A helpful thing to do before even beginning the build is to draw a full scale (meaning full size, as in 1:1) drawing of the instrument you have in mind. Good reasons why the full scale drawing is the first thing you should do 1. You get an initial feel for the guitar While true … Read more
(*Note: More recent versions of the Quarter Pound no longer show the “Basslines” logo, but it is still the same great pickup it always was.) Is Quarter Pound just a name? Quarter Pound is not just name-only. The pole pieces used in a Quarter Pound are 1/4-inch in diameter, expanding the magnetic field of the … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here We don’t get too many lefty submissions for Bass of the Week, so we were really happy to see this one in our inbox. Builder Alan Williams from ajwilliamsguitars at https://ajwilliamsguitars.wordpress.com writes: Handbuilt SC (single-cut) 5-string bass I built back in 2008. Hardware is Schaller with … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here This week’s feature bass is one excellent looking piece of Buckeye Burl wood, along with several other beautiful woods. Builder Chuck Phares from www.stonecrossguitars.com writes: I have been building custom 6-String guitars for the past 2 years and decided to give a bass a shot. Hooked … Read more
You definitely don’t see one of these come along every day, the 1968 Sidewinder bass from VOX. Some may be put off by that large hunk of wood for the headstock complemented by the gigantic VOX logo there, but this is a bass that absolutely screams “I have the sound of the 1960s” to it, … Read more
Fretboards need to be cleaned every so often, and that’s just common sense. However, there is also something called “conditioning” a fretboard. Why would you condition a fretboard? The two main reasons to condition a fretboard is to: Keep color consistency Boards that aren’t conditioned fade, but not evenly since the player (you) prefers to … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here Our first double neck feature! Builder Karl Thorkildsen from www.facebook.com/KarlThorkildsen writes: My first doubleneck, 24 fret guitar + fretless 5-string bass. Nordstrand dual coils, bubinga front and back on mahogany core. Hipshot hardware, Nordstrand preamp, Dunlop flushmount strap locks, Grain-matched controls cover. Pickups selectable, guitar, bass, … Read more
With our last wood hardness chart, several noted that there were certain woods missing that should be in the list, so we’ve expanded the list to 224 different species. Is this list complete? That’s where you come in. We’ve tried in our best effort to get this list as complete as possible, but of course … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here This week’s feature bass has wood that was air-dried for more than 40 years! Builder Peter Carlson writes: Body and neck from a single plank of cerisier (cherry) given me by my dear (and sadly recently deceased) neighbor, M,Andre Castin: from a tree planted by his … Read more
New on the upper-end of the Aria line is the IGB-RC. A bit smaller, has a thin neck and has good balancing, according to the video below. The street price of this bass is about $2,000. Do you think it’s worth it? Does this bass recapture the great upper-end Aria Pro II basses of the … Read more
