How to create an electric bass guitar via wood lamination and other various woodcrafting techniques

This is an in depth guide for the daring woodcrafting artisan that will explain how to create your own electric bass guitar using various techniques used in wood crafting. This guide will enable you to go through a practice run first, to enable you to understand what is required as far as craftsmanship and application of techniques when creating an electric bass guitar.

"Wiser the man who learns through experience than the man who believes just word."

In other words this guide will first give you an opportunity to practice making the various parts of an electric bass guitar so that you may gain insight and a bit of experience before crafting your final version. Making a fine electric stringed instrument is an intricate and delicate craft to learn so do not enter into this guide thinking that you will reach perfection with your instrument right away.

Practice will be important and this guide will follow the experience that I had while learning the process required to create an electric bass guitar. I have devoted much of my time recently to discovering the art of this craft and I hope that if you choose to follow this guide that you will discover this also!!

So continue on if you feel that you are up to this challenge, and you will see what a little science and imagination can do........

Step 1: TOOLS REQUIRED:

To create an electric bass guitar you will need to utilize many different types of tools. These tools will range from simple hand tools, to electric hand tools, to larger more high powered ones.

Tools that you will need:

Hand tools:

• Hand Planner
• Wood Carving Chisel (optional but very helpful at times)
• Different sizes of Files and Rasps
• A set of screw drivers
• Ruler
• T-Bar
• Fine precision saw

Electric and power tools:

• Router and various bits.
• Electric drill
• Jigsaw
• Belt sander
• Orbital sander
• Saw-z-all
• Dremel

High power machinery:

• Reciprocating Saw ( A smaller blade about 3/8th" and a larger 1/2" blade)
• Band Saw
• Drill Press
• Table Saw (Optional, mine has a dead motor)

*These tools will make crafting the building supplies necessary for building a bass guitar much easier. If you do not have all of these tools do your best with what you have in your workshop, but remember to always use safety when using electric machinery.

Comments

[engelbertsweeny]

...i ME GUSTA padauk...very nice...is it a tonewood though?

[freeza36]

thats a very unique instrument

[TBplayer95]

How long did it take you to make the body, neck and head? and to get it all together

[wgholson]

man that bass looks *ahem* grreaaat.... guess that's what practice is for...

[JuxtaposedIToldYouSo]

"Yes, indeed that is why practice is important."

[Advocat]

Could you put in a hard disk drive to drive the pickup/s combination?

[JuxtaposedIToldYouSo]

Try it out, I like the way you think!

[Advocat]

In Step 13 picture 4, you have a load of clamps. Are they made by you?
It looks like they would be good to make an instructable with too.
It looks like 2 flat blocks of hardwood, 2 long screw things of metal, 4 bolts that could sit in the wood.
1 or 2 handles to turn the metal screw things. And what else?

By the way, incredible instructable. I want to make a body with many holes in it, not just for carrying it, and thought maybe I could cut out all the knots, if I had a knotted body bit. The neck would be easier with all those clamps though.

[JuxtaposedIToldYouSo]

They are made by a company called Jorgenson; I think it's Swiss. I bet you could make your own pair though as long as you find a strong piece of hardwood.

[Junkyardmaster14]

can i use palochina wood for the neck?

[JuxtaposedIToldYouSo]

I am unfamiliar with Palochina wood. I suppose check out the physical properties of the wood including its tonal qualities. If it seems strong and solid enough, and without knots then I suppose it would be a good wood to use. You will want to make sure that the soundwill remain at a constant from the top to the bridge of the scale. If the sound is inhibited in any way from sending its wave through length of the neck and into the body than you will produce a possibly undesirable resonance.

[LkArio]

That's really nice. But you shouldn't write in caps. It's like yelling and not pleasant to the eyes.
Cool design

[sirsnailswigbee]

Great instructable, thank you.  A few details were left out that I would  like to know.  Frets for instance, but it seems like you haven't gotten that far yet so I can't knock you for that.   Overall I love it.  I learned a few things that I didn't know from other research.  I'm planning on making my own bass body, but I'm still a little intimidated by making the neck so I think I'll just order a neck blank so I can design the head.  Anyways, thanks a lot.  I hope to see more from you.

[multisync]

I wish I could see more of the wiring. And also, if you or someone could make an instructable on making the frets

[JuxtaposedIToldYouSo]

I didn't cover the details of the wiring because it will all depend on what pickups or pickup combination you use. This is the diagram for the pickup I used for this project. As far as the frets go, when I get them in the mail I will be sure to add them to the follow up guide that is in the works about adding finishing touches to a bass guitar.

[multisync]

That sounds great!

[JuxtaposedIToldYouSo]

I just wanted to add this picture. Stay tuned for the guide on how to finish and touch up your custom built bass guitar. It should answer any questions that were left unanswered.

[dchall8]

Although this is detailed as far as it goes, it is incomplete. As for what I liked, I really like the idea of making a prototype first. That should be done any time you make something that has real value. Unfortunately with this Instructable, you are going to need it to fill in the missing detail. This Instructable has too many grammatical and spelling errors as well as out of focus pictures and unexplained pictures to justify the "featured" label. My first inclination was to downgrade it simply for typing in all caps. The caps disappeared but my inclination was confirmed along the way with numerous other errors that make it hard to read. Furthermore it does not have enough detail in the electronics to make any kind of guitar. The design of the bridge is clever but has a few flaws that any electric guitar player should recognize. I think the author has all the knowledge to make this a great Instructable. I would love to see it cleaned up. He has taken much of the mystery out of guitar making but there are a few tricks he hasn't covered well enough. Maybe the electronics part should be taken out of this Instructable and a second Instructable made that specialized in wiring an electric guitar.

[JuxtaposedIToldYouSo]

I took your advice and changed the body through string setup. I created slots for the strings in a piece of brass that has the saddles mounted on. I actually got it tuned much better than I had had it before. Thanks for your help in pointing out that problem in the bridge design.

[Sam the Wizer]

Very cool. I built a guitar from a kit that sounds great. I'm tempted to tackle a full bass from scratch for one of my next projects, and seeing this made me think it's not beyond my abilities. Are you leaving it fretless?

[kinsaleaway]

Good detail/images. Liked the Padauk wood. Never heard of it before but it looks good laminated on the bass.

[Schwarzwald]

Even though it looks a little rough around the edges its still a detailed guide to making a bass. I'm guessing the 'ugly' factor is because it isn't polished up, but I don't think that custom decorations are necessary for this guide. Anyways, quite extensive for one of your first instructibles. I look forward to see what else you can make along the way.

[mg0930mg]

It looks odd, yes, but I will definitely have to try this out. Thank you.

[Sandisk1duo]

looks a little.... ugly

but better then i can do _{especially because i don't have half of the tools required to do the job}