A 3d printed bass guitar

[Richard R]

This is the sort of thing I meant, the white binding on an old Rick

 

[rwillett]

Ah, now I see what you mean.

 

Not planning that. I just wanted the pickguard to have a subtle line around it. I'd love to print some decent patterns but at the moment my focus is getting the bass body finished, pained and shiny. The new pickguard is the first step.

 

I assume from your comment that some people put fake bindings around guitars?

 

Rob

[Richard R]

I think I've seen them painted in on a completely solid body instrument. Probably somewhere on this site.

[BigRedX]

There was also a technique popular in the 90s where guitars with light-coloured woods for the body (top) would have the colour coat carefully removed around the edges before clear-coating to produce a faux-binding effect.

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 10/04/2024 at 18:37, SamIAm said:

The question is how wide is wide enough?

I've been looking at this, which looks like I could loose 98% of the 'paddle' leaving enough space to mount the headless string retainer and is affordable at about £60.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184628868144

 

I need to figure out of its 65mm heel will result in sufficient string spacing at the bridge, I'd like 18mm ... I really need to draw up a design to check angles, spacing etc.

 

And, despite 97.4% +ve seller feedback, I'm a bit wary of a made in china ebay neck ...

 

Sam x

I am almost certain that 65mm at last fret won't allow for 18mm string spacing for a 5 string at the bridge.

 

I'd say probably 16.5mm at most, and likely even not any more than 16mm.

[rwillett]

No need to apologise.

 

This is all good stuff. If it moves off building stuff, then we may ask to create a new thread, but carry on. Its interesting.

Rob

[rwillett]

Have now sanded, primed, filled, primed, felled again, sanded again and readied the pickguard.

 

about to paint it in satin black. Wish me luck <gulp>
 

 

 

[Hellzero]

Break a leg.

[rwillett]

A question to more experienced than me players, which is everyone

 

How critical are the positions of the bass pickups in your opinion? Does it make a difference if pickups are 5mm out in different positions, or 10mm or doesn't it make a lot of difference? All views welcomed.

 

The reason for asking is that I'm looking at a new centre plate for the bass guitar and I wanted to be able to use different bass pickups. These all require mounting holes and they start to collide.

 

It's getting a bit crowded in there. There are holes for neck and bass jazz pickups, thunderbird style pickups and split precision pickups. Also there are backplate mounting pickups and bridge pickups. Not put on holes for the neck yet either or other mounting holes that need to go down the edge either. It does fit but I'm moving things around 2-3mm to avoid collisions.

[SamIAm]

More than 1mm out of place and it will be a major problem ... ooops that's bolx!

 

Perhaps check out  this video that @funkle shared ...

Sam x

[rwillett]

Oh wow, how long did that video take to make?

 

I think that shows that you can put the pickups just about anywhere and still have a decent sound. Whether its the right sound for somebody is for them to decide.  Me personally, I like the Jazz positions but I the combination of series and parallel pickups was interesting as well as split coils and reverse coils.  Thats made me think.

 

I'm so impreseed with the effort that went into that, hats off to the man for making that.

 

Rob

[JohnH89]

Somewhere near a P bass position will work for a single pickup . A few mm , or even cm will not hurt . Nearer neck will be darker , nearer bridge will have more treble . There really is no right or wrong . Just get them in and play it and see . Its amazing how much can be done with minor eq changes and right hand position .