I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

[Kam]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

:laughing:

And thanks for the pointer on the neck dive issue.

If a bass has to be one thing, it's balanced.

Exactly. I mean, I'm sure you'd be building your bass from something other than basswood (despite it's awesomely fitting name) but with the strap anchored to the neck, my Supersonic still tends to drift towards sitting exactly flat and parallel with the floor. I can only imagine a bass being worse.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

I just got the following message from my dad:

I'm leaning toward p-bass / jazz....but I want to make some comparisons. It definitely needs to be unique...like all Phinn Guitars

:laughing: thanks Dad

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

I'm always a lover of symmetrical double cutaways, and this would look great with a proportional body, nice guard, P/J pickups, and a Badass bridge.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

I'm always a lover of symmetrical double cutaways, and this would look great with a proportional body, nice guard, P/J pickups, and a Badass bridge.

Hmm - I will run that by him.

I think deep down he just wants a P-Bass, but is trying to be nice and let me play around a little bit.

But like I said, he is in his 60s and is even more traditional than I am (and my favorite guitars are the Telecaster and Les Paul, not exactly cutting edge).

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

I just got the following message from my dad:



:laughing: thanks Dad

Your dad is the coolest!

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

Haha, yes, he is humoring me for sure.

Hopefully him having a bass, and a good one (hopefully) will get him playing again.

 

[tone4days]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

think about something without a bass side cut away (like a les paul)
i have played and heard basses built that way that sound EPIC for that low side boom ... anthony jackson's comes to mind

active electronics?

i can not put into words how epically cool i think your relationship with your dad is

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

think about something without a bass side cut away (like a les paul)
i have played and heard basses built that way that sound EPIC for that low side boom ... anthony jackson's comes to mind

active electronics?

i can not put into words how epically cool i think your relationship with your dad is

:laughing: thanks --- I couldn't have a better role model.

We were camping / fishing one night semi-recently, since I've had kids, and he told me all about how he got his environmental / geology company off the ground and all the crazy risks they took and how he was practically all in on that venture, and pretty much succeeded because he believed in "no job too big, no job too small," and backed it up. His first two jobs were 1) a multi-year, multi-million contract with the Navy, and 2) cleaning the tanks at a gas station :laughing:. No job too big, no job too small, alright.

He took the day off work last Friday just to come up and play with my son for 2 hours. It's all the schedule would allow, but he came up nonetheless, and roughhoused with my little rugrat like he was a kid again.

Anyways, he's my hero, and I know that nothing makes him feel better than giving to me, my sister, and my mom (and now a pile of grandchildren).

Although far more symbolic than tangible, it is important and exciting for me to build something for him.

I have observed that too, with the upper bout. My friend Kelly had a bass like that, a 4 string, and it dropped ass like none I had heard before. I don't think that will be the way it goes though - he is probably going to want a Jazz or Precision shape, but will tell me to have fun with it, 100% because he knows I want to show off that I can do custom shapes. What a guy.

I don't even care about showing that off, but now I want to, because I know it will make him feel good to tell me to do a custom shape, thinking that will make me feel good. :laughing:

I don't know anything about active electronics --- anybody have the knowledge with which to school me?

Anyways, thank you t4d - very much.

 

[tone4days]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

:I don't know anything about active electronics --- anybody have the knowledge with which to school me?

buy the kit, wire it up ... if he is a truly old school purist, i am guessing he won't dig it ... but i really dig basses with active eq ... its usually a master tone control feeding a master volume ... kinda cool when the pickup selector is a blender pot between two pots for even more tone sculpting

they usually give boost or cut of the B / M / T freqs ... usually with a fixed center frequency for each and a fixed filter roll-off shape (Q) ... i am sure someone has done a full blown 3 band parametric EQ onboard for bass, but that might be overkill ... requires a battery or two for max headroom ...

with a 5 string, it is nice to be able to carefully shape how much of the epic low it puts out ... lets you dial that POOM back to a BOOM without losing extra definition as needed

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

buy the kit, wire it up ... if he is a truly old school purist, i am guessing he won't dig it ... but i really dig basses with active eq ... its usually a master tone control feeding a master volume ... kinda cool when the pickup selector is a blender pot between two pots for even more tone sculpting

they usually give boost or cut of the B / M / T freqs ... usually with a fixed center frequency for each and a fixed filter roll-off shape (Q) ... i am sure someone has done a full blown 3 band parametric EQ onboard for bass, but that might be overkill ... requires a battery or two for max headroom ...

with a 5 string, it is nice to be able to carefully shape how much of the epic low it puts out ... lets you dial that POOM back to a BOOM without losing extra definition as needed

I will try and slide over to the music store and play with both types, hopefully with a 5 string.

I understand what you typed, but get the idea that this is something I'm going to have to form an opinion on in person.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

Mail came today

 

[CTN]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

I really liked that Jazz/Jag mockup.

All the lines flow beautifully into each other. I think you should do that one. yes yes.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

I really liked that Jazz/Jag mockup.

All the lines flow beautifully into each other. I think you should do that one. yes yes.

I think I may go ahead with that one regardless of Dad input --- after comparing it with the regular Jazz Bass, it actually looks better / more natural to me

 

[CTN]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

agreed, especially the way the lower horn flows into the upper.

also the top half of the Jag somehow makes the Jazz part look less offset-in-a-really-bizarre-way and more like as if that's the shape that the Jazz was meant to be before someone decided "nah, we need to make it CRAZIER!!!"

 

[Bass_Medic_05]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

I like the idea, so lets see what it looks like!

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

I met up with dad for lunch yesterday and he told me that he wants a Precision upper and a Jazz lower, because the offset waist of the Jazz rides great on the hip, and the upper of the Precision is what he's used to, and he knows it works and feels good.

So let's mock that up:

I think it'll work!

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

Cool! That's the definition of a custom build: something unique that suits the player's tastes and needs. Nice of you to accommodate him.

 

[CTN]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

Looks cool...

Methinks you'll have to do a test blank just to get the subtle curve on the bridge side of the body outline just right. Could look horrible if it doesn't flow nicely.

Personally, I would try to lessen the offset on the jazz side and give the precision part a little bit of an offset. It'll work alright, but I think you might just be creating a slightly tweaked version of a Jazz bass anyway.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

Looks cool...

Methinks you'll have to do a test blank just to get the subtle curve on the bridge side of the body outline just right. Could look horrible if it doesn't flow nicely.

Personally, I would try to lessen the offset on the jazz side and give the precision part a little bit of an offset. It'll work alright, but I think you might just be creating a slightly tweaked version of a Jazz bass anyway.

Yes - thank you.

Now that I have looked at 10,000 pictures of bass shapes, I can say: "how in the hell did the Jazz become a household name?" After looking at all those shapes, the Jazz is seriously weird / ugly / boggling. I know it's subjective, but man, it looks like a wavy noodle.

Anyways, yes, very special care will be given to the blending of the curves.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: I6 Builds a 5 String Bass

Cool! That's the definition of a custom build: something unique that suits the player's tastes and needs. Nice of you to accommodate him.

Indeed! This is all kind of a test run for me - to see what it's like to take a customer idea from talking to a finished instrument.

You know, to see if I can actually pull it off. Or, more accurately, to see what the hard parts are and what the easy parts are.

I imagine that making sawdust will be the easiest part of building a customer-spec guitar.