It's safe to say you've reached a strange point in your life when excitedly, you turn to your wife and say, "you know what, I'm gonna create google spreadsheets and track my expenses and time on this project." Who's that guy? Research time is a bit "nebulous," but 29 hours into this project (9 hours build time) I would say things are going pretty OK. I mean check it out, you're looking at a bass:
Just a few more cuts and some shaping… and that's it.
Upright basses are made by master luthiers, working off centuries of tradition and that can be pretty intimidating. I don't have those kind of chops, so I'm trying to stick to that cigar box guitar mentality of using what's available and making it work. Above, your looking at mahogany for the neck which I bought last year for my birthday, aromatic cedar for the top and back and reclaimed pine for the sides (left in the garage by the previous home owners). All in all its not that scrappy of a lumber selection although it is pretty atypical for an upright bass. But this isn't exactly an upright bass, it's an electric upright, in fact I might call it a 3/4 condensed bass.
The 3/4 condensed bass isn't too snappy of a name, but after gluing together the 2 layers of my sides I think I might have something with a bit more pizazz: My Rocket 88. Seems like a good name for rock 'n' roll bass given that Rocket 88 is often credited as the first, or one of the first rock 'n' roll songs ever recorded.
I'm still sketching away on the details, but the build is underway—let's see what happens…
Just a few more cuts and some shaping… and that's it.
Upright basses are made by master luthiers, working off centuries of tradition and that can be pretty intimidating. I don't have those kind of chops, so I'm trying to stick to that cigar box guitar mentality of using what's available and making it work. Above, your looking at mahogany for the neck which I bought last year for my birthday, aromatic cedar for the top and back and reclaimed pine for the sides (left in the garage by the previous home owners). All in all its not that scrappy of a lumber selection although it is pretty atypical for an upright bass. But this isn't exactly an upright bass, it's an electric upright, in fact I might call it a 3/4 condensed bass.
The 3/4 condensed bass isn't too snappy of a name, but after gluing together the 2 layers of my sides I think I might have something with a bit more pizazz: My Rocket 88. Seems like a good name for rock 'n' roll bass given that Rocket 88 is often credited as the first, or one of the first rock 'n' roll songs ever recorded.
I'm still sketching away on the details, but the build is underway—let's see what happens…
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