Is a bass any harder to build????

I have the need to build me a bass.Is it really any different than building a tele??.I know the scales are different but was wondering if there was anything to watch out for.Also,got my eye on a Squire Affinity p-bass neck.Are they the same as a reg p-bass neck as far as specs?Anybody got any pics of ones you have built????
Thanks

I've built (okay, assembled) a few and they're no harder/easier than a Telecaster. I would note that you'd be better served with a more expensive neck, those cheaper Squier necks can be hit or miss, and the Affinity ones are on the cheap end of Squier, right? I've certainly heard reports of some of them warping pretty badly...

Cheers, Tim

I've built (okay, assembled) a few and they're no harder/easier than a Telecaster.

Pictures!

How about a Mustang Bass?

Yeah Tim, how about showing us something besides that adorable mug of yours.:lol:

And Marty - I've only built guitars so far but I can't see how a bass would be any harder than a guitar. It's the same set of skills.

I had a build thread from a few years ago, but I just went back and checked it out and looks like all the pictures are gone!

Here's the bass I gig with now, it has a '73 Fender Musicmaster neck, a '98 Squier Vista Series Musicmaster body and bridge (string-through), a GFS "Lil' Killer" twin-blade Strat-sized pickup, a MOTS (Mother of Toilet Seat) pickguard that I got off eBay loaded with pots & jack from Stew-Mac.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/tarmadilo/bass002.jpg

Here's the neck, with the Hipshot Ultralite tuners (very good ones!):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/tarmadilo/DSCN0684.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/tarmadilo/DSCN0682.jpg

...and here's the bass I'm working on now, which features a similar '73 Fender Musicmaster Bass neck (away for a refret), a '73 Fender Musicmaster Bass body (which will be finished black), a P-Bass bridge (which worked fine on the bass before), and Mustang Bass pickups, pickguard and controls. Obviously, I haven't routed for the pickups yet...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/tarmadilo/bass001.jpg

(more in the next post, can't put five images in one post!)

Cheers, Tim

The neck presently on the pink bass, and the body/bridge from the new Mustang-ish build, were together here on my earlier Mutant Musicmaster Bass, along with a Kent Armstrong (no relation) lipstick tube pickup:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/tarmadilo/tuxbass3.jpg

Cheers, Tim

Nice work there Tim.

I'm not real familiar with the Mustang/Musicmaster basses but those pick guards look a little different. Have you tweaked them a little to make 'em more your own design?

I like the look of the MOTS. Nice.

Nice work there Tim.

I'm not real familiar with the Mustang/Musicmaster basses but those pick guards look a little different. Have you tweaked them a little to make 'em more your own design?

I like the look of the MOTS. Nice.

Nope, they're of the standard shapes. Musicmasters and Mustangs used the same body and neck, but had different shaped pickguards (and the Mustang had a Jazz Bass-style control plate) and different pickups (the Mustang had a split pickup like a smaller P-Bass pickup, while the cheaper Musicmaster had a Strat pickup with a solid cover, to hide the six polepieces no doubt!).

Cheers, Tim

Cool! I never really paid too much attention to Mustang and Musicmaster basses before. A friend of mine offered to sell me a white Musicmaster a few years ago but I passed on it.

Did you do the black finish yourself?

I just redid a Gibson Grabber in black lacquer myself. It was hard to get right. Shows every little imperfection.

Yours looks nice from what I can see in the photo. I like it with the Rosewood neck.

I went back and looked at those tuners too. They must go a long way toward lighten up the head.

So there you go Marty. It's no harder to build a bass than a guitar.

Those hipshot's are about the best tuner on the planet. At around $80 a set, not cheap but - on a build I did, they salvaged the bass. They were a little less than half the weight of the original set and completely cured what had been a serious neck dive issue. Super light body, kinda heavey neck. Hipshot's save the day ... They feel sweet too!

any suggestions on how to mod out my 72 musicmaster bass?

I was just curious, what options are available if I decide to upgrade
some of it's less desirable components to make it even better..

the stock bridge: not sure if it's as flexible as say a 4 saddle bridge,
and that's ok, but it might be a tad more dynamic if I replaced say this..
http://i23.ebayimg.com/07/i/001/02/46/03b5_3.JPG

with this? *(is it even possible? necessary?)
---> note: musicmaster bass (squire reissue bridge)
http://i6.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/d4/3e/6d1d_1.JPG

EDIT: ACTUALLY.. I was told the musicmaster squire bridge will not
work with my 72.. so, if not.. is there another type of bridge I can
replace it with? like say a P-bass bridge?

Also, I've wondered about pickup replacements with some more gain.
but any ideas? suggestions? other options? different Pots? etc.
thanks again guys.

I have that Squier bridge on Pinky, my Squier Vista Series MM Bass (that I put a '73 Musicmaster Bass neck on), and the only problem is that it's string-through...

I put a regular P-Bass/J-Bass bridge on the '73 Musicmaster body (the black one) above. Worked very well. A little wider than the stock bridge, but not so wide it didn't work with the pickup and the neck.

I found the GFS Lil' Killer twin blade Strat-sized pickup (http://store.guitarfetish.com/lilkicrhurap.html) did a very nice job for me, more so than the Kent Armstrong lipstick tube pickup...

Cheers, Tim

I have that Squier bridge on Pinky, my Squier Vista Series MM Bass (that I put a '73 Musicmaster Bass neck on), and the only problem is that it's string-through...

I put a regular P-Bass/J-Bass bridge on the '73 Musicmaster body (the black one) above. Worked very well. A little wider than the stock bridge, but not so wide it didn't work with the pickup and the neck.

I found the GFS Lil' Killer twin blade Strat-sized pickup (http://store.guitarfetish.com/lilkicrhurap.html) did a very nice job for me, more so than the Kent Armstrong lipstick tube pickup...

Cheers, Tim

thanks again tim.

I was inspired actually by your posts above..

so.. few questions.. how does the p-bass bridge fair in comparison to stock
72 MM bridge? Is it an improvement? how's the intonation? any other
adjustments needed to be made?

Also, how did you end up choosing that GFS pickup?
which one of the three models did you get *(vintage, modern, etc.)?
How does it sound in comparison to the stock MM bass pickup..
How does it sound in general (kinda ambiguous question, but any insights?)

your basses look great.. thanks so much for the responses too!

I haven't used a stock 2-saddle MM bridge, so I can't comment on it, but I can say that the P-Bass bridge worked great. Definitely make sure you place it far enough back so you can adjust the saddles (my first try was too close to the pickup, had to move it back!). Once I got it right, intonation was a breeze, and I never had any trouble with it.

The GFS pickup was the "modern" wind, 10k if I recall correctly. I picked it because it was humbucking and I figured quieter was better!

Having said all that, and while I totally dig these basses, I recently got myself an SX short-scale P-Bass copy from Rondo, which, after dropping a really fine Peter Florance Voodoo P-Bass pickup in it, has retired my other basses!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/tarmadilo/DSCN1119.jpg

Cheers, Tim

I have the need to build me a bass.Is it really any different than building a tele??.I know the scales are different but was wondering if there was anything to watch out for.Also,got my eye on a Squire Affinity p-bass neck.Are they the same as a reg p-bass neck as far as specs?Anybody got any pics of ones you have built????
Thanks

you should build a 51-p ri. i have patterns. pm me if you would like a copy...

The one, lone aspect I've personally found to be EASIER when it comes to bass as opposed to a guitar in the DIY world is the nut. One of those pre-slotted nuts drops in with very little work to it. Pretty forgiving & works great. A pre-slotted for a guitar? Yeah, not quite so easy.

Leave the stock bridge. You make-a me sad ditching parts on an oldie that work just fine for those little thumpers. Perfect intonation? Wazzat?!

The one, lone aspect I've personally found to be
Leave the stock bridge. You make-a me sad ditching parts on an oldie that work just fine for those little thumpers. Perfect intonation? Wazzat?!

Having endured the a 2-saddle bridge on my former 77 Tele Bass, I would say that it's passable, but not that it "works just fine." I never upgraded mine but I can't fault anyone for wanting to.

The one, lone aspect I've personally found to be EASIER when it comes to bass as opposed to a guitar in the DIY world is the nut. One of those pre-slotted nuts drops in with very little work to it. Pretty forgiving & works great. A pre-slotted for a guitar? Yeah, not quite so easy.

Leave the stock bridge. You make-a me sad ditching parts on an oldie that work just fine for those little thumpers. Perfect intonation? Wazzat?!

I wouldn't necessarily ditch any of the parts..
i would still hold on to em, just make it a bit
better sounding with some replacement parts..

musicmaster bass is a great bass, but it's sort of
the cheaper version (by leo fender) of the mustang bass..
I love it, but it could have been a bit better in certain areas.

it would be nice to have a bridge that fits into the slot
perfectly.. without hsving to slter the body at all.

for example, I replaced my stock jazzmaster bridge
with a mustang bridge, and it fits perfectly to 7 1/2 radius.

You could always drill the body so that the string-through Squier bridge would work...

Cheers, Tim

Works just fine! :razz:
http://www.alittlebetter.com/images/customer-files/6in52TeleBridge.gif

:lol:

naah.. wouldn't want to do that.. it'd be a sin
to alter the body imo.. if it was a warmouth body,
then I'd be all for it! but it's all original.. and i don't
want to make any permanent or irreversible changes
to it.

Works just fine! :razz:
http://www.alittlebetter.com/images/customer-files/6in52TeleBridge.gif

:lol:

that's a hole-through body design.. not the case with musicmaster
bass,

Naw, I meant the two strings per saddle deal. Honestly, it's yours, do whatever you feel like. I'm just razzin'. I myself have a '72 Musicmaster bass and sure, there's better but don't I mind the stock bridge.

Naw, I meant the two strings per saddle deal. Honestly, it's yours, do whatever you feel like. I'm just razzin'. I myself have a '72 Musicmaster bass and sure, there's better but don't I mind the stock bridge.

I don't mind it too much either to tell ya the truth..
i just was curious what options are available though.

Well, you'd have to drill a few new screw holes with a P-Bass bridge, certainly not as dramatic as drilling string-through holes, but still...

You COULD get a Mustang body like, say, THIS ONE ON EBAY (http://cgi.ebay.com/1974-Fender-Mustang-Bass-Body-Walnut_W0QQitemZ300247999315QQihZ020QQcategoryZ380 79QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem), or perhaps a Squier Vista Series Musicmaster Bass body, but at that point you're pretty much building a new bass...

Cheers, Tim

thanks tim. I didn't realize you needed to drill some
extra holes for the p-bass bridge to work.. i suppose
it'll be fine and make due with the stock bridge..

still interested in a new pickup though.

When it looked like I would be unable to salvage the super rusty saddles on my Musicmaster I looked into options as well. I finally figured out that they were same damned saddles used on it's contemporary the Telecaster bass, which was at first nothing more than a 51 Precision reissue (Fender's first reissue was A BASS, people!). So I just scored some reissue saddles & they fit perfectly (but I managed to save the originals too).

Best hope I did come across at the time for using the original plate & better compensation:
http://www.grguitars.com/bass%20bridge%203356.jpg
Those saddles swivel to allow for better compensation however it's no doubt the space between that allows them the room to move. Musicmaster's saddles practically are touching. Probably won't work well but I was always curious if it might.

Hey Marty

Check out this builder from Saskatoon, SK. I think you can go as far as your imagination goes when it comes to building...and we know that yours goes further than most. (in a good way)

http://www.dingwallguitars.com/html/main.html

btw congrats on the gift project. I was in Sundre/Caroline that weekend...rushed home to find out how it had gone. Pretty spectacular dude!!

Hey Marty

Check out this builder from Saskatoon, SK. I think you can go as far as your imagination goes when it comes to building...and we know that yours goes further than most. (in a good way)

http://www.dingwallguitars.com/html/main.html

btw congrats on the gift project. I was in Sundre/Caroline that weekend...rushed home to find out how it had gone. Pretty spectacular dude!!

Actually I play quite often with a couple different people that have Dingwall's
They love them!!

Actually I play quite often with a couple different people that have Dingwall's
They love them!!

Once you adjust to the fingerboard they are the sweetest sounding bass I've heard. I know Sheldon a little bit and he is a great guy and awesome builder. He's very approachable as well. Bass player form a previous band had one and he would call Sheldon and say "I'm looking to get *whatever* sound out of my bass...what should I do?" and he would offer up suggestions and be able to dial it in usually with just a phone call...

One of the things I've noticed about his necks is that he really makes sure they are solid so they don't twist. I think that would be your biggest consideration. Second would be the way it mounts to the body to make sure that big piece of wood is secure. After that it's mostly shape it and finish it how you like.