Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein (new pickups pg.4)

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.

Rock as is or refinish?

Rock as is
19
73%
Refinish
3
12%
Lace fake paisley
4
15%
 
Total votes: 26

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Zork
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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by Zork » Thu Nov 05, 2020 11:16 pm

While the world thinks about Pennsylvania, I think about pickguard shapes:

Image

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HarlowTheFish
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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by HarlowTheFish » Fri Nov 06, 2020 12:20 am

Zork wrote:
Thu Nov 05, 2020 11:16 pm
While the world thinks about Pennsylvania, I think about pickguard shapes:

Image
I think the world would very much like to stop thinking about Penn and Penn would like the world would stop thinking about them, to be honest.

That inner line you have there looks a bit more P-bass-ish, the outer one (on the bottom) is a bit more offset-ish. I'd go for the inner line personally, but either way it's gonna look sweet.

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hexes
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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by hexes » Fri Nov 06, 2020 8:17 pm

i like the line on the top horn. the bottom line looks good, but to me leaves too much down in the bottom right, unbalancing it.

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bodhi
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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by bodhi » Sat Nov 07, 2020 12:58 am

Actually, doesn't look bad with some white on it as light decoration... Wouldn't go overboard with it, but kind of fits in :)
Jazzmaster project (got a body, placeholder neck, some pickups and ideas)
Tokai Telecaster Thinline with Creamery Pickups Filtertron and Tapped Tele
Blake Mills-inspired Strat project w/ Gold Foil and slide pickup

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by HarlowTheFish » Sat Nov 07, 2020 1:19 am

bodhi wrote:
Sat Nov 07, 2020 12:58 am
Actually, doesn't look bad with some white on it as light decoration... Wouldn't go overboard with it, but kind of fits in :)
I'll second this - something this bright red would look killer with a white racing stripe or some subtle white pinstriping on the pickguard.

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Zork
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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by Zork » Sat Nov 07, 2020 1:50 am

Yes, exactly my thoughts. Let's see how I can do it.

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by Zork » Sun Nov 08, 2020 10:44 pm

Final version of the pickguard shape:

Image

I experimented with a thin line around the edges of the guard. It looks great, but the markers I have are too bright white. I might go with a golden marker.

The Tru Oil finish on the neck is also coming along great. If only my package with the electronic parts would surface somewhere! :fp:

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by Zork » Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:48 am

It's nearly finished:

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The DG Trem is super smooth, has a much wider range than the Squier trem and stays in tune very, very good. It's so good that I consider buying the Jazzmaster variant for the Squier VI. The Wilkinson bridge works good, but I didn't do real intonation work yet. It's close enough for the moment.

The Pit Bull neck is also very satisfying. It's wider than the Squier and more of a U profile, pretty beefy, but very comfortable.

Now I'm waiting for the electronic parts. The package is lost in the mail, but the seller (musikding.de) is a cool dude and sent my order again. It should arrive in the next few days.

I'm reeeeeally looking forward to solder this thing together as it plays and sounds much, much better than I would have hoped for. Very loud and clear, lots of overtones, strong sustain.

Oh, and the strap is super nice. Got it from Reverb, Pardo Guitar Straps in spain. Nice dude, fast shipping, excellent quality and cool vintage designs.

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by countertext » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:18 pm

Jeez, looks amazing. Good job!

Edit to add: the headstock is the best part.

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by antisymmetric » Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:57 pm

Very cool, and quite inspiring also. It's making me look in a new way at some of the stuff I have lying around. :ph34r:
Watching the corners turn corners

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by MattK » Thu Nov 19, 2020 12:43 am

ooooweeee that's AWESOME, great job!

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by Zork » Thu Nov 19, 2020 1:51 pm

Thank you guys. I can't put it down, it's so much fun to play and it doesn't even have an output jack yet. The neck is just awesome.

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by Sythi » Mon Nov 23, 2020 12:18 pm

VERY nice!!
I have had for ages an old Hohner body from a 30'' bass. A Bass VI would actually be a great project and I happen to have Egmond pickups also lying around.
Also (!), I have been very interested in the DG tremoloes. It's actually how I came across your project. I'd be very interested to see a picture of the cavity you had to rout for the Horseshoe model and have your feedback on how it actually works. I'd like to use the so-called 'shorty' version on another project but I'm not sure how much I'd need to rout and there is no information handy about that from Göldo... Other than the JM/Jaguar model and - of course - your project, I couldn't find pictures of those installed on an instrument... Concretely, I wonder if the plate hinges down to the body level or if it would be safe to rout a smaller cavity that would stay fully hidden by the trem plate itself?
Thanks and congratulations for your project!

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon Nov 23, 2020 8:28 pm

That's amazing looking!! I love the little details!
Pickup Switching Mad Scientist
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384

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Re: Musima Elektra Bass VI Frankenstein Project

Post by epizootics » Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:08 pm

Dang, that's bloody amazing!
As others have said, the hand-painted headstock looks great. Same with the pickguard and, uh, the whole thing, really :)

It's hard to tell from the pictures of that Gôldo trem, but it seems it uses pivot screws at a 90 degree angle with the bent portion of the top plate? In any case it looks great. The only Göldo unit I've used so far as a Les Trem II coupled with a Staytrem bridge and it was a fine piece of machinery. Everything I'd ever wanted a Bigsby to do but better than any modern Bigsbies I'd tried.

Looking forward to seeing it completed :)

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