New Bass Body

Chili

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I wasn't happy with the way my parts-bass came out with the finish. It came out too dark and I tried a poly coat and that was a disaster. Plus the body was a Fender Jazz copy and I really don't like them. I cut down the droopy butt end and sharpened the horns, but it still looked like a jazz bass. :(

So, I'm building a new body and decided to do it from scratch. :) I'll pull all the hardware from the jazz bass and I'll use the neck. I'm not ready to make my own neck yet.

My purchase was a plank of Alder cut in two.

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I took one half and cut that in half.

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I bought a planer and a jointer and milled it nice, flat and parallel. I did the edges so I could glue them together. A small learning curve, but super easy once get the idea of it. The planer is not wide enough to plane the two halves glued together, so I had to do one half at a time. To eliminate the small warpage, I bought a melamime shelf from Home Depot and used it as a sled. It is flat enough to use as a reference and held the alder in place as it went through the planer. I milled both halves on one side with the sled then milled the other sides without it. And I milled them both to the same thickness which was slightly less than 1.5"

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The Alder is nice, but I wanted something eloquent and simple on top. I'm not batting for the fence like I did with the previous two basses and that walnut burl veneer. I went with maple and zebrawood. Both are about 1/4" thick and will make a nice cap. The zebrawood will be an "extension" of the fretboard.

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I straightened the edges of the caps with the jointer and glued them together.

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Then set to making a template. I used my Ibanez 5 string bass as a guide. Love that bass.

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I used a dowel and sandpaper for the interior curves. I changed the angle to smooth out the compound curves. Kind of a pain.

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I held the sandpaper around the exterior curves. Much easier and it is basically self-shapes the compound curves.

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Completed template.

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I glued the maple/zebrawood cap to the body.

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Here is the template with a rough outline drawn.
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I still had a couple of sheets of that walnut burl veneer and I thought I would use one on the back. I actually glued it on but it came out to wavy, so I scraped it off and sanded off the glue marks.

Before gluing the cap on, I cut a hole in the body for the active preamp. The 1/4" cap will act as a mounting plate for the knobs.

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To cut the body rough shape, I started with a jig saw. Not the right choice of tools. :(. I was forced to go out and buy a band saw. I really hate spending money for one cut, but needed to do it. The band saw did the job in like 5 minutes. Right tool for the job. I should be able to get more use out of the band saw when I start building frames for my wife's paintings.

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Rough shape done.

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Next, I'll use the template and cut the real shape with a router. That'll happen this week.

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Excellent tutorial!

Keep 'em coming.

One question: why did you use the dowel and sandpaper without using a router first?
 
BTW, I like it that you used a real picture as your avatar. Some of the others can be pretty funny, but it's nice to see who we're talking to once in a while.

I think it makes us realize that there's a real person on the other end, and makes us behave a little more civilized, like human beings should.
 
Thanks man. The dowel and sandpaper was used on the template. I don't think I could freehand the router and get smooth compound curves like that. I needed something to make those curves come out right.

Please don't consider this a tutorial, it's not like I know what I'm doing.... :o
 
Thanks Mutt. Building a neck is the ultimate goal for me.

I'll have questions for you soon about the neck pocket. I think I might be overthinking it.

On a flat top base you almost certainly are. It's a simple jig (template), router and care operation.
 
It's my explanation of how a curve doesn't have the same radius. I don't know what else to call it. :)

Thats fine but why are you putting it on a template? A template for a guitar body is essentially a two dimensional thing. I cant get what you are hoping to achieve. Maybe I got it wrong all these years...;)
 
Ah, so I am mixing terminology; simple fix. I will not refer to it as a compound curve any longer. (And I know you're just having fun with me.)

For the neck pocket, I read or heard somewhere that I might need to calculate for the neck break, but maybe that is not applicable for my needs. Which would be great to hear. I am guessing if I keep the pocket parallel and the neck parallel then all I have to do is calculate the pocket depth to ensure proper string height from nut to bridge. Is it as simple as that?
 
Ah, so I am mixing terminology; simple fix. I will not refer to it as a compound curve any longer. (And I know you're just having fun with me.)

No I'm not at all. I'm trying to work out what you are trying to achieve. All my templates whether they are for marking or cutting are square edge...?

For the neck pocket, I read or heard somewhere that I might need to calculate for the neck break, but maybe that is not applicable for my needs. Which would be great to hear. I am guessing if I keep the pocket parallel and the neck parallel then all I have to do is calculate the pocket depth to ensure proper string height from nut to bridge. Is it as simple as that?

That will depend entirely on what bridge you are using and what the neck is. Normally a bass or guitar would have little or no break angle UNLESS the top is arched and the bridge is elevated as a result. The geometry is simple once you get your head round it. A strat pocket is flat a LP pocket is angled... you get the idea.
 
That will depend entirely on what bridge you are using and what the neck is. Normally a bass or guitar would have little or no break angle UNLESS the top is arched and the bridge is elevated as a result. The geometry is simple once you get your head round it. A strat pocket is flat a LP pocket is angled... you get the idea.

Hmm, never thought of that. But then, I've never really considered trying to build my own. Way over my head, skill-wise, and I never seem to have the time to devote to anything like that. Wish I did, for years I've had an idea of what I wanted in a body that I would use a neck of of one of my current basses for. And I even want a satin natural finish, so they're wouldn't be any staining or laquering involved.

I'd better shut up before I talk myself into it.
 
Even after all these years the biggest thrill for me is when I string up the latest build and hit that first chord... Its a drug.

Yeah, THAT I can easily see. :drunk:

When I said "compound curve' I was referring to the way the waist or the butt-end of the guitar changes radius of the arc. I was thinking strictly in 2 dimension and you, correctly so, assumed I meant 3 dimensional because that is what a compound curve truly is. I used the term wrong. I used the dowel and sandpaper as a way to smooth out the rough cut and make nice graceful swooping curves out of my hatchet job with the jigsaw.
 
I think it's awesome, Chili. I'm envious and impressed by anyone that can make a playable instrument out of some raw ass wood. I'd love to build my own guitars, but I'm afraid I'd never get anything else done because if I can build one, I'll never stop.
 
Yeah, but who's got a template for a Ric 4001 body? And then I've got to try and figure out how to make that into a short scale. Eh, sounds like a lot of work.
 
I think it's awesome, Chili. I'm envious and impressed by anyone that can make a playable instrument out of some raw ass wood. I'd love to build my own guitars, but I'm afraid I'd never get anything else done because if I can build one, I'll never stop.

Thanks Greg. I never took wood shop or anything. Well, I did in jr high when it was a required class and I REALLY sucked at it. I had to make a key holder or something and I almost failed the class. :laughings: For me, I think the hardest part is finishing and I just found out yesterday why it was so difficult for me. When I was doing the Burled Walnut veneer stuff on the previous two projects, I thought wood dye and wood stain were the same thing. Turns out they aren't and I should have been using dyes instead of stains. That's why the walnut came out so dark. Doh!!

I have a new plan for the finish on this and I hope it comes out good.

Yeah, but who's got a template for a Ric 4001 body? And then I've got to try and figure out how to make that into a short scale. Eh, sounds like a lot of work.

Start with just one step at a time and be willing to toss it all if you screw up. That's my philosophy. So far, I have about $40 in wood and 5¢ in glue.
 
Dang, looks good so far - a fair price, too. $40.05? Yes, please! Where did you get the wood for the body and veneer at? Don't think I've ever seen that at Lowes before... :D
 
Honestly, I don't know where I got the wood. lol. I went to a local WoodCrafters in Austin and looked for some wood about the size of a body blank, but they didn't have anything. I asked one of the sales reps and he gave me directions to a place that sold lumber. Lots of lumber. The wife and I went down there; me to look at guitar woods and her to look at art frame wood. I found the plank of alder. They only sell lumber in 8 ft lengths or longer so I had to buy more than I needed. The guy cut it in half for me so it would fit in the car. But I don't recall the name of the place. It wasn't a big box home improvement store. These guys sold mostly to other businesses. Probably local cabinet makers and such. I went back to Woodcrafters and found the maple and zebrawood.

Another little story... On Memorial Day, we went to Sears to go look around. Turns out they were having a sale and offered a 40% savings for veterans on most every tool. That's when I bought the planer and jointer. 40% savings? Hell yeah. I also bought a router table, but I found out today, it doesn't fit my router. :( I'll take it back for a credit. :)

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So, I had to cut the final shape on a work bench. No problem. You either route with the template on the bottom or on the top. Just use a different bit, that's all. I used double back tape to hold the template in place. I clamped the guitar to the table to keep it from moving around. Cleaned up the tape when I was done.

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The router bit has a bearing on top to ride along the template. The cutting part of the bit goes down only 1 inch, but the body blank is 1.5" deep. I'll have to make two passes.

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Here's a close up of the bit against the template. You can see the template, the 1/4" maple/zebrawood cap and the alder body.

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Next, you can see the first cut and how it does not go all the way down. No problem. Take the template off and use the already cut portion as the template.

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Oops, I didn't take a pic of the final shape, but it came out okay.

Next will be rounding the edges. I'll use the router for that.
 
FYI, you can buy body blanks from Carvin, as well as all kinds of places on the net. A little more expensive up front, but it's already the right size and you don't have to buy a ton more than you need.
 
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