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
A brand often described as a “modern bass” (as the presenter will state in the video below,) the Spector NS-4 has a body that’s smaller and a shape designed to be comfortable. The pickups loaded in are EMG 35DC, touted as having ultra-low-noise (which they do.) But in the end, do you feel it’s worth … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here This week’s feature bass is a successful attempt at building a bass uke. Builder Maurice Coutanceau from Maurice Paul Guitars writes: My sister plays bass in a uke band and has done so for some time now using one of my acoustic basses with silicone strings, … Read more
The video below explains nicely the main differences between an early-1960s 500/1 and the changes that were made for the 1964 model year. In ’64, the neck went from fat to thin, neck binding was added, headstock logo changed and control panel size changed, among other things. Here’s the video explaining the details: Vintage collectors … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here Dave Johnson, who gave us many thank-yous as you’ll see below (to which we say thank you right back, and that we were happy to assist,) built quite the exotic for his bass build. Dave writes: I began building this bass in July, 2014, after realizing … Read more
