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NOTE: You should read the whole thing before starting. Commit it to memory, because my style of writing is erratic at best. Important things *may* be out of order a little.
edit: Read this 'ible too before starting. It's where I went wrong and how I've gone about fixing it. http://www.instructables.com/id/Miscellaneous-Guitar-Modifications/
So there I was last summer watching Scott Pilgrim, and I think, 'I really wanna play bass'. A few short months later I have one. Jump to present day, I'm getting greedy. I want another. I can't afford one of those shiny Rickenbacker deelies, so I set about building my own.
This bass took 'inspiration' from a number of versions of Rickenbackers. The head's that of a 4001c64 reissue, the skunk stripe down the middle was featured on 4001s from the early 70's onwards. Other things I just made up as I went along. The thing is, I've never actually seen a real one, so I just went from the pictures that looked the nicest. Now, in the interest of protecting RIC's IP, I'm not going to put up the CAD files I've made, nor am I going to tell you how to make them. The fact that my bass came out looking like a 4001 is entirely coincidence.
edit: Read this 'ible too before starting. It's where I went wrong and how I've gone about fixing it. http://www.instructables.com/id/Miscellaneous-Guitar-Modifications/
So there I was last summer watching Scott Pilgrim, and I think, 'I really wanna play bass'. A few short months later I have one. Jump to present day, I'm getting greedy. I want another. I can't afford one of those shiny Rickenbacker deelies, so I set about building my own.
This bass took 'inspiration' from a number of versions of Rickenbackers. The head's that of a 4001c64 reissue, the skunk stripe down the middle was featured on 4001s from the early 70's onwards. Other things I just made up as I went along. The thing is, I've never actually seen a real one, so I just went from the pictures that looked the nicest. Now, in the interest of protecting RIC's IP, I'm not going to put up the CAD files I've made, nor am I going to tell you how to make them. The fact that my bass came out looking like a 4001 is entirely coincidence.
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Signing UpStep 1Sourcing the Materials
You will need:
Wood:
A nice long hardwood plank, mine was cherry and around 1100x250x30.
Rosewood (for me, but you could use ebony or maple or something) for a fretboard, roughly 650x70x6.
A thin strip of walnut or something with a radically different colour for a skunk stripe (if you want one) the same length as your plank.
Stringy Stuff:
Machine heads, make sure they're already set up for how you want your head (2, 3, 4 a side), some models are non-interchangeable.
Bridge - I found a pretty nice Rickenbacker bridge going cheap
Decent strings - I was unsure how much tension it would be able to handle, so I've got some real light gauges on there.
Electronics:
Pickups - I made my own, but you can buy them pre-made. There's plenty of instructables on making them, so I'm not going to cover it.
Selector switch - obviously redundant of you only have one pickup.
Potentiometers - Logarithmic for volume, linear for tone. 500k ought to do it.
1/4in socket - Y'know, for plugging in and whatnot.
Capacitors - a 47nF ceramic for every tone pot.
Misc stuff:
Nut
Fret wire
Position markers (inlay)
Truss rod(s)
Truss rod cover
Pickguard, or plastic for a bespoke one
Screws
Jack plate (or you can go in the pickguard, doesn't matter really)
Paint - I used tinted nitrocellulose lacquer.
All of this I got from eBay, totaling around £250.
Wood:
A nice long hardwood plank, mine was cherry and around 1100x250x30.
Rosewood (for me, but you could use ebony or maple or something) for a fretboard, roughly 650x70x6.
A thin strip of walnut or something with a radically different colour for a skunk stripe (if you want one) the same length as your plank.
Stringy Stuff:
Machine heads, make sure they're already set up for how you want your head (2, 3, 4 a side), some models are non-interchangeable.
Bridge - I found a pretty nice Rickenbacker bridge going cheap
Decent strings - I was unsure how much tension it would be able to handle, so I've got some real light gauges on there.
Electronics:
Pickups - I made my own, but you can buy them pre-made. There's plenty of instructables on making them, so I'm not going to cover it.
Selector switch - obviously redundant of you only have one pickup.
Potentiometers - Logarithmic for volume, linear for tone. 500k ought to do it.
1/4in socket - Y'know, for plugging in and whatnot.
Capacitors - a 47nF ceramic for every tone pot.
Misc stuff:
Nut
Fret wire
Position markers (inlay)
Truss rod(s)
Truss rod cover
Pickguard, or plastic for a bespoke one
Screws
Jack plate (or you can go in the pickguard, doesn't matter really)
Paint - I used tinted nitrocellulose lacquer.
All of this I got from eBay, totaling around £250.
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Miscellaneous-Guitar-Modifications/
It didn't take all that long, about two months working on and off. After making a couple more guitars of different designs I can do them in about a fortnight now.
My next instructable (probably after christmas) is going to be on performing neck alterations, but most of it could be applied to making one from scratch so it might be worth a view.
I see you used a dual rail truss rod, I've only used singles (Gibson style because they are easy to make). What I was getting at is how is it for adjusting the neck?
Keep up the good work.
Thin bodied resonator? 12 strings? I am intrigued! Make sure you document it well, I made a solid body resonator hybrid and sadly did not document it well / take loadsa pictures before I sold it.
The only thing I could critisize is your heavy reliance on power tools instead of the old fashioned way (files, rasps, sanding paper, elbow grease) but that's just two different schools of thought.
Keep it up!
I think Geddy's Mom used to laugh when he would not put the bass down while she changed his diaper. Come to think of it...that guy is a genius...he may have skipped the diapers stage entirely! If Geddy won't sign it...ask Chris Squire. He left the fifthgrade to join YES(guys have been around a while!).
Enjoy your awesome bass!
Very cool.
Nah, it doesn't say Rickenbacker on the truss rod cover, because it's not. It's 'Impossible', and it's yet to see a final version, the text isn't even curved on this one (and it's just a bit of paper stuck to the back of some perspex).
My other question is are you happy with how the fretboard turned out? I've toyed around with the idea of trying a project like this and have always worried about how difficult it may be (and maybe it is not as bad as I've wondered) to really get all the frets in the right spots to make sure the thing is in tune with itself. I used to have a low end hondo guitar and you simply couldn't get it fully in tune which I chalked up to the fretboard not being precise enough. When I finally replaced it with a much better guitar the difference was *amazing*. So... if I bite of a project this size, I obviously would have great sound as a high priority.
Thanks again for the way cool instructable
The main issue with making fretboards isn't so much the position of the frets, they can be to the nearest millimetre, it's getting them level. A really nice long flat file would be ideal if you can't get it right with the radius block if you use one (which I'd recommend, they're only like £10), just to get rid of the buzz. If you do want tips on positioning them, the way I did it was I took the centrepoints of the two ends and joined them up with one long line, marked the positions on said line then used a square to get them all perpendicular.
I should really have put that in the instructable... Maybe I'll write one on fretboards in a couple of weeks.