Korina/Maple/Mahogany fretless bass

[Drea]

After a gap of 25 years, this is my first venture back into woodworking since my school days.

I used to play bass for a living, so this seemed like a good place to start.

I've enjoyed myself so much doing it that I find myself standing on an inclined plane with a surprisingly low coefficient of friction. :lol:

To the pictures...

Rough, jigsaw cut body wings and router templates.

First time with the router and I got some tearout

Glueing up the neck laminates

Headstock angle cut and glueing on the fingerboard

The aftermath

Started the rough carving of the neck

Body wings glued and initial shaping

Neck transition carving

Pickup recess routed and headstock shaped and drilled

Strings on for the first time

Fingerboard radiused, brass fret markers added and a coat of danish oil. This is when I realised it's a bad idea to joint edges with a No.4

Ebony facing on the headstock and the truss rod cover made from an offcut of the neck blank

The finished product. 4 coats of danish oil and a couple more of clear Black Bison.

 

[TrimTheKing]

****'s bells, if that is your return to woodworking then we've got some good stuff to come :shock:

I know slightly less than nothing about gee-tarz, so can't comment on the details, but it shure looks purdy. Funny shaped body though (to me at least), is this something common to Bass's?

Good work anyway.

Cheers

Mark

 

[MickCheese]

Good work.

What wood is it made from?

I am not too keen on the lower shape, the very straight line below the volume knob is a bit too abrupt for me but it is each to their own and the workmanship looks good.

Congratulations

Mick

 

[Drea]

Thanks gents.

#Mark: It's not a traditional body shape. I made half a dozen polystyrene prototypes before I settled on the final shape. I like pushing the boat out a bit.

#Mick: The body wood was sold as Korina and I think that means White Limba, but I'm not certain. The neck is maple and mahogany laminate with Gabon ebony fingerboard.

The straight part of the body has certainly divided opinions on the guitar forum I post in. It there as a result of the prototyping I did. I usually play sitting down, legs crossed so the flat part sits, very comfortably, on my right thigh. It's very ergonomic.

 

[Philly]

Very nice, Drea!
Where did you get the Korina from? Would love to make myself an Explorer.
Philly

 

[Ironballs]

Bloody ****, you don't muck about! You're making my multi-year LP build seem a little tardy. Very nice work, you often see a bit more imagination go into basses, 6 strings tend to follow one of two basic body shapes

Cheers

Damian

 

[Drea]

#Philly: The Korina came from a guy on another forum. He seems to buy a large board, make something from a portion of it and sell on sawn blanks. I'll see if I can find out where he got it from originally.

#Damian: Heh, it didn't seem speedy to me. The whole thing took around 4 months of weekends and the odd evening. Most of that time was spent getting from the rather rough jigsaw cuts (I don't have a bandsaw) to the finished shape. I also spent what seemed like weeks with fine needle files and scrapers refining the neck/body and neck/head transitions.

I think the most trouble I had was, usually, not having the correct tool for a particular job. That meant trying to improvise with what tools I did have (hmm, we're back on the slope again :roll: ).

 

[The Shark]

Hi Drea,
Nice job!
Would like to see Rhino giving it a blast.

Now give yourself a slap round the head and say "Improvising is good, I don't need to spend a second mortgage on tools"

Malc

 

[Drea]

Argh, Status Quo!! I haven't forgiven them since I went to see them on their final tour... in 1983!

And don't worry, I'm not about to go on a Wadkin frenzy. I haven't got the spare cash and I don't even have workshop space at the mo'. For this build, I did all the routing/sawing/sanding outside (chilly :wink: ) and everything else in the kitchen.

I would like to get my hands on a bandsaw of some description though. Some of the operations in a guitar build would be so much easier and more accurate.

I'll have to empty the garage first. Anyone interested in the old Porsche 944S2 that's been in the there for the last three years? :roll:

 

[woodchip]

nice work fella.

ditch the porch :roll: and buy a bandsaw, you know it makes sense

 

[ByronBlack]

Nice work, what's the balance like? I've always wondered whether the small body and large neck that you see on basses gives the instrument the dreaded 'neck dive' syndrome?

A bandsaw is your best friend when it comes to guitars.

My only criticism and it's a minor one; I think you could have done better with the headstock. I like the shape of the body, but the headstock just doesn't seem to 'jive'.

 

[Drea]

Cheers

The balance is fine sitting down. I haven't put on any strap buttons yet (I might not ever), so I don't know what the standing balance is like. It shouldn't be too bad because the top horn is around where the 12th fret would be. I wasn't one of my design considerations though.

I agree about the headstock, it's the part I'm least satisfied with. It's somewhat because I got my sums wrong about where the strings would end up. I also drilled the tuner holes on the wrong places, so I had to modify the shape so the tuners would clear. Mostly though, it just a dodgy design. I'll have to do better next time :wink:

 

[Night Train]

That is really nice. Good work there.

I've been thinking of making another bass guitar but fear of my lack of playing ability is putting me off.

I made my first bass in 1983 when I was 17. You can't see it very well in this pic but it has the sillouette of a rifle butt.

My second bass was a fretless and quadraphonic. I had to make up a 8 pole pickup by hand. I was more into making the equipment for the band then I was playing music, no talent for that at all.

Edit for typo in date.

 

[OPJ]

I made my first bass in 1883 when I was 17.

Bloody ****, you must have worked through some timber and tools in your time!! :shock: :wink:

 

[Night Train]

I made my first bass in 1883 when I was 17.

Bloody ****, you must have worked through some timber and tools in your time!! :shock: :wink:

I started at 5 years old when my Dad used to take me onto building sites. He used to be main contractor for Chinese restaurants in the South East. He would leave me with the 'chippies' to play in the wood shavings and they showed me how to make toys out of the off cuts. I used to make toy cars and the chippies would cut wheels for me with a hole saw.

I have been making things ever since, not always in wood. Built a six wheel drive off road truck with 15 gears when I was 25 and working as an electrician.

Silly things too, like breaking the toilet cistern handle and making a replacement out of mahogany as it was night time and B&Q was shut.

 

[p111dom]

Yes 143 years old and computer literate to boot. Impressive. :lol:

 

[Night Train]

<-------Unicorns are known to be immortal so I still have along, long way to go yet!

 

[p111dom]

Obviously I should add very nice guitar Drea. I like more natural looking finish. I have a friend who plays bass who has a few custom guitars with a similar looking finish. One has a purposly twisted fret board which I've never seen before and another was an acoustic bass expertment when the body was made out of balsa wood of al things. Amazing the inginuity of some guitar builders.

 

[Drea]

Cheers p111dom

The twisted neck's a really interesting idea. As I understand it, the purpose is to prevent tendinitis/carpal tunnel by forcing a more natural wrist shape at the far end of the neck. It also looks great, but I can't quite figure out the mechanics of the construction.

I've read about a guy who builds the bracing for his classical guitars from balsa and carbon fibre, but I can't imaging it balsa being strong enough as the main body wood. Was your friend's experiment a success?

As far as ingenuity, I've only scratched the surface with this build, there's some amazing things being done, with unusual materials. For example this and this.

 

[p111dom]

Yes and no. The twisted fret board is a success although I can't imaging how you would make it. From recollection I think that's ones fretless too which would make it easier. As for the Balsa wood I asked him and no it wasn't a sucess I think it split eventually where the neck meets the body. I think it was more of an experiment with tone rather than strength ir construction technique. He's got guitars I'd be frightened to pick up let alone take to a gig.