We constantly get asked what the tone of a pickup sounds like, so we’ve recorded a few videos demonstrating some sounds. This is the first one. VERY IMPORTANT NOTES What you hear in the video below is obviously not going to be exactly what you hear in person. Your bass, your amplifier, your speakers, how … Read more
This is a continuation from part 5. Below: Although the neck and the body look flush to each other, they are not (the body is sitting slightly proud of the neck). Shaping will be required to make sure these two pieces are flush to each other. Below: Masking tape is applied to the neck as … Read more
Most bass players who hear this will quickly realize they’ve been playing Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love wrong for a long time – but only because they weren’t able to hear exactly what John Paul Jones was doing on this track. And what was John doing here? Namely, playing an octave on nearly every D, … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here The feature bass this week was crafted by Adam Marsh Johnston of AMJ Guitars. Owner Deryl Gallant writes: In 2015 I visited Adam Marsh Johnston of AMJ guitars to get the neck of my poorly defretted Fender Jazz fixed. Instead, after an exciting conversation about my … Read more
This is a continuation from part 4. Below: Body has been clamped into upright position. Below: The tool we’ll be using here is a handheld pneumatic drum sander (otherwise known as bladder sander) with 2.5-inch cylinder, connected to a cordless drill. Below: Using the handheld pneumatic drum sander. The advantage of using this tool is … Read more
The feature bass this week is a fretless beauty. Owner Rob Paschall writes: Wenge neck and body with ebony fretless board. 17mm string spacing, 1.75 nut width Nordstrand MM5.4, each with 3 way switch for series, “single”, parallel. Active/passive push pull on master volume Blend 3 band Delano preamp I wanted a versatile tone machine, … Read more
If you work with wood (and you probably do), every now and then you come across scraps that can’t be used for bass building… …but they can be used for other things. One of the more simpler things that can be built from scrap and/or reclaimed wood is a pedalboard. Here is a video, start-to-finish, … Read more
This is a continuation from part 3. Below: The body is clamped to table to show current state of the build before work continues. Below: View of the upper horn. A flat spot still exists on the side that needs to be taken care of and blended into the curve. Below: The rasp file is … Read more
We’ve no idea who this guy is, but what we do know is that he wears a bunny outfit, plays bass, busks and is located somewhere in Melbourne Australia. He has a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/funkybunny If you happen to see the funky bunny in Melbourne, tell him Best Bass Gear sent you! 🙂
For a hobbyist builder, Steve does some darned fine work. Steve from Doner Designs writes: Doner Designs is a fancy name for my son and I who build as a hobby and also donate some of our works to charity. We don’t do any build-for-sale work but do flip our personal gear sometimes to make … Read more
