Bass Building with Bassksun

[momuzik]

The reason I asked: I got a Yamaha neck with a crack in the headstock

I was going to glue it back together. The crack from the front isn't as visible as it is from the back.

I thought about putting some curly maple laminate on the headstock to cover up the crack on the front side of the headstock and maybe match the stain with the body.

But if I do that, I'll lose my "Yamaha" decal. If I keep the decal, then the crack will show.

By the way, this is the body I was telling you about with the layered wood.

[bassksun]

Niiiice Project! 

It ain't no Yammie anymore. It's a Momuzik! Grab some of that curly maple and get your Random Orbital Sander and glue. IMHO or if it were me...

This where you are headed no?

Glue and clamp that headstock. Then, sand down the front a bit so that you have all of the poly coat off. Glue and clamp some matching curly on there. Trim and drill the machine holes...9/16" me thinks. Same on the back.
Spray 1 coat of Minwax Satin Poly. Put a Momuzik lettering on it. Spray a couple of more coats...BAM! Beautiful.

I saw a ply bass the other day. His edge and back were black. I think the builder did it this way.

Tape and cover the top and/or back . Be patient and do a really good job. Then 5 coats of primer. 8 coats of black. He used Krylon. Let it dry for a week. Then he wiped on Minwax Gloss Varnish...good stuff. It dries in 3 hrs. Wait another 3 days or more polish. I wish I had a pic.

Once again...nice project. Be patient and you will be rewarded.

In Christ's Name

[bassksun]

Bassksun what is a usual height of a bass neck in the beginning stages.
before i cut my neck lams. i want to have at least the correct measurements. thanks ken 

If you are doing Empowered with wings then you are going to be at 1 3/4" to start.

If you are making a separate bolt-on neck then 1 1/8" to 1 1/4" to start. I would suggest 1 1/4" Trim to 3/4" or so at the heel.

I like wide heavy necks so mine are always thicker.

I know there will be a lot of wood lost. But if this your first one so be it. Here's the learning logic (logic  ) I'll cover this later too...
Neck making by hand can go wrong FAST! It is an art. Take off too much and your truss rod pokes through the back. Don't take off enough and you got a log.

There are other ways. But I use this because you can get a feel for it and there is room for mistakes.

Does this help?

[Ken Felder]

this helps alot thanks.

peace Ken !

[momuzik]

Thanks for the info. I never knew that you needed so many coats of primer and paint. So far I've only used wood stain (seems like most of your higher end basses have a wood finish).

After this, I'll have one more bass to assemble (maybe 2 if I find a neck) and 3 guitars.

BTW, I got the wood veneer from http://www.constantines.com/
I don't know if you all ever heard of them; I got a 6ft X 2ft piece for less than $20 (not including S&H)

[bassksun]

9/10/08
I Am Free Indeed! John 8:36

Sorry its taking so long to get these pics up...well you know.

The neck channel has been routed to a depth even with the truss rod spine. Notice that I had to route out a larger cavity. I'm trying out a truss rod that has nut instead of an Allen head. (I'm gonna regret this..) The scarf joint has been glued and planed and sanded smooth. Lay the headstock template on and it's not wide enough...of course.



I'll add a couple of strips of leftover mahogany to either side.



While those pieces are drying I'm going cut out my top because I need to have a matching headplate.



The piece from here will sanded down to about a 1/16". Note: You can do whatever you want for a head plate. You can get headstock lumber off Ebay, use a veneer or paint it. But you have to something because your scarf joint line will show. And thats just ugly. Be creative.



Glue and clamp. Trim it when dry.



Here I trimmed it to the desired thickness. You can measure the thickness on your own bass. It should come out to the 1/2" mark or so. Notice how much wood I left? This so I can have a "volute"; adds strength and looks cool too. You'll see when we carve the neck.




Attention here.
Now I laid it all out including the body pieces. You can see where I added some strips of wood to the sides of the neck. That is because the width of the neck is a hair too narrow for the width of my fretboard. You could use leftover maple or mahogany or whatever HARDWOOD you have. I had some Korina scraps lying around so I'm going use it here and other places.



Now it's time to trim your fretboard. Note:There are different ways to deal with this. Some people prefer to trim the neck according to the template first and glue on the fretboard and trim to size. I work the other way. Trim the fretboard first and then the neck. It is a little easier because its easier to fix problems on the neck from a bad router job. A bad rout on your fretboard and it's toast.


Be sure to tape your fretboard before you cut.



Ok laid up and ready to glue.



I'll get those pics up asap.
Peace and God's Love on you.
bks

[bassksun]

This bass is finally moving along...My wife is gonna kill me

4 string Fretless.
Walnut top and back
Poplar core
Active MM 3 band Stingray Pre-Amp
Matching pup cover
Seymour Duncan Basslines MM pup
Bubinga FB
Maple inlay
Ziricote fretlines
Anigre/Maple/Anigre/Maple/Anigre Neck

[RedsFan75]

So if I wanted to build one and keep it light, would I need to put basswood as the core?

Thanks for the great lesson.

[bassksun]

So if I wanted to build one and keep it light, would I need to put basswood as the core?

Thanks for the great lesson.

You're welcome. Basswood or Poplar.

[Ken Felder]

i Found A Music Msn Style Pick up For A Six String Bass. the question is could I use two of them on the same bass. because i seen Som of the Music man has 1 pick up and some of them have two . If i Use Just one would the Pickup be place at equal distance between the neck and the bridge. As you can tell i really love the music msn Sound. Also wanted to know where I could I find a music man pre-amp i saw you  use one  on one of your basses.


Thanks!
Ken

[bassksun]

i Found A Music Msn Style Pick up For A Six String Bass. the question is could I use two of them on the same bass. because i seen Som of the Music man has 1 pick up and some of them have two . If i Use Just one would the Pickup be place at equal distance between the neck and the bridge. As you can tell i really love the music msn Sound. Also wanted to know where I could I find a music man pre-amp i saw you  use one  on one of your basses.


Thanks!
Ken

Ken-
Sure. Why not? I love the "beefy" look and sound of dual MM pups. The MM sound is great for Gospel! I just don't like MM basses...  Look at some Wals too. Although Wal basses are special handmade. The dual MM style is really obvious.


If you use just 1 the measurement is: 13 1/8" from center of 12th fret to center of pup.

I got real lucky with finding a MM Pre-amp. Not many on the market and can be really expensive from MM. A lot of people keep the pre and dump the pups. Before you consider your Pre-Amp, look at your pups. Are they dual coil? Do you want a 2band or 3band?

If you can't get a MM pre then consider a Seymour-Duncan replacement. IMHO it's the closest to MM. There may be others. Drop Brian at Bestbassgear a note and get his opinion and then BUY from him.

Peace

[bassksun]

9/22/08
Jesus said, Suffer the little children unto me. Are you too grown up for Jesus?

Sorry it's taking so long to get the pics up.

Lay the truss rod in place and set it with a little caulk. Be careful to not let the caulk drip onto the threads. This keeps the truss in place and not rattle around later.


I taped the edges of the fretboard to keep the glue from going onto the sides. You gotta do this because it's going to be part of routing the neck.


Now tape over the truss rod to keep glue from dripping down in there. NOTE:Tape only wide enough to cover the truss rod. If the tape is too wide then you might cover area that is needed to glue the fretboard.


Use a lot of clamps and glue it down.


When the glue dries. Remove the tape then rout the edges.



Ok now start to carve the neck.
Here are some tutorials:

http://home.zonnet.nl/wilmaremy/neck2.html
http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/anckpr.htm
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=250978

I'm going to stop about halfway and attach the body.

[momuzik]

Just curious - Is anybody else planning on posting some pics of what you've done so far?

For now, I'm just taking notes (till I get my money right).

[Ken Felder]

I plan on posting some pics but im still getting pices. I'm still getting my money together also.

[bassksun]

9/23/08
Job: "I've come to the end of my understanding, and I leave it at that. My very existence is Yours, O God. It's Yours to unravel the mystery, to
track the labyrinthine ways, to handle the profound, to know the reasons behind the inexplicable events of my life."


Well, Bros and Sises; just 2 more phases after this to go...or 2 days about 24hrs. worth of work after this one to go.

After attaching the body wings we need to lay out the stuff.
I'm using individual bridges so that creates special problems. More on that later. That silver thing is a template for the electronics cover. I'll cut one out of scrap. I don't want to use plastic.



After a rough idea of where everything goes; I used a sharpie to draw direction lines for the ground and pup wiring channels. Notice the wood cover.



Hog out the electronics cavity with a Forstner bit. Also, the drill holes go ALL the WAY through to the other side.



Now I put the top back on. Time to rout for the pups. The plastic PBass Pup template is from Stew-Mac. The MM/EMG style pup is an Alnico pup from I dunno where. It weighs a ton! I found another one on the net for like $12 and it has a funky sound. So, I bought another. Haven't seen them since.



Rout the top and put it back on. Looks like PBass pup lined up ok. The MM/EMG is off. No Prob just draw the correct line.



Take the top off again...
I used a 12" drill bit to drill the wiring channels. I'm using individual bridges so I have to ground them. Ace hardware has cheap brass and copper stock. I soldered a wire to one end. Cut the metal to fit. Routed a little space for it to lay in. Now when I screw in the individual bridges the screws will go into this and be grounded. Cool huh? 



Stand back take a look. Groovy.



It's all good. So I can glue the top back on...finally! Flip the bass over and round over the edges with a.........you guessed it a roundover router bit. Remember I stopped at about halfway with the neck carving? Now I can finish that because you can feather the joints and get a feel for proportions onces everything is together. 2 indispensible tools for making your own necks. A combo file and a spokeshave or draw plane. The spoke shave is for rounding. It cannot make flat surfaces.



I used nails to line up the electronics cover. I'll route out a little shelf so that the cover sits flat.



I put a half round bit on my router so that I could remove wood for the belly cut.



Same thing for the arm rest.



Now I'll sand and detail with 150 grit and then 220 grit. If you don't have an orbital sander then get some Advil for your elbow.

Once it's all sanded down I'll put on a coat of stain and Tung Oil and varnish. I'll show you how to make the grain "pop". That's next. Then frets and electronics.

God is Love
BKS

[RedsFan75]

Just curious - Is anybody else planning on posting some pics of what you've done so far?

For now, I'm just taking notes (till I get my money right).

I'm building one from parts right now, I'm waiting on the EUB lessons. 

[bassksun]

I'm waiting on the EUB lessons. 

 

 

[RedsFan75]

 

Yo - no pressure... 

Seriously though, I'd been considering building me an EUB that uses an Upright fingerboard and has the 3/4 bass scale.. so I've been looking at them for a while now.

[bassksun]

Yep. The EUB is a deep and serious project. And Expensive. 3/4 scale is the way to go. With the neck and fingerboard you can learn to arco (bow). You can go to:Bob Gollihur http://www.gollihurmusic.com/index.cfmfor everything you need. The EUB will change EVERYTHING about your music for the better.

As soon as I get the cash...

[the bull]

  Hi Basskun,
   Found your testimony inspiraing. I too have been bit by the bass building bug. I don't have a lot of tools but I have cobbled togeather a body using a scroll saw, a vairble speed sander and some clamps. The top is flammed ash and the back a maple. The shape is an alembic styled body. My questions is on routing. I'm a little worried about doing the routing. I have a black and decker dremel like tool and was wondering will this do when it comes to doing the routing? Any suggestions would be helpful.
Be Blessed!
C Flowers