BassMasterVI build project initial ideas

[theworkoffire]

So even though the BuickBlaster is still not finished I have been itching to make a start on another project, and tonight I was thinking about what it might be.
I thought for a while about something Marauder-like, which would be interesting, and may one day happen, but my Kilra Jag has enough chrome and switches to last a lifetime and seeing a Cure video the other day got me thinking about a BassVI.

But I don't want to just make a standard BassVI, and I'll be making the body and neck from scratch so I can pretty much do what I like, so I think it might be something like this:

Blonde with gold guard and clay dots taken from my Coreldraw working plans...



...or IBM B&B mocked up in pshop from the dressing room:



The body and pickguard are standard JM shape, obviously routed differently for the three pickups and the different bridge and trem positions. Neck is 30" scale, large headstock. Not sure about the switching yet and that depends on the pickups - Curtis Novak's new switchtastic JM pickup might well be an option.

Plastic pickguard would be easy enough but the gold one would cause me some headaches - I can cut it but I'll have to find somewhere to anodise it. There's a plating workshop down the road that I've used for getting stuff chromed before so I'll see what they can do.

I think I prefer the Blonde/Gold/Clay but I'm open to suggestions on this one. The neck will be easier but that's by-the-by (especially because of the pickguard).

I'll try to get a bridge plate from France if there are any left. Failing that I'll have a go at adapting a standard one.

I have a couple of questions:

Please can someone with a vintage BassVI give me an exact measurement for the distance between the edge of the nut and the centre of the bridge post holes, and also from the end of the neck to the bridge holes so I can get the position right. It should be 30 1/8" and 8 5/8" respectively but I'd love to know for sure.

Also, I know someone has put JM pickups in a BassVI before because I have a picture of one but I can't remember where it came from, so does anyone have any experience of this or any reasons as to why it might be a rubbish idea? I'm not dead set on the JM ones but I like the look of it.

Any thoughts/answers?

Thanks, Ben

[Stereordinary]

Great project idea, I like that you moved the bridge back instead of extending the neck out.  And Alfred (aka BassVIst on this forum and others) is the guy with the USACG Bass VI with Jazzy pickups.

I did a drawing of a 30"-scale conversion neck for Jazzmaster where the neck is extended out and it looks pretty good.  It has 24 frets though, so it's a little odd.  If I was building more than the neck I'd do it the way are, because that just looks really great!

[OffYourFace]

Also, I know someone has put JM pickups in a BassVI before because I have a picture of one but I can't remember where it came from, so does anyone have any experience of this or any reasons as to why it might be a rubbish idea? I'm not dead set on the JM ones but I like the look of it.

Curtis Novak made a Sherwood Bass VI w/ JM pickups...  there's a thread somewhere.  You should do it! 

[theworkoffire]

Great project idea, I like that you moved the bridge back instead of extending the neck out.  And Alfred (aka BassVIst on this forum and others) is the guy with the USACG Bass VI with Jazzy pickups.

I did a drawing of a 30"-scale conversion neck for Jazzmaster where the neck is extended out and it looks pretty good.  It has 24 frets though, so it's a little odd.  If I was building more than the neck I'd do it the way are, because that just looks really great!

Yeah, I had a look at it with a conversion neck but I don't like so many frets and I was concerned about the length of the thing - about 45 1/2" as opposed to 44" for the way I've got it here and 41" for a normal Jazzer. Plus I like having the extra room for the third pickup and I like how it all fits on the standard guard shape.

I remember now that the pics I have were of Curtis' one - I found it when I was looking for pics of Sherwood green for the BuickBlaster. I'll investigate further. That's heartening if both Curtis, off whom I'll probably source the pickups, and Alfred, whom I suspect knows a thing or two about Bass VIs, have both done them with JM pups. 

[theworkoffire]

I contacted Chris Huort about the bridge bases and he says he has just the bases in stock at the moment but by the end of February he should have complete bridge assemblies ready to go. Fantastic news.

I've ditched the IBM B&B idea already and I'm pretty determined to go ahead with the gold guard plan. Today I ordered a sheet of 1.5mm aluminium big enough to make two guards so I can be cracking on with that while I'm waiting for the weather and the house to clear up. There are a couple of places near me that can do gold anodising so once I've got them cut I'll contact them with some images to see what kind of colour match I can get. If by some fluke the first attempt works out OK I'll have a spare JM guard I can rout however I like so if anyone wants to share some costs and get a custom gold guard...

Next step really is to find a big enough ash body blank and a quarter-sawn neck blank, fretboard, frets, truss rod, tuners (which ones? was that ever resolved on that other thread?), trem... Oh yeah, pickups might be useful too...

[bulrich]

I'd hit up tommy at USACG for the wood. He can rough cut the body or sell it unrouted whichever you like.
As for tuners reissue Kluson style will work but only with strings made for the VI.
I just got a control plate from Gecko which looks great.

[Stereordinary]

I just got a control plate from Gecko which looks great.

I think you must have gotten one of the Frenchman control plates.  If I'm not mistaken, Gecko posts on this forum as thewizardofaz, and he's become the official American connection for the Frenchman's VI parts.

[Green angel]

Great idea!!!

[theworkoffire]

I'd hit up tommy at USACG for the wood. He can rough cut the body or sell it unrouted whichever you like.
As for tuners reissue Kluson style will work but only with strings made for the VI.
I just got a control plate from Gecko which looks great.

I just need a decent chunk of ash in the UK - I'll do all the woodwork myself same as with my sherwood project - index.php?topic=7322.0.

Thanks for the tip on the Klusons - I couldn't remember whether anyone knew of a source for the ones with the wider slots but I guess not.

No control plates for this one, just a slab of aluminium 

[bulrich]

Yes I got my plate from Wizard, he distributes the parts and made an amazing VI replica himself!

[Stereordinary]

That he did!

[theworkoffire]

Stole a few minutes in the workshop yesterday to see if my router could handle making aluminium guards:



No bother. I set the speed as slow as it could go but it still made short work of it, which was really encouraging.  I put some layers of tape around the neck pocket area to leave it slightly proud so I can trim it exactly when it's on the body. I need to make a new template for the three-pickup arrangement and work out what I'm doing with the controls next. Anyone have good experiences of rotary switches with three pickups? I'm hoping for something like a six-position switch to cover the normal pickup options and neck&bridge then maybe adapting the top circuit to give all three pickups in series.

Any other ideas?

[the older brother]

Great project! (sorry late into this, but I've had my ass full of house restoration since xmas...).

The rotary options seem great - also with the rythm circuit as a "boosted-all-in-series"-option is great!

There are a lot of different rotarys out there - While hunting the "right" one for my JM deluxe I saw one with the end position that was momentary....could be fun....

I should recomend going with a higher quality one instead of those Alpha - I've tried one and they are very "loose" in the positions (a small amount of force needed to change position, that will say).

[theworkoffire]

Great project! (sorry late into this, but I've had my ass full of house restoration since xmas...).

The rotary options seem great - also with the rythm circuit as a "boosted-all-in-series"-option is great!

There are a lot of different rotarys out there - While hunting the "right" one for my JM deluxe I saw one with the end position that was momentary....could be fun....

I should recomend going with a higher quality one instead of those Alpha - I've tried one and they are very "loose" in the positions (a small amount of force needed to change position, that will say).

Point taken - I definitely want a good solid "CLACK". I'll have to do some hunting.

What could I use that momentary end position for??? Maybe to light some LEDs in my dot markers - no-one will be expecting that.

Edit: 

[Superfuzz]

Great project! (sorry late into this, but I've had my ass full of house restoration since xmas...).

The rotary options seem great - also with the rythm circuit as a "boosted-all-in-series"-option is great!

There are a lot of different rotarys out there - While hunting the "right" one for my JM deluxe I saw one with the end position that was momentary....could be fun....

I should recomend going with a higher quality one instead of those Alpha - I've tried one and they are very "loose" in the positions (a small amount of force needed to change position, that will say).

You could use it like a kill switch for making weird feedbacks...

Point taken - I definitely want a good solid "CLACK". I'll have to do some hunting.

What could I use that momentary end position for??? Maybe to light some LEDs in my dot markers - no-one will be expecting that.