Have you built that bass yet, Ed?

EdGrip

No. I'm crap. I told myself I was going to hew the body myself this time, from a solid lump of tree. I don't seem to have done it. 

Then I realised that I seemed to have sent an email to Jezz Woodroffe asking if he would do a bass body. Then I accidentally 'shopped this up. Whatcha think?

ICBM

I think it's so brilliant you should now build a time machine instead, go back to 1975 or so and tell Fender they need to put an upside-down Strat headstock on their new Starcaster model, before they put that awful slipper head on it…

It suits the body *perfectly*.

Does need a Telecaster Bass Wide Range Humbucker, though.

ThePrettyDamned

Looks great!

EdGrip

Jezz replied today - he said that he'd done a few Starcaster basses, and then listed all the options he could do wood-wise. Sounds good. I think I'll be going that route when my next job arrives. I really like the idea of a Starcaster bass with my neck on it.

With regard to the pickup... I want it to have a P-bass-but-a-bit-more thing. Maybe someone could effectively build a single-coil P-bass pickup into a humbucker cover. That would look cool. Otherwise I like the idea of a low-ish output Filtertron style pickup. Cabronita Starcaster Bass. 

EdGrip

Hello.

The time has come to get myself on Jezz's waiting list. 

Now. Flat-topped semi-hollow guitars just look wrong, so it needs a carved top, and binding. But a carved back and rear binding will push the cost up, and that saddens me. Necessity is the mother of awesomeness, and I pondered what I could do. Is there such a thing as a blacktop Les Paul? I pondered; that would look cool as fuck. Turns out there is, and it does: 

 

I will use this idea as the basis for my one-side-only-carved-and-bound black bass. 

So the next question is, what woods shall I use? This is where I would like your feedback, as I'm not a bass player and really have no idea, bass-wise. To get this look, I'd be looking at a mahogany back and sides. The top could be maple, although Jezz said that might be a bit bright for a bass, unless I was going for the Rickenbacker thing. 

All my favourite bass sounds seem to turn out to be a P-bass, so maybe I should just opt for an all-alder or ash body. 

All thoughts on this wood bit much appreciated. 

Thanks!

Branshen

EdGrip said:

This set would fit a bunch of blokes wearing tuxedos, without pants.

EdGrip

Some googling of bass tonewoods suggests that Alder is the classic P-bass sound, and that Mahogany and Alder sound reasonably close in a bass context. In the interests of getting the above look, I'm leaning towards asking Jezz what nice Mahogany or Korina he's got at the moment....

EdGrip

As per GSPbasses' recent thread, this will now be a Jupiter Thunderbird bass. I think the blacktop Les Paul colour scheme will still be cracking, but given the shape, I think the dazzle pattern would be great fun too. More to follow...

EdGrip

Needless to say, the yellowy areas will be gold leaf.

I tried it with a plain black top, but this is just better.

Eeeeee, excited!

EdGrip

It'll be prohibitively expensive to order that naval blue as a custom colour from Manchester Guitar Tech, so here's a revised version using common-or-garden Daphne Blue:

Glad I tried that; this is clearly better anyway.

Can't make my mind up about the second white circle. 

ThePrettyDamned

Yeah, it does look better to my eyes.

That's going to be one bitching bass.

GSPBASSES

EdGrip said:

Some googling of bass tonewoods suggests that Alder is the classic P-bass sound, and that Mahogany and Alder sound reasonably close in a bass context. In the interests of getting the above look, I'm leaning towards asking Jezz what nice Mahogany or Korina he's got at the moment....

EdGrip said:

Jezz replied today - he said that he'd done a few Starcaster basses, and then listed all the options he could do wood-wise. Sounds good. I think I'll be going that route when my next job arrives. I really like the idea of a Starcaster bass with my neck on it.

With regard to the pickup... I want it to have a P-bass-but-a-bit-more thing. Maybe someone could effectively build a single-coil P-bass pickup into a humbucker cover. That would look cool. Otherwise I like the idea of a low-ish output Filtertron style pickup. Cabronita Starcaster Bass. 

I’ve just finished two P-Basses one with a Alder body, neck Maple / rosewood the second has a Swamp Ash body the neck is Maple with a fretless Ebony fingerboard.

Your right that Alder dose give the best classic sound were as Swamp Ash give a bit more mid to the sound of a P-Bass. Although if you go active Swamp Ash dose seem to be the wood to go for.

You can get P-Bass pickups in humbucker housings.

 http://www.emgpickups.com/bass/hb-models/active/hb.html

http://www.emgpickups.com/bass/extended-series/4-string/35px.html

http://www.emgpickups.com/bass/extended-series/4-string/35p4.html

Bartolini make a P-Bass pickup that dose not look like a P-Bass but sounds just like one.

http://www.bartolini.net/product/x44j-b1t1/

                             

                             

EdGrip

Good info! (For everyone else's benefit: The body wood ended up being Idigbo - what Gibson call Korina.) You'll remember this is the one routed with a guitar humbucker route in the P-bass position - basically, I wanted the simple look of Fender's Cabronita bass: 

I spoke to Marc at Mojo pickups beforehand, and he said it would be easier to build a good bass pickup in the extra room afforded by a normal guitar humbucker than a smaller TV Jones-style cover - that's why I asked for the humbucker route. 

Then my "every guitar must be all things to all men" nonsense urge kicked in and I asked for the J-bass bridge pickup route too So much for simplicity.

SteveRobinson

EdGrip said:

It'll be prohibitively expensive to order that naval blue as a custom colour from Manchester Guitar Tech, so here's a revised version using common-or-garden Daphne Blue:

Thanks for the order Ed, I've put a second can of clear in the box as one wouldn't be enough for this job.

It'll be with you tomorrow.

EdGrip

@SteveRobinson - that's very kind, thank you! I'll keep a photo blog of the process here when I get going - I'm looking for good canditates for workspaces at the moment!

EdGrip

Thought I'd put the hardware on the headstock today for a look. I like it. Mmm. Hardware.