Blatantly stolen (with his blessing) from Bridgehouse's Discardocaster thread.
The brief is to use old/discarded/used parts to make up a Bitsabass on the cheap, sticking to old and used parts.
I will document it here and probably keep going modding it and swapping out bits and pieces as time goes by.
Unlike Bridgehouse, I do not anticipate attending the Forum Jam. I have a gig in Hull. (No, folks. I'm not deputising for Colin Sell on I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue.) Actually, I am supposed to be recording with my song writing collaborator.
You say, atom bomb. I say, tin of corned beef.
Comments
Obviously, there is some interchangeability between Precision, Jazz and 'Ray wooden parts. If somebody offers modern-shaped five string stuff, it will be that. A Warwick/Rockbass or Harley Benton imitation thereof would be equally welcome.
The thing that will not work is scale length mismatches. Mustang/Musicmaster/Bronco necks only with the corresponding bodies.
If offered, I could try a Gibson/Epiphone design. A Yamaha is always a good basis for a project. Last month, I spotted a defretted Attitude Plus on eBay.
Part of the fun is to let the board offers determine what the instrument is going to be.
Don't get too excited, it has a badly-made replacement neck which needs to come off, and no finish or hardware other than the bridge post inserts and the tone choke which is resin'ed into the body under it (and which does work, I've metered it).
The problem is that to pay to do it properly, the likely cost of repair - new neck, refinish, all new hardware - will be pretty close to the finished value, or maybe even higher, since a Rivoli with all that done is not going to be a very valuable thing regardless of its origins. The only good thing is that the body is actually in fairly nice condition - binding intact and no significant damage.
I have thought about buying it and doing it myself, but I'm not sure I have the time and the desire to put that much work into it, so I've suggested he sells it as-is for whatever it's worth… which I would guess is not much.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I anticipate some sort of P/J mongrel. These are by far the most commonly available parts. I certainly would not rule out a twenty first century Epiphone with a screwed-on neck.
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I am currently undecided whether to cheat (I have a Hohner bitsabass right here), to give Northwest Guitar Parts a try or to give up altogether.
The moment that I relocated this thread to the Bass discussions zone, communications dwindled to almost zero.
What about a cheapo unfinished body off the bay or something?
You could move to Making &Modding then