This week’s selection is from Sasha Radicic. He built this short scale bass himself. Here’s the story in his own words:
I wanted to build a short scale bass but bit longer string length than 30,5”. So this one ended up being 30 3/4” but more precisely I originally built it to be 780 mm. It is actually neck thru bass , center piece is hard maple and the wings are actually local wood, very resonant/acoustic – it is called Catalpa! It is not as heavy as northern ash. Looks like swamp ash but with greenish beige hue to it.
The fretboard is 16” radius Mexican Catalox inlaid with blocks of real mother of pearl.
The pickups are mixed brands, middle pup is DiMarzio Split P with rails to accommodate for narrower bridge string spacing 11/16” and the bridge pickup is Bartolini J 42 J Quad coil. The powerful, passive Split P needed companion in the bridge position, to match its power and quad coil Bartolini was my top pick.
Electronic is also passive, basically it is a identical to jazz bass configuration, vol. vol. tone.
String set used is 45-105” gauge by Ernie Ball.
Tuning Machines are Gotoh.
Bridge is made by Hipshot, narrow spacing.
Nut is 1,5”
Good job. I like everything about it. Nice sound.
Nice job
Really nice job. All the design elements hang together very nicely. It pretty much looks flawless. Sounds great too.
Very nice bass excellent job Sasha…
Wow, really great short scale! I have just gotten back into short scale basses and have fallen in love with them again!
Thats a beautifull looking Bass and resonance sounds awsome .. I think I would like to take her away for the weekend ..and maybe never come back again !!
She looks very purposefull and I love the straight thru wood
ps: the wings are to die for !
“Wood” love to play her one day where are you “Bass”ed I mean based which country
I’m in Ireland ..
Best Wishes.
Steve C.
Thank ya’ll for very kind words, I really appreciate that! ❤️
To Steve C , I am “bass”ed in St.Louis MO, USA!
Talk soon man
very nice job. i play 30.5″ scale basses myself. much easier for the motown stuff.
I love everything about the bass and the tone it has. I’m a short scale player myself (I play a 2014 Gibson SG bass with a Hipshot Super Tone bridge) and my only question is how can I order one? Keep up the good work!
Hey Sasha….very very nice work! What’s it weigh….just curious. I’ve never owned a short scale bass…. you’ve fueled my curiosity. I’m also a big fan of the Dimarzio “Split P”…..one of the best sounding pickups I’ve tried, and I’ve tried a bunch. Are you going to build more? Keep it up man!
Very nice shorty bass. I’v been playing short scales for 50 years. The pickup choice and sound is astonishing. I might have to try your combo in one of my builds. Did you ever consider black hardware? Thanks for the Video.
Hello Sasha,
Absolutely love your bass. The natural wood looks great. The pups are awesome. I also am a lover of DiMarzio. I have a DiMarzio PJ set, still in package, waiting for me to put them into a fretless bass project I’m working on(slowly…too slowly). Can tell the love you put into your beautiful bass. She sounds great, also. You should be very proud of your accomplishment.
I really love the look…would love to play it just once just to see what it feels like to play a custom hand made guitar. Very nice work!!!
Thank ya’ll for very kind words, I really appreciate that! ❤️
To Steve C , I am “bass”ed in St.Louis MO, USA!
Talk soon man
Catalpa can be found in the USA but usually you have to locate someone who knows of a storm-damaged tree or keep checking a local sawmill. Sassafras is another interesting wood in the eastern/southern US. I’ve also heard of butternut being used but apparently it also is hard to find.
Mulberry might be interesting. In some parts of the country there are many old mulberry trees that would yield some wide pieces.
I once tried roughing a telecaster (guitar) sized body out of a chunk of osage orange. Not recommended. It is *very* heavy and very hard, you’d think you were working metal.
Note: my experience with these woods comes from boatbuilding, so it might pay to see what any wooden boat enthusiasts in your area know about sourcing wood.
Nice Bass, clean lines, good solid construction and nice workmanship. I like your pickup pairing too. I’ve always been a fan of neck through construction as I started building electric guitars and basses back in the mid ’70’s and neck through’ and natural wood finishes were all the go then.
Again, nice bass.
Very thick and deep tones for a short-scale instrument. The pickup combination sounds very musical too and I’m surprised with the punch & clarity of this neck-thru-body design. Good luck in the future with building more basses!
Love short-scale basses, having small hands myself. This sounds great. I like the fact that the two pups blend so well. Many decades ago, I added a new neck pickup to a cheap bass I had at the time and it almost sounded like two separate instruments if I had it and the original bridge pup both sounding
I been playing all types of vintage and other basses for over 55 years in bands. I have never heard a better sounding bass, both mellow lows and punchy highs and every note clean and clear standing on its own. Great work Sasha josef
Fantastic ! I love that ambition. Good work.