This thread is for anyone working on personal projects to share their progress, and hold themselves somewhat accountable to a group of peers.
Post your project, your progress from last week, and what you hope to accomplish this week.
If you want to be pinged with a reminder asking about your project, let me know, and I'll harass you each week until you cancel the service
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Notes -
I play bass, and I'm looking at putting together a 4-string p bass tuned to BEAD.
I've done enough woodworking to have done some basic joinery, and as far as tools go, I'm not particularly concerned about that. I have a monthly "tools budget" that I can divert towards those purchases.
I'm mostly interested in a few things on the wood side, and a few things on the setup side.
On the wood side, I was thinking about getting a mahogany body, dyeing it black, then trying a Tru-oil finish. Have you done anything like that? I'd love some tips on the order for dye, grain filler, finish, and what sanding should happen at each step.
On the setup side, how do you make sure the bridge is properly aligned with the neck? That part scares the crap out of me. On the neck side, when do you shim it vs adjusting the truss rod?
Setup: neck relief is step 1. the truss rod is only for neck relief (curvature) once the bass is strung up and neck is under tension. Capo 1st fret, fret last fret, measure string to fret distance at 8th fret. A good machined fine measuring tool in 64ths helps here but you could use a feeler gauge or post it notes in a pinch. Off top of My head Fender recommends .015” in relief.
Once relief is set, adjust intonation by ear (12th fret should match 12th fret harmonic) or by measure (34” 1st strong and staggered back by string gauge - works well enough.)
Then adjust nut slot depth and bridge saddle height to set action. For a low B you might need to widen any stock nut. Good nut files help a lot but are $. Nut should be cut to about .01 inches above the height of the 1st fret to account for relief.
Shimming: You’d shim the neck at the heel of the saddles don’t adjust low enough for appt. 5/64” action measured at the 17th fret
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Bridge setup - if your bass body doesn’t come with the standard 5-hole Fender pattern or piloted pickup mounting holes, you have to mount the neck and pickup to the body and go from there. A cheat/hint: if you’re using p bass parts, then a factory pick guard CAN be a good visual aid but don’t rely on it exclusively.
Bridge placement: The 1st string saddle (G or D in your case) should measure about 34” from the witness point of the nut, the other saddles staggered slightly away from the nut. So leave yourself room to use the intonation adjust screws to fine tune. For side/side positioning - use a string or elastic to mimic the string path on either side of the neck - easier to do than explain.
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Notes on finish: I’ve done tru oil on walnut, ash, and a random 80’s Ibanez p-copy that I stripped.
I didn’t do a stain but you’d do that first. I’d probably hand rub it with a rag.
I also didn’t bother with filling the grain past a certain point on the walnut or ash - those are open grained and I like the look. That said you can fill the grain by sanding wet with the oil and wiping the residue away. TO is best applied gradually in small thin amounts.
I appreciate all the feedback.
It sounds like I can save a ton of effort buying a premade body over cutting it out on a CNC machine
Sorry for the slow reply.
you for sure will have a major head start and avoid a slew of potential headaches buying at least a basic formed body - the brodge/neck/pickup alignment is the key and MOST aftermarket is based on Fender specs, so even a rather unfinished body will get you there and allow you to experiment with the finish. Of course you can also buy a fully finished or paint ready body or one parted out from a factory guitar. If you’re in the States/North America, there’s an eBay seller called Tone Bomb that does good basic shaping and they’re inexpensive. Warmoth, Allparts, and WD all make finished and unfinished bodies at various prices, etc.
I have gotten away from too much sanding and finishing, in the interest of spending more time on the wiring and setup and to avoid the dust and fumes, but it was an invaluable experience to start from a rougher stage for sure.
I’d be interested in hearing what parts you are thinking about - pickups and wiring options and such. even with simple circuit like on a P bass there a lot of options depending on your preference and price. I’ve had fun and good results working on everything from $200 Indonesian Squiers to fancy American Fender stuff, the main suggestion I’d make here is to not mix spec quality too much.
The current plan is to do a fully passive setup with Seymour Duncan Antiquity II split coil pickups (or some custom wrapped pickups with similar response) connected to a tone and volume knob. To be honest, I've even considered skipping the knobs entirely and using a pair of fixed resisters that leave both tone and volume wide open. That's how I tend to play a P anyway.
My goal is to create the warmest, darkest tone I can manage with a prominent fundamental. Concepts like "sustain" or "resonance" are distant secondary concerns. In conjunction with the BEAD tuning, I want this thing to sound like a hammer on a coffin nail.
In terms of comparable tone, think JPJ and not John Entwhistle.
Based on everything I've played previously, my current plan is the following:
For the neck, I'm probably just going to bite the bullet and shell out for a warmoth model in flame roasted maple with the graphite stiffeners and a tusq nut, unless you have any other suggestions.
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