Building my own bass

[Hell Mike]

I'm going to build my own electric bass and I need a little help.
By 'a little help' I mean 'fucking lots of help'. I don't even know where to begin! I'm thinking of building a five-stringed, fretless one or maybe merely a five-stringed OR a fretless one or perhaps even a regular four-stringed bass with frets and all. Give me all the damn tips you can (Concerning EVERYTHING, from what kind of wood I need to the electronics) and maybe some website too if you know one. Thanks (I hope).'
I also posted this in the DiGiorgio-forum because I think the DiGiorgioists should fucking know.

 

[Sunbane]

Hmmm...are you experienced with woodworking? In that case it may be worth a shot, but stuff like necks are still very difficult to do well. You need not only the right type of woods - they must also be pre-dried under controlled conditions (so they don't crack later). Then there's the stuff like the truss rod, fretboard radius, etc.

Have a look at http://www.warmoth.com/. You can check out what woods they use for their parts and they also have a very good guide to tone woods.

'bane

 

[Nocturnal Emperor]

it would be a much better idea to have a company build a custom bass for you because you will get a the bass you want and you know it is done by professionals but saying that custom basses etc can be very expensive.

 

[Hell Mike]

Thanks for that, bane... I thought that maybe the neck is best bought complete and attached later so I get a playable bass, and I don't want it to snap after a week. I'll check prices and so on on that site.

Emperor, I can't afford a custom build one and I've got a school assignment that says I have to do SOMETHING, and I thought, why not do something I want to do instead of some boring crap? OK, it's probably too difficult for me but I won't know 'til I've tried.

 

[JonnyD]

Carvin Has some Nice Necks and Pick ups ect. At a nice price

www.Carvin.com I have a Custom Carvin Bass and a 600 watt bass amp that I got through them, they are Very good And they are very nice ppl to deal with

 

[Nocturnal Emperor]

fair enough and yes carvin has very good quality parts and also check out www.stewmac.com they have many good parts to check out.

 

[Hell Mike]

Thanks for that

 

[Ravenous Enemy]

I would difinitley advise buying the neck, because it's so exactingcompared with the body size/shape. Think of a shape you like, get the wood (mahogany, alder, basswood, sycamore are all decent) and cut the body. Then decide what pickups you want, buy them, slap them on, buy a neck, stck that on and you'r most of the way there. I would also advise to stay clear of active pickups/systems - they're quite a lot of hastle.

 

[Leper_/-\ffinity]

Definitely check this site out, under tutorials, it has almost anything you could need for your project. www.projectguitar.com