Bass Build Advice

[Ddbltrbl]

After many years of playing guitar, I just had my first real opportunity to play bass and really enjoyed it. So, I thought, "Why not build me a bass?" I'm pretty much clueless as to what I'm doing, so I thought I'd seek some advice from the pros here on UW.

I'm thinking long scale, 4-string "72 P-Bass as the starting point. Not looking to do anything fancy, just a comfortable, work-horse, general use bass.

Alder seems right to me for the body, but I'm open to suggestions. Will probably go for a rear routed body, and I'm thinking about going with a 2-Tek bridge, but open to any good ideas. 

I'm a serious fan of Pau Ferro for guitar necks, but all the posts on UW seem to imply that Wenge would be the best wood for a bass neck. I like my Wenge necks as well, but I'm just not sure how the tonal properties of the various woods effect the sound of a bass. Is it basically the same as on a guitar? I'm leaning towards a Warmoth headstock just to be different, so Pau Ferro may be out anyway.

Also, I really like the feel of the narrower Jazz necks; any reason not to use one on this build? Would it noticeably change the tone or create any string spacing difficulties for the pickups? The heels are the same, right?

Pickups are the one place I don't want to skimp on. I want the best pickups I can get, so what does everyone recommend? And, what is everyone's take on adding the bridge pickup PJ style?

Love to hear any recommendations for making this a serious work-horse bass for a amateur player like myself.

 

[chubs]

The warmoth standard profile is just a little thicker than a fender J bass neck, the slim taper neck I haven't played, but I presume it's more like an Ibanez. Most four string bass bridges have a 19mm (0.750") string spacing. With a 1.5" nut width you wont have any problem with pickup spacing. When you say long scale do you mean the Fender standard 34"? I don't think warmoth offer anything longer.

Can't really help with woods, but I am very happy with my black korina bass with goncalo alves neck loaded with a single Seymour Duncan quarter pounder P pickup

 

[Kostas]

...Love to hear any recommendations for making this a serious work-horse bass for a amateur player like myself.

I would be careful with the weight. Basses because of their bigger size are usually heavier than guitars. I would order a body around 4lbs (light for a P bass body) and a neck with graphite rods. I wouldn't use a 2-Tek because of the weight and price, Fender or Gotoh bridges work fine for me. SS frets have been standard for all my guitar builds, I would use them on a bass too. Many people use Jazz necks on P bodies, you will have no problem. I don't have much experience on bass for woods & pickups. My Fender has the classic woods/stock pickups and sounds great. Talk Bass forum is a good place to read about pickups and strings, you should pay attention to different types of strings because they change the sound of a bass.

 

[greywolf]

For the body core I prefer Alder , although I've built mahogany bodied basses too. It imparts a very warm woody sound and is very easy to shape.

For necks , it's quite subjective , but I prefer either Maple or Mahogany with ebony fretboards. I've used Padouk and it sound and plays well too.

There are many good pickups , but I'm partial to Bartolini's and use their 3 band pre amp on all the bases I build for clients.  The PJ set yields a wide sonic palette .

 

[Patrick from Davis]

A lot of it depends on what you are going after.  I have a Pau ferro neck and it is a joy to play, and very standard sounding.  I have a Warwick Fortress Five Fretless with a wenge neck, and it has mid cutting power to it.  I have found over the years that I don't use the bridge pick up very much.  I am much more into the neck pickup and the growl of a jazz pickup or a musicman in series.  I guess once you settle on what you want to play with it, it is a little easier.
Patrick

 

[Corey P.]

I've kind of gone the opposite route to yours: I've always been primarily a bassist but I've been drawn to a lot more guitar of late.

I have a maple/maple Jazz bass neck from a Geddy Lee bass a friend cannibalized, which plays great but is probably too thin.  When I decided to go for a more tailored Warmoth bass I went with a Bubinga neck/Wenge fretboard to emulate things I liked about Ibanez and Warwick necks.  I also had a Mexi Jazz with a Maple/Pao Ferro neck, and I liked the fretboard fine but the nut was poorly slotted and the pickups were pretty bland, so I never got to give that combo a fair evaluation.  I also had a Musicman for a long time that was maple/rosewood, and though it was a versatile bass that recorded really well, it just got to feel a bit too vanilla for me after I spent a long time with it.

When I think P-Bass I think of snap and midrange growl, so if I were choosing from the ground up I'd honestly go maple/maple, as much as I love raw exotics, it just works.  For my large hands and preferences I'd go with the thicker profile/wider at the nut P-Bass neck, but I wouldn't go thinner than the standard Jazz profile.

As far as pickups, I'd probably go Nordstrand NP4 for the sweet spot, and though I've never had a deluxe P-Bass I know a lot of people who are fond of that setup - I'd think a 70's spaced Jazz pickup in the bridge would sound pretty terrific; I haven't really compared passive Jazz pickups though.

 

[Ddbltrbl]

Thanks for all the good advice! I'm still debating a number of things about this build. Unfortunately, I just don't get a long with the finish on maple necks. My current bass is an Ibanez with a Rosewood on Maple neck. I really like the shape, but again not a fan of maple due to the finish.  I use SS for any frets I do, but this time I'm seriously considering going for a Warmoth Wenge neck with a 1.5 inch nut and fretless Pau Ferro fret board (34"). I get the weight concern mentioned, but don't you lose some tonal qualities with the graphite rods compared to the metal ones?

I'm also thinking of going for a G4 body now. Still debating the bridge. Will definitely check out the Nordstrand NP4 and Bartollini pickups. Thanks again for the advice. :guitarplayer2:

 

[Unrepresented]

Couple considerations:

1) Neck dive: Basses with their longer scale require more planning in balance to be comfortable and easy to play. Like you, I'm planning on going wenge for a neck wood, however, keep in mind it's one of the heavier woods, you'll ideally not want to pair it with a really light body. That 2Tek bridge is probably a good thing for balance, although both may cause the bass to be a little heavier in overall weight, which can also be a comfort issue for some.

2) Pickups: P-bass aftermarket pickups are all really, really close in terms of tone. There's limited deviations from what I've read compared to the other standard sizes. Don't bother spending more than you want to, you'll get limited return on your investment. Jazz pickups do have more variety between them, especially between the hum-cancelling and true single coils. If you're buying a PJ set, the choices will be more varied.

3) 1.5 inch necks: Shouldn't be an issue. Very common to use Jazz width necks on P bodies. Choose what's more comfortable for your hand. Some players prefer the slightly wider neck, but as a guitarist, I'd assume you'd be more at home on the narrower.

Good luck, and definitely refer to Talk Bass for specifics. Really awesome resource for bass specific stuff.

 

[Tony Raven]

I consider myself primarily a guitarist, but (a) I've been seconding on bass since like 1975, & (b) that's mostly what I play in public nowadays. So, some semirandom thoughts.

1). Don't build fretless unless you're committed to fretless. Fretting an instrument requires fingering between the actual notes, or you'll sharp the string; playing fretless requires hitting those same notes dead-on. If you're just now playing bass, it'd be amazing if your reflexes were already at a point where you could readily switch between the two, especially in 1st & 2nd position.

2). Know what you build, build what you know. I've owned more than a dozen fretted basses -- from the narrow-neck short-scale Vox Panther up to varous 34" fives -- but only two fretless, & sold one. But I've seen at least a dozen that had been "converted" by idiots. For instance, with half of 'em the nut was still at fret height. :dontknow: There were only one or two where the "builder" actually got the nut & bridge & trussrod correct. Besides that, I've seen more than a few commercial fretlesses in reputable guitar shops that weren't set up worth a damn.

3). Body weight. Actually, not of itself a problem. Put a Tele & a P-bass side-by-side, & notice that the Tele has significantly more metal hardware -- like TWICE as much if you ignore the tuners. Make that a floating-trem Fat Strat, & the number is almost triple. As for head dive, my Fender has the big steel "cloverleaf" tuners I like, but balances just fine; YMMV for a 5-string, but even that's easily mitigated with Hipshot UltraLight tuners (& maybe a heavier bridge).

4). Tonewoods. Common sense & logic do NOT always apply to musical instruments. IME, some of the sweetest-playing & -sounding basses I've tried had relatively soft wood, which I'm guessing went a long way to balance the volume & sustain of each note. At the end of the day, a bass DOES NOT need fancy woods the same way a hand-carved Jimmy D'Aquisto archtop does -- it's still a slab of wood that might as well have wound up as a cutting board. I'd choose primarily for looks, second for durability, third for how it'd take the finish I have in mind.

5). Neck width. Last month I played a fretted Jazz with a thin & narrow neck -- I've got small hands -- & hated it. Tonally, a skinny neck often results in a few notes that will ring for almost a minute... but if you move up one fret THAT note dubs out faster than a palm mute. (This is due to the two resonant bodies -- the headstock & the guitar body -- having different natural tones.) I'm not a "wrapper" or "clencher," & prefer my necks a bit on the wide side; this is especially so with fretless.

6). Frets. I'm still not happy with SS frets. They chew the heck out of tools, & speed up string wear, yet (as few people seem to know) stainless steel is MUCH softer than carbon steel -- I'm a fabricator by day, & can attest that SS bolts are easier to snap than many alloy bronzes. Back in my early playing days, roundwounds were expensive, when you could find 'em at all; now that they're dirt-common & almost cheap, too many (IMNSHO) bass players overkill the mid & mid-high range, & SS frets will only make this worse. If I was going to refret a bass for someone who plays a lot (or for myself), I'd get the widest bronze frets I could find, & fairly high as I happen to like sometimes pressure-sharping a note; then again, if I was gonna put one on the wall at a shop for resale, I'd make 'em wide & super-low, because it feels almost as effortless as a fretless yet retains accuracy.

Well, that's my ten minutes. :icon_biggrin:

 

[Ddbltrbl]

I really appreciate all the great advice folks! Unfortunately, it looks like I am going to have to wait a while due to some things coming up with my job. I still have every intention of building a bass. It just means I'm going to have a little more time to research what I'm doing before I start!  :icon_thumright:

I understand all the comments on the downside to fretless. I have no misconceptions that I will ever be a superb player on this bass, but if I don't try my hand at the "freedom" Tony Franklin talks about on this video, I am sure I will regret it. Better to try and fail than never try at all. One quirk of mine is I have always tried to put my fingers as close to the fret as possible, even on guitar, so maybe that will give me a little help.

Anyway, I plan to borrow a friends fretless for a couple of days to see how much difficulty I have before I proceed. :guitarplayer2:

 

[greywolf]

Fretless is worth the effort .  It takes patience and practice to get your intonation down , but the expression available is well worth it.