave it all until at least the weekend, maybe give it a light sanding (is that sensible??), a couple more coats of the base coat and then a couple of coats of top coat for the satin finish. Still waiting on hardware to arrive. Have decided to use Nectite inserts and screws for the neck, the control cavity screws and the pickups. Some shielding paint also on the way even though it's at least going to start life with an EMG pickup. I'm thoroughly enjoying the process and the fact you can't rush it and working with such a lovely piece of wood is so tactile and downright relaxing. Time to quit my job and become a luthier... if only. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackroadkill Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 Now that's looking very swish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 Love the simple look - MM and natural wood! very cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 (edited) Nice... feels like i'm with you on your journey... and it has a casual air about it. Love the 3 spots on the forearm contour... pre-worn smooth spots... Edited May 16, 2023 by PaulThePlug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 Feels like I'm getting more towards having a bass... though the learning curve with the finish has been steep. Wudtone finish goes on really easy, but what you do after that is up for grabs. Yesterday morning was a bit of al freso guitar finishing. This was a mistake. Up to now, after finishing a coat I've been hanging the neck and body on a (clothes) drying rack upstairs using pieces of wire through a tuner hole in the neck and neck screw hole in the body - no problems. Yesterday, as it was nice and sunny, I thought I'd hang them on the washing line. Yeah, don't do that. The body feel off due to the line moving. It missed the dog (thankfully, getting all the hairs off would have been a nightmare) but did get somewhat covered in grass. Cleaned that up easily enough. A little later... a small fly landed on the neck and got stuck. It fell apart as I cleaned it off, but left no marks. All I needed was a pigeon to fly over and do its business and the day would have been complete - so I moved everything inside. Photos taken just before doing a top coat this morning. And proof the dog was OK. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 On 16/05/2023 at 23:05, PaulThePlug said: Nice... feels like i'm with you on your journey... and it has a casual air about it. Love the 3 spots on the forearm contour... pre-worn smooth spots... Those three spots were barely visible in the unfinished wood, but have really come out with the finish - I think they look great, but was a little surprised to see them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 Lookin good in the sun... likes the pale maple board, not as common... Mmm... Controls? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwillett Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 This is why I shouldn't read Basschat when tidying my home office. I get distracted and start thinking stupid thoughts like "Mmm fancy a decent active p bass". Must resist and keep on tidying, must not look on guitarbuild.co.uk. . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 8 hours ago, PaulThePlug said: Lookin good in the sun... likes the pale maple board, not as common... Mmm... Controls? Maybe? When I ordered the build I hadn't decided quite what pickup or preamp I was going to put in - so decided not to get them to drill a bunch of holes I've ended up with an EMG MMCS and EMB BTC Control (stacked treble and bass) plus volume, So, only two holes to drill, but haven't decided where. I'm going to start out just wiring it all up and leaving the pots in the control cavity at a pleasing setting... and then decide what to do. But, I might experiment with different pickups and quite fancy trying one of the Retrovibe Stinger preamps so... that would require more holes, from which there is no going back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 5 hours ago, rwillett said: This is why I shouldn't read Basschat when tidying my home office. I get distracted and start thinking stupid thoughts like "Mmm fancy a decent active p bass". Must resist and keep on tidying, must not look on guitarbuild.co.uk. . No comment But, just to remind you - https://guitarbuild.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwillett Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 No, no, must resist, must resist..... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dov65 Posted June 1, 2023 Share Posted June 1, 2023 @anzoid….the Wudtone finishing kit, how easy is it to apply & what stages are there ? Yeah I know there’s a web page but I’d rather read it with somebody 1st hand. Cracking build by the way & I’ll second you about Jasmine at guitarbuild 1st class Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted July 10, 2023 Author Share Posted July 10, 2023 Hi @Dov65, sorry only just seen your question. The Wudtone finish has been great - very easy to put on. You start with base coats wiped on with a clean lint free cloth, excess taken off with a different cloth. Left overnight. I did about four coats. Then it's top coat - which looks very similar to the base coat... same process. I then left the whole lot for nearly a month to cure. I don't think I got it perfect - it could use some polishing and a bit more attention to smooth down some... bits. But overall, very happy with it. I have also used one of the coloured finishes and that was easy enough - but it was dark colour onto already quite dark "wood" - one of those zebra wood kits off eBay that is made of some kind of composite wood stuff. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted July 10, 2023 Author Share Posted July 10, 2023 (edited) Today has been hardware fitting day. Hipshot tuners - though not the Lollipops I wanted as it turns out... Hipshot didn't actually have any anywhere despite telling the supplier they were in stock - shout out to BTN Music for all their help with that and getting me the ordinary clover leaf ones very quickly. Bridges... hmmm... yeah. Bought a Hipshot Vintage but it just didn't look right. Then found a Stingray style bridge on Aliexpress (one of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32839427267.html). It arrived very quickly but, again just didn't look right for the more minimalist look I wanted. Ended up buying a Hipshot A Style Fender fit bridge from BTN Music because they were on sale. Got the aluminium version. String tree is also Hipshot. Knobs are John East. The EMG MMCS with BTC Control 2-band EQ behind the scenes packs a punch 😮 Only issue at the moment is that something is funny with the jack socket so it keeps cutting out... job for the weekend. Still some serious tweaking and setting up to do, but it's shaping up to be a very very nice bass. Neck is old-skool jazz width 38.8mm with Graphtech nut that just dropped right in and doesn't look like it's going to need much work. Front to back it's quite chunky, but I like that, very similar to my Warwick Thumb bass in fact. It's light too at just over 3.8kg, and that despite being all walnut with a bit of maple. And to add - the fit of the neck to the body was perfect - quite tight, but once on everything lined up perfectly without needing to faff around. That was my biggest worry... having to adjust the fit of the neck. My worries were unwarranted! Edited July 10, 2023 by anzoid 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted July 10, 2023 Share Posted July 10, 2023 @anzoid Congratulations. I really like that, an exercise in good taste 👍 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StingRayBoy42 Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 That Bass just oozes class. Nice work! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 Yes - that looks lovely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 I like that simple but effective look. Congratulations @anzoid ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTool Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 Great job 👌🏼 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfrasho Posted September 2, 2023 Share Posted September 2, 2023 love this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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