The feature bass for this week combines design cues from MusicMan, PRS and several personal touches. Alden, the owner of this bass who had Aeris Guitars build the instrument for him, writes: I was looking to purchase a new bass and wanted something different from my MusicMan that sounded and played just like it. Aeris … Read more
Out on the Tiles by Led Zeppelin is not an easy song on the bass. The difficulty comes from the fact that the original recording is, in all honesty, a bit sloppy with its timing. This is the original studio track: …so when a 12-year-old kid is able to cover this song, that’s actually a … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here The feature bass for this week is an example of where “less is more” really works. Builder Aaron Ross from www.rayrossbass.com writes: I started making basses from scratch about five years ago. Motivated by a desire for a fretless and no money to buy one. Through … Read more
In part 2 with our neck pocket template fabrication, we’re now performing a rough cut and removing the surrounding material with a bandsaw. The photos below shows how it’s done: Next up, the bottom hardboard piece has its excess middle portion removed flush to the edges of where the glued pieces on top meet: Above … Read more
Pretty darned good, as you’ll hear from the video below. A quick 101 on flatwound strings Tight Flats, unless specifically stated otherwise, have tighter tension at pitch compared to roundwound. An example of a flat that isn’t tight is the La Bella Low Tension string. However, some would argue a flat that isn’t tight doesn’t … Read more
This week’s feature bass has a blend of maple and ebony. Builder Elash Cisse from www.aashbass.com writes, Single cut bass which has a great versatile sound in active and also in passive mode. Mixture of maple and ebony on the top makes its distinctive appearance. BODY: Ash. TOP: Flame maple. NECK: Hard Maple-3pc. FINGERBOARD: Ebony. … Read more
Fabricating a template is arguably the most difficult part of the process, as the template must be correct the first time. If not correct, the neck will never fit correctly in the pocket. Tip: Make your template out of 1/4-inch hardboard. The advantage is that this is a “voidless” material. For example, plywood is inconsistent … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here This week’s feature bass shows how truly modern bass design can be. Barton Applewhite from www.roberto-venn.com/faculty/bart-applewhite (Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery) writes: I really wanted to try something different with this one and while designing the frame I wanted to use a stable core laminate. For some … Read more
(Note: While this particular build step is short, it’s important.) It is assumed for this step that you have already made or purchased an appropriate body blank. It is also assumed that you have a plan on paper. It might be a plan that you have drawn from scratch for your own custom design or … Read more
To start off, we’re not saying that the future of bass guitar building is going to be 3D-printed. Not at all. 3D printing is still a relatively young technology, and to the best of our knowledge, all 3D printed guitars still use wooden necks (including the one shown here) simply because it’s still the most … Read more
