Unfortunately I don’t have access to a router, there is a “Men’s Shed” nearby but they are only open on weekdays and alas, work.
Not to worry though, I wasn’t too worried as there is a cover to hide the roughness.
Having said that it was only moderately rough.
Harder wood would have helped this one tended to compress rather than cut and there were chunky bits- yes my chisels were sharp and yes I was cutting in the right direction.
I ended up finishing with the dremel router bit and no guard.
Regardless it worked sufficiently to what I wanted.
If it was to be exposed I would do the job properly.
2 Likes
Nice! I’m always a sucker for a nice burst finish!
Just in case you didn’t know, you can get a cheap attachment that attaches to your Dremel that turns it in to a router. Obviously Dremel bits only get so big, but that’s all you need for a small job like this
1 Like
Ta, in the 2nd photo you can see the mini router attachment I have.
I was going to get the proper plunge router attachment, but I have had some, er, issues and don’t want to spend more than I need to right now.
I am not sure about the burst, I imagine it would make @howard vomit
2 Likes
That burst is not your fault
2 Likes
When I ordered it, the picture looked like a nicer tobacco burst- I have never loved it- it is bright and colourful though
2 Likes
Not sure how many will appreciate this process/conversion but here goes. This bass came to me with “repaired” body damage. I felt a version of a German carve would be better. And a slotted headstock, and a baritone/bass vi conversion. I’ve made about as much progress as sawdust, meaning I’ve rendered it inoperable until more progress is made. Hopefully next weekend…
How it started…
How it’s going…
The headstock slots will get cleaned up and extended with a router before wood added to the sides and slotted locking tuners added. Bridge needs wood to support below but no need to fill it exactly. Because reasons. Plenty of guess work left to go. Updates when available. Paint already chosen.
12 Likes
That’s a cool build!
4 Likes
A little more refinement on the carve and a layer of primer to give it the week to soak some up as grain filler before the final sand and prime next weekend. I’m painting a separate project for practice today. Glad I did. Plenty more sanding, small dent and hole fill and the headstock to complete after I go buy the routing bit I think I need.
12 Likes
I just finished the final mod I wanted to do on my bass. It’s my first and only one that was a free Ibanez jazz Frankenbass. Now it looks and sounds exactly how I had planned. I know it’s going to bring me untold hours of enjoyment… but also I feel kind of melancholy? It’s lovely to play now that it’s been tidied up and tamed. But no more hunting for parts, experimenting with different setups, everything that needed fixing, no more weird jank to work around. lol really don’t get me wrong I really do love it especially since I taught myself to do all the work myself. I just hadn’t realized how much I enjoyed mucking about with mods.
Anyone else get the post build blues?
(lol don’t worry I already have Ideas about what I want my next project bass to be just budget wise it has to be sidelined for a while)
6 Likes
I’m looking for a picture, did I overlook? I love seeing all that you guys are doing in your builds, It totally amazes me the talent that’s here. I’ve been a mechanic for many many years but what y’all do with wood is awesome.
5 Likes
YES!!!
I have it with Ronin, a short scale that I almost completely rebuilt. Originally a P/J, now a three Humbucker monster.
There’s nothing I can change, honestly. Except the bridge, the nut and the coating.
Oh, and maybe a DIY USB rechargeable solution, maybe?
But that’s it! 
5 Likes
I’ll try to get some photos later tonight. Lol on last minute Halloween costume help for a friend right now 
1 Like
ha! That got an actual snort. Nah seems like a totally reasonable “no really l’m for reals totally done with this project” final to-do list to me. Ohhh not gonna lie absolutely wanna do a 5 string with humbuckers next. What type did you go with? 
1 Like
I have the EMG 35TWX. In fact, I have the X series on all my regular basses.
- the X pickups have a very “modern” tone with extended headroom, both for lower and higher frequencies, so they might not be everybody’s piece of cake. I do love them, as they provide a great fundament for doing anything you like with the tone with effects/pedals. They are active, but they are not as loud as other active pickups, something I learned to appreciate. They are very sensitive to subtle plucking variations too, which might be an advantage as soon as I can play properly
- The TW means that you can switch between single and dual coil. Now that is a game changer for me. I can switch between a fat humbucker tone and a thinner jazz tone with the push/pull pot. As a result you’ll have a 2-in-1 bass. Either a boring jazz bass or a thunderous humbucker. That’s really great.
Cause of their neutrality and their versality, these are the chameleons of pickups.
If you are looking for a more conventional tone, the TW series (without the X) is perfect for you.
2 Likes
Got the router bits I needed to make stencils and finish the headstock on the baritone build this coming weekend. Did a paint experiment on a cheap strat shaped object. Learned how to fill dents and chips with epoxy. Came out decent. Way overdid the epoxy but it filed down easy enough and sanded very evenly
7 Likes
Oh nice! Those sound like they’d be really fun to play around with. I’ve bookmarked em cuz I’m really intrigued. I really want to do something unhinged that involves 5 strings and humbuckers for my next build just because we only live once.
Funnily enough I know exactly what you mean. So after talking to some of the kind folks here when I was musing over the merits of a Nordstrand tone drop I ended up making myself a push/pull tone pot for maybe $15. It switches between .1 uF for a beefier low end and .022 uF for a more vintage tone. Currently the only thing in my signal chain is just a simple MXR 10 band equalizer circa probably the early 80s. I can get the range I want out of it and it’s a dead simple setup since it’s passive.
HA! well yeah there’s that
2 Likes
Ah, maybe not?
So, the 35TWX is NOT about adapting the tone pot. In fact I have NO tone pot at all on that bass, as I am overwhelmed anyway by all the options I have.
The push/pull just switches between dual and single coil. Single coil is effectively a jazz pickup, dual coil is Humbucker. So it’s a true 2-in-1 pickup.
This is really very different - in terms of tone - from merely using or modifying a tone pot. It’s hard to explain, but the single coil (Jazz) mode sounds more defined, cuts through the mix better and is somehow “sharper”.
The Humbucker is mighty, but might have less “definition”.
I’m sure that @Al1885 can explain it better, as he invented pickups and gave his ideas to Leo Fender, many years ago
3 Likes
Okay ya that is wildly different than what I was understanding from reading the product description on the website. Thank you for clarifying!
Now I’m especially intrigued that you have three of them. Is that a standard configuration or something specific you did?
2 Likes
No, not at all!
In fact it’s a “crazy-dude-having-too-much-time” option. I find that it makes sense, and every bass player that played my new 3-Humbucker mod was like “whooooaww!”. One guy messages me almost daily that I should bring it to their practice room, so it can be played through “real” amps (like those really big ones for gigs on stage) in a band context.
He is very eager!
But three Humbuckers should not be the first mod you do
Replacing Humbuckers with a single/dual coil option does make sense though. No need for three of them (initially).
3 Likes
hahaha okay that’s a mood for sure. That’s hella awesome you’ve built something so out of the norm! Fwiw I bet I’m not the only person here who’s curious to what it sounds like through that guy’s stage amps.