Jason's 5-string fretless bass

[Jason Rodgers]

Hello, Forumites. I present to you my second completed instrument. This past month, my oldest friend of 25 years got married (we went to high school and college together, were in rock bands together, he was my best man, I was his best man). For as long as I've been messing around with the idea of guitar building, I've always told him, "One of these days, man, I'm gonna build you a bass!" And now, I finally have!

Apparently, I work well under deadlines, because although I started thinking about this project a year ago, I only began construction in May and finished... midnight the night before we flew out on June 18! Actually, this is the second attempt: the first body and neck, started in January, had some issues that I didn't want to spend time fixing, so I just started over.

Details:
Body
- Walnut cap- I got a gorgeous stash of walnut from an estate sale. It was probably a street tree, rough milled on site, drying for 10-20 years in the basement.
- Doug fir body core, chambered
Neck
- Flamed maple and cherry bolt on
- Walnut for the fingerboard, with maple veneer fret markers. Multi-scale, 34" to 35".
- More walnut for the headstock cap
Hardware
- Generic tuning machines
- Generic single string bridges
Electronics
- Custom humbucking pickups (more below) in walnut and Doug fir covers
- Bourns 500k volume and tone (.22uf cap)
- Blend pot

Ok, now for some pics...

[Jason Rodgers]

Top and back, ready for glue up. Fish glue was used throughout. I've glued up a couple bodies in a vacuum bag, and I'm happy with the results.

The neck has two 1/4" CF tubes and a 3/16" threaded truss rod in a shallow curved slot. This is the topic of my thread "When the truss rod doesn't do its job." My friend has been playing the bass for a few weeks now, and he's only had good things to say about it, so this may not be an issue. If it is (he lives in Minnesota, land of wildly swinging humidity), I have a plan to fix it.

Here's a new jig that I'm rather proud of. I got the idea for this adjustable fret slotting saw in a recent thread here (that I think was linked to the ANZLF). It works really well: lightly glue on a fretfind2d template, line up the saw, lock down the clamps, saw until the depth stop hits, repeat. The guide has neo magnets to keep the blade on track. No radius on the fretboard, by the way.

Here's another jig I love, my Myka neck pocket jig. It takes a little work to get it set up, but the resulting pocket is a perfect fit.

[Jason Rodgers]

Ok, I'll skip some of the minutiae: on with the glamour shots! I didn't have time to take pictures at home, so these are taken in the hotel room, just hours before I presented it to him!

Everything was finished with a splash coat of Zinnser's sealer shellac and about 5 coats of Formby's tung oil. The fretboard got a thin CA treatment to harden it up a bit.

[Jason Rodgers]

One more shot, of me holding the bass, to get an idea of scale and positioning. I'm happy with the balance. Fretless multi-scale might seem like a nightmare, but with only an inch difference, and the perpendicular fret at the 12th, there isn't that much splay. Harry Fleishman does this with much more difference in scales, and he told me it's doable.

[Jason Rodgers]

Here's a little more on the electronics, for those who are interested in pickup construction.

The cores of these pickups are made with laminate steel, taken from a softball-sized transformer. Each core has 3 layers, but that's only about 1/16"! The flatwork is just popsicle sticks glued on!

I pot coils in wax, in an old crockpot.

And here I'm wiring them up. If I remember correctly (don't have my notes on hand), the neck coils each got 4500 turns of 43awg, which brought it up to about 9k or so. The bridge coils each got 5000 turns of 43awg, for somewhere in the neighborhood of 10k total. Those are 1/8"x1/8"x1" neodymium magnets on the bottom of each coil. The hookup wire is USB cable. Great stuff: black, white, red, and green leads, with a foil shield and braided ground. I'm a little bummed that I didn't take any pictures of the pickup covers, because they were beautiful! Walnut boxes with Doug fir caps (the opposite of the body!).

I'm getting better at soldering! The cavity was shielded with aluminum foil tape. The control cover is 1/8" ABS sheet.

Thanks for looking! I'm happy to answer any questions.

[Eric Baack]

ahh yes, the control template on the cardboard. I like doing that one too

[Gordon Bellerose]

Nice work Jason! I really like the look of the walnut, and the maple/cherry combo works well also.

Good score on the walnut.

[Hans Bezemer]

That's a cool bass you've build Jason!
I was wondering why did you choose for just an inch of difference between the two scalelengths?
To put a little more tension on the low B string?

[Jason Rodgers]

Yes, Eric, it means no sloppy solder falling into the cavity, or the edge of the body (don't ask me how I know this).

Gordon, I am ecstatic about this walnut. Frick-ing gor-geous. Such variation in color! I have a neighborhood woodworker friend (retired cabinet builder) who is going to help me resaw the rest into drop/carve top sets on his 20" Rockwell. I should get another 5-7 guitars or more, if I slice it right.

Thanks, Hans! Utilizing the multi-scale fingerboard is something I've decided to feature in my work. Yes, the 35" on the bass side (that sounds funny to say on a bass guitar) gives a little more tension, without a wide difference in scales to make playing fretless any more challenging.

[Dan Hehnke]

Nice! Looks comfy to play, and I dig the pickups. I love working with walnut as well.

[Chuck Tweedy]

Awesome job Jason!
You have a lucky friend, that is a very special gift for sure.

[Peter Wilcox]

That's a beautiful bass, Jason - you've done a wonderful job. You are indeed a friend!

[Jason Rodgers]

Thank you, Chuck and Peter. I don't know if I want to get in the habit of giving away too many instruments... it's expensive! Maybe if I can sell one or two along the way, it will provide some funds for gift projects. I don't really need to "pay myself" right now, just pay for components. Anyhoo, this was a special gift for a special friend. This is his second marriage, and it marks a new chapter for him after a dark time.

[Jim Bonnell]

Man Jason that looks great. I wish you had got some pickup cover pictures too. I like the popsicle stick pickups. You do a fine job of repurposing.

[Jason Rodgers]

Thanks, Jim! There are some parts of this thing that I'm just tickled with their success, and the pickup covers are one. Unfortunately, I didn't get much time to play it plugged in, or through any sort of real bass rig, but my friend says he likes the tones he's getting. Heck, these pickups were another shot in the dark, but I've proven to myself twice now I can build functioning pickups from scratch. The next batch have conventional components, and I hope to have them in guitars soon. Watching your thread on staining curly maple!

[David King]

Jason, I'm glad you had enough time to start over and the end result is stunning once again. Wish I could have heard it.

[Jason Rodgers]

Mr. King! You've been absent, and a mutual friend said you'd be back on the 2nd, so here you are on the 3rd catching up. Welcome home!

[David King]

Home is where the mess is. <g>