Considering my first build!

[Aharon]

The idea of putting together my own bass from parts has got me excited, but I've not done this before so I'm a little unsure. I do my own set ups and have taken files and drills to instruments and put in pickups, but have never built from scratch. I'll start by listing my idea:


Maple P-bass body
Maple P-bass neck / maple board
Badass II bridge (or any other high-mass bridge for sustain and attack)

Matched pair humbuckers (passive) (unsure of which to get)
Aguilar Opb-3 preamp


I have a gibson ripper from 1979 and while it sounds fantastic, I want to build something based on it that looks a but different and has a higher output, maybe with some of the extended high-end shaved off a little.

I've also been looking at secondhand basses on here because I'm not sure if I should go ahead and just start throwing parts together. I'm pretty sold on maple as a body wood given the few ones ive owned / tried with it have got 'that maple' sound. All this being said I'm a closet Musicman fan and havnt ruled out going with a used G&L or something similar to a MM. Only issue with a G&L is the necks, which they only replace under warranty and nobody seems to make necks for G&L basses!

What do you think?

Aharon

[essexbasscat]

HI there. Like the sound of the proposed P bass. My old '72 was maple / maple as you intend. the scratchplate was white, which made it look dead sexy.

have you considered body width for overall weight issues ?

similarly, there is always the body wieght vs. neck weight thing to think about. a heavier neck may want to nosedive.

Again, another one is the height of the board relative to the top of the body. Get it wrong here and there will be a need for some creative solutions on the height of the bridge i.e. need to gain or lose height outside of that available from the adjusters.

I only mention these as it's a topic I've been considering myself for some time. I hope this helps save you tears at bedtime.

Be interested to hear how you're getting on , thoughts etc

good luck with that

Tom

[henry norton]

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='673978' date='Dec 4 2009, 11:21 AM']HI there. Like the sound of the proposed P bass. My old '72 was maple / maple as you intend. the scratchplate was white, which made it look dead sexy.

have you considered body width for overall weight issues ?

similarly, there is always the body wieght vs. neck weight thing to think about. a heavier neck may want to nosedive.

Again, another one is the height of the board relative to the top of the body. Get it wrong here and there will be a need for some creative solutions on the height of the bridge i.e. need to gain or lose height outside of that available from the adjusters.

I only mention these as it's a topic I've been considering myself for some time. I hope this helps save you tears at bedtime.

Be interested to hear how you're getting on , thoughts etc

good luck with that

Tom[/quote]

Sounds nice, although a hard maple body will be very heavy it'll sound nice & bright, especially with the maple neck - an interesting mix of bright woods and warm humbuckers. You might be able to get a soft maple body which'll be a fair bit lighter, or chambering the body will help with weight reduction. Bridges like the Schaller 3D can be built up with specially made shims if you find you need a bit more height, or you can alter the neck pocket. Get out there and do it, just make sure you let everyone here how you're getting on.