The feature bass this week proves you can make something great even if your wood is sourced from a national home improvement chain store.
Builder Dave Caissie writes:
I’ve been playing 4-string bass (fretted, fretless, upright) for 30+ years and finally got around to getting a 5-string. By getting, I mean scrounging my workshop and Home Depot for the wood and making something I couldn’t afford otherwise. Also, I am a dyed-in-the-wool yankee cheapskate!
That said, I did put some coin into this build. I wanted a good slap sound but with flexibility for jazz, motown, classic rock or whatever else I was playing that gig. I have grown to love the classic Fender Jazz bass asthetics, but needed my own spin in the vein of Sadowsky (without Sadowsky $$$).
Here’s the result, after a long summer in the workshop.
Body: mahogany (chambered) with a flamed maple top (from Home Depot, believe it or not!). Rear cover has neo magnets so no ugly screws and it’s more convenient, to boot. Hipshot bridge. The charcoal burst front and cherry red back make it look like two different instruments.
Neck: Laminated flamed maple with walnut, maple, and purpleheart accents. Ebony fretboard with simple white side marker dots for inlays. 24 frets because I use all of them. Hipshot lightweight tuners.
Electronics: Bartolini 57J1 Deep Tone split coil set. Aguilar OBP-3 preamp. Controls are set up as follows…stacked Volume/Tone (passive), Pup Blend, stacked Bass/Treble (active), Mid pushpull 400Hz/800Hz (active), Active/Passive switch.
Sound: Holy moley!! Even before I plugged it in the acoustic sound was impressive. The volume and tone across all the strings is very even and the slap sound I was going for is there in spades.
As I was nearing the end of the build I am real happy I found bestbassgear for the pickups, preamp, knobs, tuners, strings and do-dads. You guys are awesome.
And building or modding your own instrument is sooooo rewarding.
Well done!
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