Custom Bass

[Volgon]

The story begins in a small semi-soundproof room in the magical land of California, where a young bassist begins to annoy everyone in his band with an unusual buzzing noise. It is determined that a new bass should be purchased because the current one is very cheap and bad. That bassist then decides to attempt to build the most epic bass of all time.



So anyway, I thought, "maybe I should document this in some way. Hey, there have been random builds on 405th before, why not another!"

That's why I am here. I already have basic woodcraft skill as well as minor electronics background. I have found the raw materials required for the build and have started placing orders. My next step is design. I am thinking, rather than have a generic curvy/pointy guitar/bass shape, make it something people will see and go "oh hey, its _______!"



I am thinking either have the body be the logo from Gurren Lagann (first pic), or an energy sword (example in second pic).

 

[AlexSpartan177]

You should totally go for the ENERGY SWORD!!!

OR

you could make a BANHAMMER :lol

 

[Brandon McClain]

Energy sword has my vote. Have you thought about maybe a scaled down version of a grav hammer??

 

[Volgon]

Energy sword is simpler than a hammer-bass (I might be decent with wood, but I'm not THAT good).



Also, I am starting to think why not just make both? One will make the otaku in me happy, and the other will make the gamer-geek in me happy! plus then if I screw up one, I will always have the other.

 

[ZacicVolkshed]

energy sword FTW

 

[MikyVengeance]

oh man, this is a really awesome idea!

you should totally do the energy sword bass!

it'll be one of the epic bass' you see on Google Images

 

[Podthegod]

that sounds awesome, good luck :lol

 

[stilgarhammer]

Hello All,

This is a great idea, something different, and vary cool.



Stilgar

 

[ACDCrockr209]

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade here, but the Energy sword bass is the least do-able between the two concepts you are going for.



I don't know how you're going to add the tone and volume knobs to that. The sword material is way to thin and far apart from the neck that there will be a big chance that the cables will be exposed.



The sword's handle is going to be a problem. It's way too curved to hold the strings stright.



Tuners like that aren't really necessary if you're going to be playing it.





So, if you want a bass that will be playable you're going to have to compromise on some things like this:



* Make a thicker blade if you're going to add knobs and such.



* Flatten out the blade handle to you don't have a curved string that would make playing it a nightmare.



* Stick with the normal tuners. They would work much better than those dinky ball ones.





If you have the money to make this(trust me, you're going to need the good stuff, which is pricey!), go for it, but just remember, this is probably going to be a decoration guitar and not a full working one unless you compromise on some things.





Good luck!



-Pony

 

[Whitelog]

http://www.carvin.com/images/product/NT41.jpg



If I where you I would start with this and build the sword around it.

 

[mchammertime]

I agree with Pony

 

[stilgarhammer]

Hello All,



Many years ago I did a custom guitar for a friend, it was thin about 1 inch thick, at the time they where new but I used a couple IC chips called digital pots. link to Datasheet of 1 chip, It used 2 buttons for each pot (up/down). Only draw back was it needed 6 volts to work, in addition to the pots we added digital pickup switches, and small preAmp.



Stilgar

 

[Volgon]

Just a reminder, I am not planning to build the energy sword EXACTLY like the image. That is just a reference for the idea.

 

[KrovikanCorvinus]

The energy sword design WOULD be do-able exactly like in the pic, but the tone an volume dials would have to be in the 'sword handle', as for the curved handle being a challenge as far as strings are concerned, you could always place a piece of wood stood straight up where the end of the handle is to make sure they are all level. I see no problems as far as this plan goes. Pm me if you would like a picture showing what I would do. Otherwise, good luck!