First Build Help/Advice
- Thread starter prs
- Start date
Congrats on your new adventure.
I strongly recommend watching this whole series on a strat build :
http://youtu.be/mqLfllURlo8
I know it's a guitar, but a bass is just a guitar with 4 bigger strings. He goes into detail from start to finish of the build.
I strongly recommend watching this whole series on a strat build :
http://youtu.be/mqLfllURlo8
I know it's a guitar, but a bass is just a guitar with 4 bigger strings. He goes into detail from start to finish of the build.
I almost wish that Warmoth would pop up a little "test" just to gauge what sort of cross-training each newbie brings, whether they've done some modding, electronics etc., or whether they just hope to put $600 worth of parts into a box, shake it around and out pops a $2,000 guitar... it's a good sign of you to ask! Barring the test, the best thing I recommend is to buy Dan Erlewine's "Guitar Player Repair Guide." It's around $25 at the usual places. And it will end up saving you possibly thousands of dollars over the years; at the very least, you'll know how to "talk guitar" with anyone you hire, over any aspect, with accuracy. And there may be parts that you won't need, and there will be parts that over time you'll probably end up digging into in more excruciating detail, but - if you get a good mental picture of the build you want to do, and then go through that book reading up on his coverage of each part of the build, you'll end up with a very good idea of what you already know, where you need to pay attention, look around and learn some stuff, and where you may even want to farm certain bits out if needed.
We have had a few rosy-cheeked virgins come in here, and by being very careful and asking good questions, ended up with a very nice piece, but most people have at least swapped out some pickups or figured out basic setup needs. It's kind of hard for a person to make their ideal guitar if they haven't at least played a crappy one long enough to say "well I don't want THAT!" We can be a bit snarky - the "search" function works.... but solid questions will yield solid answers. Thankfully it's not rocket science - who needs a stupid rocket when there's guitars, right?
Tools, and your experience with them, always comes up early, but there are a lot of "transfer credits" - woodworking, jewelry, soldering, any little stuff in general. You do NOT need to go blast out the two or three or five hundred dollars that Stew-Mac would be happy to relieve you of, but eventually... whew. I joke that I read their catalog so I can figure out what I want, then make some myself and buy the rest from gunsmith/jewelry/woodworking/electronics sources for 1/2 the price - but I still have to talk myself out of buying more than $50 of tools, every time. But it can't be any weirder hobby than golf, right? :icon_scratch: Well OK but not much..?
We have had a few rosy-cheeked virgins come in here, and by being very careful and asking good questions, ended up with a very nice piece, but most people have at least swapped out some pickups or figured out basic setup needs. It's kind of hard for a person to make their ideal guitar if they haven't at least played a crappy one long enough to say "well I don't want THAT!" We can be a bit snarky - the "search" function works.... but solid questions will yield solid answers. Thankfully it's not rocket science - who needs a stupid rocket when there's guitars, right?
Tools, and your experience with them, always comes up early, but there are a lot of "transfer credits" - woodworking, jewelry, soldering, any little stuff in general. You do NOT need to go blast out the two or three or five hundred dollars that Stew-Mac would be happy to relieve you of, but eventually... whew. I joke that I read their catalog so I can figure out what I want, then make some myself and buy the rest from gunsmith/jewelry/woodworking/electronics sources for 1/2 the price - but I still have to talk myself out of buying more than $50 of tools, every time. But it can't be any weirder hobby than golf, right? :icon_scratch: Well OK but not much..?
Thanks for the information! I will watch the vids and check Amazon for the book.
I have built a few FX pedals and done minor setup (truss rod, intonation, etc) but nothing bigger.
The main reason to build a bass was to use the building aspect as a reason/justification/excuse for the wife and also to hide some of the costs by buying a few parts at a time. And I can bet that I am not the only one on this forum who has don that!!
Cheers - PRS
I have built a few FX pedals and done minor setup (truss rod, intonation, etc) but nothing bigger.
The main reason to build a bass was to use the building aspect as a reason/justification/excuse for the wife and also to hide some of the costs by buying a few parts at a time. And I can bet that I am not the only one on this forum who has don that!!
Cheers - PRS
Cagey
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prs said:
No, not by any stretch. Hell, I do it that way to fool myself! <grin>
I always figure that as long as I've got something to play, then I've got time. No hurry to buy parts at the wrong price. There's always somebody who has something that they don't need/want or is less important than money that you can get to further a project, as long as you're patient. Not that I haven't sent Warmoth many, many schekels, but they're not the only source of parts out there.
stratamania
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Welcome to the forum, I just completed my first Warmoth. I am very happy indeed with the results.
If you want to have a read of the experiences I went through while putting it together I made quite an extensive thread of the build process. There are some parts where on the next build I will be able to be more efficient due to lessons learnt along the way, but I think the best advise is to take your time and so on and work as methodically as possible.
Here's the link to my experiences, I had.
http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=22445.0
It's an immensely satisfying process and result.
If you want to have a read of the experiences I went through while putting it together I made quite an extensive thread of the build process. There are some parts where on the next build I will be able to be more efficient due to lessons learnt along the way, but I think the best advise is to take your time and so on and work as methodically as possible.
Here's the link to my experiences, I had.
http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=22445.0
It's an immensely satisfying process and result.
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