Working on a Bass this time round.

So guys, In my spare time I restore, rebuild, refinish guitars.

I was approached by a man named Lyle, and he asked me to do a bass. He didn't tell me anything about it, just that he wanted it done.

It's Black Maple, which is kind of odd for an instrument, but maple tends to be fairly common I just haven't seen this kind of maple for a body before.

It has some minor body damage I will be fixing. I stripped the gross garage job brown stain it had on it, and have rough sanded it. Here is what it looks like. Now If I had to guess I'd say the wood is about 10 years old, which makes me wonder what make this bass was. As I was only given the body gutted already, no hardware, electronics or neck to give me a clue and my lack of experience with any bass' (I'm a guitar guy,) I'm curious as to what's in my hands.

I'm making up samples on the only maple I could find and they aren't black maple so it's hard to know how the bass will react come staining time. I'm going to be hitting it by hand today with a block and 150grit, then 180, then 200, 220, 240, and 400 for end grain(so stain doesn't absorb as much there.)

I'm terribly afraid to mess this up based on the type of maple this is. I'm also afraid of the make of the bass, and it's potential age.

It had lots of scars, it has more holes in the back than are necessary so I'm wondering if it was once mounted to a wall.

To fix those I will literally make small maple pegs(toothpicks more like it) and friction fit them into the holes, then sand and finish. If I use a wood filler it will just be a light spot where the holes used to be. This way it will at least absorb some stain and look like a little knot instead of a hole.

Here are some pics.





Now that's just a rough sand, the grain will look more vibrant when I get finer, can't go to fine on front though or stain may not take well.

reply to post by Hijinx


Looks like you're doing a good job! My best friend's a luthier, he showed me how to set up my guitars, the guy is fantastic so I know what a pain these can be. It's funny, he's a professional keyboard player (plays guitar as well), but he's working on his own "FrankenStrat" and I am building my own guitar midi controllers into an Ibanez RG that will kick Roland's ass to the curb ;-) Have fun with your project there!

Cheers - Dave

reply to post by bobs_uruncle


I have an RG I'm working on as well!!! I will post pics of it another day. I'm still in the sanding stage with both. My RG how ever has some parts on way. Black Chrome Schaller Tremelo bridge kit, locking nut kit, tuning machines black chrome, I can not decide what to do for pick ups though. I really have no idea ha ha, It will get a new switch, pots, and pick up jack as well, Tone and volume knobs will depend on finish I choose for the body, but it's going to be one beautiful metal machine when I'm done.

reply to post by Hijinx


Good luck with the project, I wish I could make my own axe, but I lack the tools, the know how, the funds...that and the fact that the extreme heat and humidity where I live would make it very difficult to keep the wood from warping, hell my strings drop more then a half a step everyday.

But I'll definitely settle for one of these, put a couple of humbuckers on the millennium falcon and I'd be throwing money at the screen.

reply to post by Hijinx


Nice to see you giving the bass some love. I finally got me a router with a fixed and a plunge base. I now have everything I need to build guitars, however I still need to assemble the tools to allow me to fret and setup the intonation. I will probably start on my first guitar later in the year. I am planning on doing a Telecaster style guitar first and then a Les Paul/Telecaster hybrid for the second.

Here is where I go to get technical information. I know it says Telecaster, but a wide range of guitar builds are discussed there.

reply to post by bobs_uruncle


Is this the controller you are using?

A nice article on how to install a midi pad to a guitar.

groingrinder
reply to post by bobs_uruncle

 

Is this the controller you are using?

A nice article on how to install a midi pad to a guitar.

No. Mine is considerably more complex using Stellaris M4 Cortex and Samsung V210 A8 Cortex processors. I have one of the best in-guitar synths that could be used, Roland 13 pin synth output, 5 pin MIDI output and stereo/mono output. You can run three synths at a time in the system, separate strings for different functions and voices and have 52 effects on-board. I use something like a Roland MIDI pickup but hotter and I may have them custom made if this gets sell-able. The pickups are mounted in a cheapie Strat copy right now just for testing before I move it all over to the Ibanez. At present it's a work in progress.

Cheers - Dave