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My custom P bass - Shuker bass building course 20/07/09


Mikey R
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[quote name='Tait' post='537618' date='Jul 10 2009, 11:43 PM']just as a matter of interest, how much is this costing you?[/quote]

The basic cost is £675 which includes all basic materials and hardware. Chris and I have both decided to upgrade the hardware, which is costing us extra.

I guess a large part of the cost goes towards Jons tuition, which as theres three of us gets split between us. I thinks thats why the one to one course is a little more expensive, but not that much more.

Are you thinking of building another one? :)

EDIT: Ive editted the first post to add the missing scratchguard.

Edited by Mikey R
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Ive spent a couple of hours scaling up the sketch to full size. Im not entirely happy with it but its close.

The original:



Drawn full size:



I cant seem to get the back curve of the scratchguard to match the back end of the body. Hmm. Otherwise, Im quite pleased.

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thats looking really cool mate, the blue/black/maple will look excellent. that body looks a little small, have you thought about neck dive? my taitycaster ended up with neck dive so i had to move the strap button, just something to think about. i wouldnt worry about the curve of the pickguard, its not really noticable, it looks really great. i'm definatly keeping my eye on this one!

is it this week coming up you're doing it, or the week after?

and no, not thinking of doing another one... yet :)

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A bit more playing with the design. Only made a few small changes but the overall effect it better:



[quote name='Tait' post='538135' date='Jul 11 2009, 08:19 PM']thats looking really cool mate, the blue/black/maple will look excellent. that body looks a little small, have you thought about neck dive? my taitycaster ended up with neck dive so i had to move the strap button, just something to think about. i wouldnt worry about the curve of the pickguard, its not really noticable, it looks really great. i'm definatly keeping my eye on this one!

is it this week coming up you're doing it, or the week after?

and no, not thinking of doing another one... yet :)[/quote]

I doubt it will neck dive, the strap button is at the 12th fret and Im using smaller tuners. My Bass Collection is smaller! But if it does dive, I can always swap to the Hipshot lightweight tuners, which should help.

Its week after next, so Ive got 5 working days to go. I dont think Im going to be much use at work next week.

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[quote name='steve-soar' post='538157' date='Jul 11 2009, 08:56 PM']It looks like a P bass with an old Peavey headstock.[/quote]

Yeah, theres only so many headstock designs out there - Im still not sure that the headstock shape [i]fits[/i].

If it still looks like a P bass at first glance, that was the plan! :) I took the P body shape and added some curves from the basses I really like at the moment. I want it to still look fairly classic whilst having a few modern features, like a smaller body and 24 frets.

After the last bass (its over there <<<), it will be quite nice to build one without any pointy bits! :rolleyes:

EDIT: ok, I think I managed to get my headstock out of the nineties:



Its nearly there, maybe just needs to be a bit bigger to balance with the body.

Edited by Mikey R
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I got worried about the balance, so I checked the position of the top horn against the photo of the P bass. The original has the top horn between the 12th and 11th fret.

Heres the adjusted pic, compared to the original Fender P:




I also (re)discovered Master of Puppets is a fine album for sketching basses to, closely followed by Ride The Lightning.

Edited by Mikey R
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[quote name='chris_b' post='539638' date='Jul 13 2009, 07:57 PM']I'd have the slightly longer and thinner top horn (Oo err) that you had in your original drawing.[/quote]

Cheers Chris, now that you point that out I think youre right - the top horn is heavier than the bottom horn (ahem).

I'll have a redraw tonight.

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[quote name='Jarhead' post='540600' date='Jul 14 2009, 06:58 PM']Headstocks different, the curve has been brought back a bit, then made deeper to allow the furthest part of the headstock to be closer without ruining the flow of the design.

Zach[/quote]

Yep - its funny, on a full size drawing even small changes can effect the whole balance and proportion of the thing as a whole.

[quote name='OldGit' post='540749' date='Jul 14 2009, 09:35 PM']You have plenty of neck attached to the body.. Will you use 6 bolts?[/quote]

Maybe - six was plenty on the singlecut, so maybe four or five would be enough for this one.

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Getting nearly there...

Ive thinned out the top horn, and fixed some of the curves that were bugging me.



And comparing to the original again:




(Im sure Im the only one who can see the difference between all these versions...)

Edited by Mikey R
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Getting closer, don't forget your camera and spare batteries for your camera, and a spare camera!

[quote name='OldGit' post='537258' date='Jul 10 2009, 03:13 PM']One day I shall tred in yours and Tait's footsteps :)[/quote]
me too, Shuker jazz body with a P pup, and a reverse jazz headstock. :rolleyes:

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I'll have to do this course myself sometime. I'm really looking forward to seeing the progress reports on this - make sure you post some progress pics! I'm up at Jon's tomorrow (he's been doing some work on my Stingray), so I'll mention the Basschat anticipation for this build :)

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I spoke to Jon yesterday, mine is the most complicated build of the three - not surprising really! To save time on Monday morning, Ive made up some templates for the body, neck and scratchguard from 6mm MDF.



Ive not cut the neck taper or the heel of the body, as I dont know what Jon has in mind for calculating this.

I couldnt resist this:



p.s. this is how I got the correct angle of the headstock:



[quote name='simon1964' post='543682' date='Jul 17 2009, 11:31 PM']I'll have to do this course myself sometime. I'm really looking forward to seeing the progress reports on this - make sure you post some progress pics! I'm up at Jon's tomorrow (he's been doing some work on my Stingray), so I'll mention the Basschat anticipation for this build :)[/quote]

Cheers! :rolleyes: Im in a B&B so not sure if I'll be able to post progress pics on the evenings, I'll see what I can do.

Edited by Mikey R
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Ive got everything I need together now, including camera and charger :) Its due to rain pretty much for the whole week, so Ive wrapped EVERYTHING up in plastic bags to keep them dry. Dont want to turn up with soggy templates!

Im not taking a computer with me, so I'll keep everything on the camera and post next weekend.

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Enjoy it dude, still mighty jealous (tho Nic does say I can do it next year if I have the money :) ) I'll give you a bell one evening to have a chat re. the proto, sorry I haven't managed it tonight but broken bones kinda needed to be attended to first!

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[quote name='Merton' post='544926' date='Jul 19 2009, 09:27 PM']Enjoy it dude, still mighty jealous (tho Nic does say I can do it next year if I have the money :) ) I'll give you a bell one evening to have a chat re. the proto, sorry I haven't managed it tonight but broken bones kinda needed to be attended to first![/quote]

Fair enough - we were wondering what happened but hope its all patched up now! :lol: At least its summer hols.

Still feeling a bit stupid for those electrics, especiaally cos thats the bit I was supposed to be good at! :rolleyes: And really sorry it cut out on stage, hope you managed to swap to the status nice and quick?

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