Thanks guys! I do enjoy showing off my work but what I really want to do is hopefully inspire the DIY spirit in others. I started building instruments a year and a half ago, so I’m by no means an expert, but I can tell you that starting out it’s about 5% skill, 20% research and 75% just getting up the courage to take the plunge. This was my first time using bondo and my first time doing a vinyl wrap (I bought it like six months ago just because it was on dirt cheep on clerance)… and once I got off my ass and just did it… I kind of wonder why I hesitated in the first place. lol
Definitely inspirational! That’s gotta be a joy to play too, knowing you created it, and it’s one of a kind - better than even custom built, because you did it yourself, and your sweat and your personality are in it. It’s on my bucket list to take a plunge like this someday, maybe first just swap out parts, experiment with very used basses first to see how they’re even put together, without too much worry about breaking something.
Building my own bass is on my LIST OF DOOM (all the things I get enticed into but rarely finish). I’ve tried to make a positive step away from all the builder’s blogs etc until I’ve got a few months of solid learning/practice/playing under my belt, otherwise I end up with a half built bass but still not be able to play a finished one.
I’m interested in the vinyl wrap method. How do you seal it for protection?
@howard: It wasn’t that hard using my wife’s 300w heat gun, but it did take some time to figure out the technique. When you heat the vinyl you can stretch it around a corner. If you get wrinkles you can lift it, heat it again it will shrink back to it’s original shape and you can try again this time pulling from a different angle. Also I didn’t go that far from the top of the body which made it easier than if I’d have tried to wrap more around the sides.
If you’re interested, this is the video I learned the technique from and, although my vinyl was much thicker, it worked quite well.
@Vik: Yeah, I wouldn’t start out modding your main bass, but if you keep your eyes peeled you can find a lot of used ones very cheep (<$50) on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, sometimes even Ebay if you can catch an auction with no bidders because the poster spelled bass as base.
@PeteP: Good idea on learning how to play first. You’d be astonished by the number of builders in the CBG community that don’t actually play, which boggles my mind… how can you set up an instrument without knowing what feels good in a musician’s hands. If you’re ever considering buying a homemade instrument, sight unseen, your first question to the builder should be “Do you play?” and if the answer is no… keep shopping.
As for sealing the vinyl, it’s not necessary, this is heavy duty stuff used for cars, it has a transparent top layer built in. I might clear coat it anyway though just to get more illusion of depth.
@joergkutter: No worries, it’ll be done by the 4th of July. In fact I might even finish 10 or 11 months early.
@Jazzbass19: Thanks man! But really it’s just trial and error, with a healthy dose of troubleshooting because I have a lot of “Oh shit!” moments that I have to recover from… or what I like to call Spontanious and Unintended Design Elements. lol
What I’m hoping to convey is that it’s less about talent and more about Just Do It! (Please don’t sue me Nike!)
I am guessing if it is like other decal work you might want to clearcoat it around the edges at minimum to prevent anything from catching on it and lifting it off?
Time will tell but I don’t think it’s necessary. My final decision was to not clear coat it which will make it easier to change the skin at some point in the future.
The new locking-saddle brass bridge, which claims to have “fast tone development, a strong fundamental tone, assertive mids and pronounced sustain” is installed. I’m thinking about taking it off, blacking out the vinyl you can see showing through it then reinstalling it.
What do you do when don’t have a router but want to install pickups? Flat-mount MGB Box Buckers to the rescue!
8k humbuckers that stand only 1/4" off the body. The real test will come after I finish the wiring… will the outer strings be far enough into the magnetic field to not sound weak compared to the middle strings? Stay tuned…
Ran out of time so slapped it back together with the original pots and wiring since I want to take it on my travels for work this week. I’ll have to finish the electronics upgrades next weekend and the washers under the round knobs will have to be painted black… but it’s almost done…
Yeah, I was taking apart a pickup this weekend, and discovered that they were spring tensioned to be able to move them up or down, when the springs popped out and the tiny screws got scattered. But what to do if the pickup cavity is too big/ too small for what you want, or non-existent? I guess it would involve a router, or some kind of filler, or, well, I like your solution!
Is there a tool list of “must haves” for a project like this? Or a link? I’d imagine a sander, drill, screwdriver heads of all types, and maybe a solder gun, and probably a few other goodies. But, like @PeteP I probably need a few months of solid learning/practice/playing under my belt before taking something like this on !!
The must haves for this project were screw drivers, hex wrenches, a socket set with deep sockets, soldering iron, sand paper and a sanding block. I also used a band saw and tabletop belt sander to shape the blocks used for filling the cavities but that could have been done by hand or skipped altogether, just filling the holes with many layers of bondo. Another handy tool is a large magnet… for sweeping across the floor to find those tiny screws that are constantly trying to escape.
Instead of removing the bridge, would it work to go at it with a sharpie? They have fine tips that could probably fit in the small holes. Just trying to think how you can save yourself some work. Not that I have any idea whether it would effectively cover up on that surface. I look forward to seeing the close ups when it’s all finished.
I’m also looking forward to hearing about how the pickups turn out.
I did go ahead and remove the bridge about 10 minutes after I posted that, the red showing through was making me consider drilling holes and making it string-thru… which would have probably been a real mess as I don’t have a drill press and getting the exit holes to land evenly spaced in a nice neat line would have been next to impossible with a hand drill. So yeah, 2 strings to loosen, 4 screws to remove the bridge, black Copic marker, reinstall bridge… 5 minutes of work to prevent disaster.
The pickups sound good, no volume discrepancy between strings. But the bridge is quieter than the neck (which is normal since the strings vibrate less at the bridge and more at the neck) and I’ll remedy that next weekend by making a shim for the bridge pickup to bring it 1/8" closer to the strings.
Thanks @Gio. If you’re looking for custom knobs check out JAT Custom Guitar Parts on Reverb. Yes, they are a little pricey but Justin does amazing work and considering they are custom parts and not mass produced, they can really make your instruments stand out.
