Mahogany & Quilt Maple active bass

[djf67]

This will be a body build for a bolt on 34" scale neck. Might build my own neck for it at some point. Making slow progress because I keep getting distracted by my other builds...

[Jaycee]

Lovely top, but the shape isn't to my taste , but it looks as if it will be comfy to play

[JackLondon]

With a shape like that there's bound to be issues.

[djf67]

Huh? It's very similar to a Lace Helix. Is that the issue? 

[JackLondon]

Huh? It's very similar to a Lace Helix. Is that the issue? 

Yeah I didn't explain myself clearly there. Bear in mind that this is all in my opinion only as a bass player of many years and not a builder!

1. The shape of the lower horn doesn't lend itself to practicing whilst sitting down, I always practice with the bass on my left leg very similar to classical guitar players!

2. The recess for the control knobs are to deep and to steep, if you whack a stacked knob in there it might have a big-ish gap underneath! The gaps between the pots seem uneven especialy the ones nearest the bridge!

3. The cutaway might be a bit difficult for accessing higher notes and believe it or not there are bassist who like to spend some time on that side of the scale!

4. The pickups seems to have very round edges which would suggest you are planning to use pickups with very round edges which is fine but many people rely on a completely flat surface to anchor their thumb!

5. The lower part of the body could have been more curved like a P rather than that awfull offset like on J Basses!

Cheers
Jack

[sam]

That is a lot of personal preference you just listed there JackLondon.  You play with the body on your left leg??  youve either got a short scale bass or a freakishly long left arm...like mr tickle 

It looks to me like the pot recesses are grouped in pairs with a single pot in the middle.  What preamp/controls are you gonna use djf67?

I quite like the shape, I dont know if it would suit everyone...but Id prefer that shape over a P or J bass anyday

[djf67]

Mr Tickle. lol.

Leaving aside the subjective opinions, you're quite right the pickup routs are too rounded. My router bearing was too large and I will need to chisel out the corners. Well spotted.

The control positions were/are 2+3 - vol, blend, then b/m/t (active) but my contour rasping has taken more from the middle one than the end ones (and it's more noticeable still since I've worked further on it). As they are routed with a cove bit, the holes get narrower as one cuts deeper so rasping deeper around the middle rout has made it smaller and increased the gap from the next nearest control. If that makes sense.

[Jaycee]

The way I did the concave part beneath the knobs was to, use a forstener bit which leaves a flat bottom to the hole then sand the edges away until you have a nice bowl effect.

[djf67]

Feels like forever since I did any work on my builds but I've progressed this one in the last few days. Sanded, dyed top (just a touch of yellow - looks patchy in the picture but I think (hope!) that's the fresh wet oil) and then applied the first oil coat tonight.

[djf67]

oiled up, ready for a buff/wax and assembly. Still need to drill some wiring tunnels first, though.

[djf67]

Finished!
Two schoolboy errors (maybe you can spot more but that's all I'm owning up to  )
1. bridge saddles too close together for the J pickup
2. broke the control cavity cover trying to cut out the hole for the input - had to make another.
Plays nice, sounds good, stays in tune so I'm happy.