Bass Guitar Build

[andy-m]

I've not been doing a great deal to the scoob over the past few months and this is why!

Backstory
i'm almost 40 now. Back when I was a teenager, I was lucky in that the secondary school I was at had a decent music department. I started out with bass guitar lessons, then after a year, switched to electric guitar.
I was curious how they worked so I picked up books and taught myself how to build and repair them.
The school had a few broken electric guitars with bits missing, and so I was allowed to tinker with them to try and make as many good working guitars as I could for the school out of the damaged/faulty ones.
I was even allowed to keep one for myself

Life/Job/Money etc all got in the way as I grew older and I basically played at home, never gigged and by my mid 20's, was hardly playing at all.

Last year, my interest was sparked again after realizing that after many years of losing interest in the guitar, i still liked the bass. For some reason, the thought of going back to the Bass had never crossed my mind untill then.
So, off to ebay I went and picked up a cheap bass guitar.
Guitars and bass guitars come in various lengths called "Scale lengths" which refers to the distance between the nut and the bridge. This is also the only part of the string that vibrates when you play.
Bass guitars normally have a 34 or 35 inch scale length and are referred to as "long scale".
When I was about 7yrs old, I broke my left arm and dislocated my elbow.The operation did a lot of damage to the blood supply so my left elbow didn't grow properly. My arm works fine under normal circumstances. I just cant lift really heavy things with that arm and i have a slight loss of rotation in my left forearm.
When I was a young bass player, my left elbow never really gave me any problems while playing. Upon returning to playing the bass again at 39yrs old, I found my left elbow was a bit of an issue.
The solution was to use a bass with a slightly shorter scale length.
Short scale basses usually have a 30 inch scale length, which does change the sound a bit too much for my taste, so I decided on a 32 inch scale length.
The thing is, there isn't much out there in that scale length. Modifying something would be difficult and would be a compromise at best, so I decided that the best solution would be to make a bass guitar from scratch. This way, i could make it exactly how I wanted it and shaped to my needs.

The build Begins !
First off I had bought an ebony fretboard blank with slots cut. using that, some card and some imagination, I came up with a shape I was reasonably pleased with after my 6th attempt


I had decided on having what is called a "Through Neck". Necks are normally bolted on, glued on, or are made long enough to extend through the centre of the body. To make it even stronger, I was going to have a "Laminated neck" which means I glue 5 strips of wood together. This is done both for Asthetics and increased strength which helps improve tone and sustain (The length of time a single note goes on for after being plucked once)
The price for these bits of wood was the same as I could buy that bit already made up for me so below is what I bought next. The laminate lump for the through-neck, the trussrod which goes in the neck and 2 lumps of Golden Camphor burl which I imported from Canada. I originaly intended to use them as covers for parts of the bass, but decided against that in the end


Hardware came next. These items can be bought over here in England, but everyone seemed to be out of stock so the pickups, gold bridge and tuners all had to be imported from America.


I also bought 2 bookmatched pairs of Walnut Burl, again imported from America.
Not pictured is a large plank of Maple, which I managed to source over here in England.
Originally, I planned to have a maple body with the wallnut on the front and back. I later changed my mind as they are both nice pieces and would be wasted on the back of a guitar. I decided to keep the second set for another build in the future


Mt father is a carpenter and has access to a large workshop which I do not. I therefore marked out the channel I needed him to use the router on for me to put the trussrod in. We also cut the Ebony fretboard to size/shape


I then cut the trussrod down to size as it was for a longer scale bass and re-welded the end.
I Installed it in the routed channel and then glued the fretboard in place over it


Using the bandsaw, I got my dad to cut the back profile of the neck and the face of the headstock. He also took a little off the front of the body end so that the fretboard would be sitting higher than the body.
I then got my father to use a router bit with a bearing on top to cut the side profile of the neck using the fretboard as a guide. This left me with a neck that was now the desired width, but obviously still square. So, out came the spoke shave till I got this:-


The last job I needed my fathers assistance on was the body thickness. He put the Maple plank through the planer-thicknesser at work for me and glued on the bookmatched Walnut for the face of the guitar.
Once these were the right thickness, I glued the body wings either side of the neck piece.
From this point on, I didnt need any big workshop machinery so dad didnt see it again untill recently.


Using some MDF, i made a template for my Dremel Router to cut out the pickup cavities. This was done before I cut the shape of the guitar out so that I could screw the template down in to the excess bits of wood and stop it moving. I blew up my dremel half way through the routing process (It was one of the smaller ones), so I bought a bigger and better one to complete it.


I also did the same on the back, but realized that the dremel wouldn't go deep enough. I really needed a proper router for that but didnt have one, so afrter the first few cuts with the dremel, I went old-school on the guitar and stitch drilled the outer edge, then got the hammer and chissel out.
Routers also scare me a little, the same with the large circular saws. I have respect for the tools, but was told if they scare me, i'm likely to have an accident with them, hence why I don't own either. The dremel router is a diferent story though. too small for me to be scared of using it !


I then had to get some extra long Jigsaw blades and cut the shape out. I could have got my dad to do it in the large bandsaw at work for me, but i was gaining more confidence in my work so I just went for it.


out with the files and rasps then and on with tidying up the edge cut by the jigsaw, and shaping some of the body curves


I then realized that I had forgotten to cut a cavity for the battery holder. The electrics in the bass are what they call "Active". it simply means there is a small pre-amplifier on the guitar run by a 9v battery that gives the electrics better tone. my setup can run in active of passive mode once it's all wired up.
Anyway, out with the dremel router attachment again


More filing and sanding then..... and it was baking hot weather at the time too


At least now though, it was starting to look like a guitar


I then cut the headstock shape and used the rasps, files and sandpaper.


to make the fret markers (Dots on the fretboard) I decided to use some of that Golden Camphor burl.
You can't get 4mm plug cutters as they don't go that small so I had to get a 4mm leather punch and put it in my drill.
After doing a number of these as the picture below, I cut across it from the top so that all the little plugs fell out.


Tested one in a scrap bit of Ebony to see if sanding it would contaminate the camphor with ebony dust, but it was fine


So, 4mm holes drilled in the fretboard


Then in went the camphor fret markers I drilled and then I used a 20" radiused sanding block to get the curved fretboard shape. There's no finish on that wood. That's 600 grit sanding, then turn the paper over and buff like crazy to get some heat in the wood and that's the shine you get


Gold fretwire went in next. I could get the normal silver look over here, but for the gold look, I had to import from America again


Then the side fret markers. 2mm dremel drill bit again


I then decided to make it all professional and stuff, so I put a serial number on the back of the headstock


I then started putting on the finish. This is the first coat. Again, it's something I had to import from America. it's a Tung Oil Wiping varnish that you put on a bit like French Polish. It's very thin and doesnt show any marks like you get with brushed on varnish. The particular one I am using is a low gloss one. 8 coats went on in the end.


I then came up with a design for a company name on the headstock. I also decided to call the bass "Semel" which is latin for the first one, or first time.
I bought myself an inkjet printer and some printable clear water transfer paper. Once printed, I lightly sprayed an aerosol varnish on the paper to seal the ink on the paper and stop it running when I put it in water. I tested it out on a bit of scrap


As i was happy with it, on it went to the real thing. several coats of wiping varnish later, and it's sealed on the guitar. I cut a scrap bit of ebony to cover the trussrod and installed the Warwick adjustable nut and Schaller machine heads


Then I installed the bridge


And thats as far as I have got at the moment.
I am currently waiting for some conductive paint to be delivered. this gets applied to the pickup cavities and the control cavity to screen the electrics.
After that, I have another bit of ebony coming to make a cover for the back of the control cavity.
Then the electrics can all go in.
After that, ive just got to put the strings on and leave it to settle for a week before i start adjusting the action, intonation, and leveling/tidying the frets up.

[Banstead Stig]

That's excellent.

Hat's off to you, as that is quite some project.

[andy-m]

thanks. the only problem is it's slightly addictive, i'm already considering a 5 string version and a fretless version.
i'll probably leave it a year before I do another one though.

[scotty]

Some really good quality work there thanks for the reminder since I'm going to have plenty of time on my hands now I might start learning how to play my electric guitar that I bought 2 years ago and haven't touch it .

[andy-m]

well, i'm done.
First the back:-


There's a few more screws in it now though


and the front:-



I need to leave it to settle for a week before I set the action and intonation, but as far as looks go, its done and wont change from the pic above.
First impressions are that it is easier for me to play than my old bass. the nut is closer to me so I dont have to rotate my forearm as much and the strings are closer together and easier to play.
time to start planning for Bass number 2. . . . . . .

[andy-m]

ok, so, just went through the bills and the Bass guitar I built cost me £653.60 in parts and materials.
Then another £416.20 in tools and consumables.
So thats a total bill of £1,069.80, although the cost of tools & consumables will be money I dont have to pay out for the next build

[Danwrx]

We'll done mate, looks amazing, i played guitar a good few years back but my brother plays a lot, he's just got himself a Gibson les Paul I think it's called, very nice guitar.
Anyway well done mate hope it sounds as good as it looks

[andy-m]

Originally Posted by Danwrx

We'll done mate, looks amazing, i played guitar a good few years back but my brother plays a lot, he's just got himself a Gibson les Paul I think it's called, very nice guitar.
Anyway well done mate hope it sounds as good as it looks

they are expensive too, but worth it to get that particular sound.

[Danwrx]

Yeah it was, think it was about £800 roughly but a lovely guitar. He's only 16 but he is good, he's got bass guitars, acoustic he's looking at one of them twin neck ones, I have no idea what they're called

[andy-m]

thats a bargain depending on condition and spec. I've seen them go for between 1K to 2.5K !

[Bytes]

Very interesting write up I used to play keyboards and experimented with MIDI and computers, but as you say, life gets in the way! Hope you keep at it