I just spent 2 hours watching ep1-4, better than 99% of what's on Netflix. Cracking adventure, and here's to another 50 years of that lovely old bass. Thank you! (Ps I think the original white board just worked with the wood imho. Looking forward to a future update sir)
Since I never got pickups with mine and elected to single p/u at the bridge, I considered routing the neck pocket 15mm further towards the bridge and rebuilding the neck 15mm longer to eliminate that slot and 6 bolting it. Still an option though.
That does indeed sound like an upright; that and a fat neck sound like a musical combination to me. Best wishes for neck stability. Once again struck by the tangible infusion of love, transforming the instrument!
Thanks, and indeed the connection between a fat neck and an upright tone is going to appeal to many. It's also worth noting that of course upright basses have huge necks, that's got to be a component of the sound in some way.
I dunno Geoff, I'm not a fan of pickguards and I hate tort, but that red tort pickguard really brings out the color in the body wood. I think I'd leave it alone, it works here. 😎
If it's just visual appeal we're talking about then the true test will be tonight when I take to a gig for the first time. Stage lighting is a whole other context to evaluate a design's merits, very different to the bright lighting in the studio. We'll be streaming it on the band's facebook page: Sign Of The Firebird, we start at 8pm NZ time, just over three hours from when I'm typing this. Then we'll see how good my intonation really is...🤣
I have a fun video idea for you if you are ever interested, I did it a few years ago and it turned out pretty well. I converted a normal electric guitar, (it was a cheap old Squire I never used), into a fretless short scale six string electric bass. I did a horrible job doing it but it still turned out pretty good and played surprisingly well, and I was kind of curious how it would turn out if done properly. Just an idea I wanted to throw out to you. Either way it's been fun to watch how many Frankenstein basses you have been assembling! I suppose you have a truly unique collection from it. I love these videos! They're definitely the best part of my day whenever I watch them! Thanks for making them!
I've actually gone the opposite, I have a 3/4 size P Bass copy with the exact same scale as a strat. Bass strings just flop about and become untunable at those lengths but I strung it with some heavy guage guitar strings and it was my main recording guitar for ages until I got a bit more serious about actually playing guitar properly (which I still don't really). I'm quite interested in getting/building a Bass VI though, I feel they have a lot of untapped potential.
@@fanbladeinstruments I've never heard of that one before, but that sounds really interesting. It kind of sounds nice, I find guitars to be a bit small for my fingers at times, especially after playing bass.
Love watching all these bass builds that you do (Y) Got some projects laying around myself that I hope to get to later this year and this is very inspiring :)
It looks and sounds great ! I might have done the neck / pick up a bit different . Cut all the material to the lowest routed point of the original , glue in and shape new heel piece . Then cut out just the new pick up clearance . 're drill neck screw holes into new top slice of glued in heel. No way of knowing if this would make any difference and chances are yours will be fine . Peace and love brother 👍🏻☮❤🏀
Hey man, great video. I'm curious tho, as I heard you talk about it and saw some comments, but still wanna make sure - how "bad" is the original neck joint on these japanese copies? I've had an Aria Pro II (bolt on) and a Fernandes (ntb) and while the Aria just felt "scary" to play due to the thin joint under the pickguard, it was the Fernandes thar had a completely warped/twisted neck, which was juuust unplayable. Ad rem, do you consider these bolt on thin neck joints problematic to the instrument as it is, vanilla? Should I prepare to glue in a block for extra security and just agree to ditch the front pickup if I want it to last? Would love to hear your thoughts, cheers!
In my experience the older Japanese instruments (if they're gonna have a neck issue) either suffer from stuck truss rods or other neck warping problems. I wouldn't say the neck joint would fail as per the factory design, but my removal of more wood is definitely not ideal. It's a weird gamble you take with a bass like this, for years they had a reputation of being rubbish and many were, but as years go by all the bad ones have completely fallen to pieces or warped irreparably, and as more time goes by the overall risk of buying a bad one goes down. Essentially, if it was going to fail it would've done it by now.
@@fanbladeinstruments thanks for the answer mate. I think I agree, but still, the question in my head reamins whether it makes sense to sink 700usd into one of these, or try to save up another 700 for a real rick. I appreciate the feedback tho!
Ahh yes, I forget that other countries can get real Ricks much cheaper than they are in NZ, given the choice I'd go the real one 100% of the time. There's currently one single Rickenbacker for sale here for NZD$5000. I got super lucky when I got mine for NZD$3000 and I expect there'll never be another one at that price. If you can get one for USD$1400 (NZD$2200) then absolutely that's the best choice. Good luck.
If the neck pickup rout in the neck becomes a problem, could you remove some material from the neck pocket and then add that amount of material to the bottom of the neck instead?
Fantastic idea, that's a definite option if I have to. It's been on there for a few days now and it seems to be holding so I'm hoping it'll not be a problem. As I was doing the final edit just now I realised that I never sealed the wood after carving the space, and I don't know if I trust the shielding tape to be fully waterproof... I'm monitoring it closely for any signs of it shifting but it seems to be good.
Congrats on the conversion! I personally believe the original truss rod cover would be better (the red in the headstock looks weird to me, but the red in the body looks great in my opinion). Also: do you plan on making a tour through your twin fretted/fretless basses? It would be interesting to know the specs of each pair and how each sounds against its "twin".
Sadly the comparisons wouldn't be totally valid, each pair has different necks, woods, pickups, etc. I'm planning on doing a couple of scratch builds with everything matching as much as possible, that would actually throw up some interesting and useful info.
Yes, I'm thinking about putting some lighter guage strings on it, it's a bit of a beast to play so lower tension could solve both those issues. I'm just going to monitor it for a while and see if the strings play in and if any other issues develop. I haven't even plugged it into my main gigging amp yet, I'll take it to the show on Saturday and get to take it for a real jam and see how it holds up.
It's a shame that you just didn't place the neck pickup in the original location (not slanted), chances are it would have fit with no wood being removed. Whats done is done...
The best part for me it's what you did with the fretboard and super glue.
I would never imagine that was possible.
I just spent 2 hours watching ep1-4, better than 99% of what's on Netflix. Cracking adventure, and here's to another 50 years of that lovely old bass.
Thank you!
(Ps I think the original white board just worked with the wood imho. Looking forward to a future update sir)
Since I never got pickups with mine and elected to single p/u at the bridge, I considered routing the neck pocket 15mm further towards the bridge and rebuilding the neck 15mm longer to eliminate that slot and 6 bolting it. Still an option though.
Really nice sounding bass at the end of all that. Well done
That does indeed sound like an upright; that and a fat neck sound like a musical combination to me. Best wishes for neck stability.
Once again struck by the tangible infusion of love, transforming the instrument!
Thanks, and indeed the connection between a fat neck and an upright tone is going to appeal to many. It's also worth noting that of course upright basses have huge necks, that's got to be a component of the sound in some way.
I agree it sounds a bit like an upright at times. That's pretty cool!
Beautiful bass, i was thinking about the 50s p-bass pickups too. Never would’ve imagined it would be that difficult haha
I cringed at the neck joint, but you got away with it. It sounds very good indeed.
I dunno Geoff, I'm not a fan of pickguards and I hate tort, but that red tort pickguard really brings out the color in the body wood. I think I'd leave it alone, it works here. 😎
If it's just visual appeal we're talking about then the true test will be tonight when I take to a gig for the first time. Stage lighting is a whole other context to evaluate a design's merits, very different to the bright lighting in the studio. We'll be streaming it on the band's facebook page: Sign Of The Firebird, we start at 8pm NZ time, just over three hours from when I'm typing this. Then we'll see how good my intonation really is...🤣
I thimk; You should put 'Fanblade' on the trussros cover!!
I have a fun video idea for you if you are ever interested, I did it a few years ago and it turned out pretty well. I converted a normal electric guitar, (it was a cheap old Squire I never used), into a fretless short scale six string electric bass. I did a horrible job doing it but it still turned out pretty good and played surprisingly well, and I was kind of curious how it would turn out if done properly. Just an idea I wanted to throw out to you.
Either way it's been fun to watch how many Frankenstein basses you have been assembling! I suppose you have a truly unique collection from it. I love these videos! They're definitely the best part of my day whenever I watch them! Thanks for making them!
I've actually gone the opposite, I have a 3/4 size P Bass copy with the exact same scale as a strat. Bass strings just flop about and become untunable at those lengths but I strung it with some heavy guage guitar strings and it was my main recording guitar for ages until I got a bit more serious about actually playing guitar properly (which I still don't really). I'm quite interested in getting/building a Bass VI though, I feel they have a lot of untapped potential.
@@fanbladeinstruments I've never heard of that one before, but that sounds really interesting. It kind of sounds nice, I find guitars to be a bit small for my fingers at times, especially after playing bass.
Good luck it sounds great!🇬🇧
I would’ve used Jazz Bass pickups but just a matter of taste I suppose
Love watching all these bass builds that you do (Y) Got some projects laying around myself that I hope to get to later this year and this is very inspiring :)
It looks and sounds great !
I might have done the neck / pick up a bit different . Cut all the material to the lowest routed point of the original , glue in and shape new heel piece . Then cut out just the new pick up clearance . 're drill neck screw holes into new top slice of glued in heel.
No way of knowing if this would make any difference and chances are yours will be fine .
Peace and love brother 👍🏻☮❤🏀
is gluing the neck not an option?
Nice work and a pleasantly surprising sonic result. How about black pick guard and nameplate similar to a '52 Telecaster ?
Hey man, great video. I'm curious tho, as I heard you talk about it and saw some comments, but still wanna make sure - how "bad" is the original neck joint on these japanese copies? I've had an Aria Pro II (bolt on) and a Fernandes (ntb) and while the Aria just felt "scary" to play due to the thin joint under the pickguard, it was the Fernandes thar had a completely warped/twisted neck, which was juuust unplayable.
Ad rem, do you consider these bolt on thin neck joints problematic to the instrument as it is, vanilla? Should I prepare to glue in a block for extra security and just agree to ditch the front pickup if I want it to last? Would love to hear your thoughts, cheers!
In my experience the older Japanese instruments (if they're gonna have a neck issue) either suffer from stuck truss rods or other neck warping problems. I wouldn't say the neck joint would fail as per the factory design, but my removal of more wood is definitely not ideal. It's a weird gamble you take with a bass like this, for years they had a reputation of being rubbish and many were, but as years go by all the bad ones have completely fallen to pieces or warped irreparably, and as more time goes by the overall risk of buying a bad one goes down. Essentially, if it was going to fail it would've done it by now.
@@fanbladeinstruments thanks for the answer mate. I think I agree, but still, the question in my head reamins whether it makes sense to sink 700usd into one of these, or try to save up another 700 for a real rick. I appreciate the feedback tho!
Ahh yes, I forget that other countries can get real Ricks much cheaper than they are in NZ, given the choice I'd go the real one 100% of the time. There's currently one single Rickenbacker for sale here for NZD$5000. I got super lucky when I got mine for NZD$3000 and I expect there'll never be another one at that price. If you can get one for USD$1400 (NZD$2200) then absolutely that's the best choice. Good luck.
If the neck pickup rout in the neck becomes a problem, could you remove some material from the neck pocket and then add that amount of material to the bottom of the neck instead?
Fantastic idea, that's a definite option if I have to. It's been on there for a few days now and it seems to be holding so I'm hoping it'll not be a problem. As I was doing the final edit just now I realised that I never sealed the wood after carving the space, and I don't know if I trust the shielding tape to be fully waterproof... I'm monitoring it closely for any signs of it shifting but it seems to be good.
Congrats on the conversion! I personally believe the original truss rod cover would be better (the red in the headstock looks weird to me, but the red in the body looks great in my opinion). Also: do you plan on making a tour through your twin fretted/fretless basses? It would be interesting to know the specs of each pair and how each sounds against its "twin".
Sadly the comparisons wouldn't be totally valid, each pair has different necks, woods, pickups, etc. I'm planning on doing a couple of scratch builds with everything matching as much as possible, that would actually throw up some interesting and useful info.
Ahh yis, the Beer Nicissity. Don't we all have that?
Nicely done on the bass! Would low-tension flatwounds help with the neck (potential) issue?
Yes, I'm thinking about putting some lighter guage strings on it, it's a bit of a beast to play so lower tension could solve both those issues. I'm just going to monitor it for a while and see if the strings play in and if any other issues develop. I haven't even plugged it into my main gigging amp yet, I'll take it to the show on Saturday and get to take it for a real jam and see how it holds up.
@@fanbladeinstruments Sounds good, also keep the tortoiseshell pickguard! Looks great
TOOOOORRRRRRRTTTTT!!!!
It's a shame that you just didn't place the neck pickup in the original location (not slanted), chances are it would have fit with no wood being removed. Whats done is done...
Still wouldnt have fitted depth-wise, and the pole pieces would've been misaligned.
wish it was mine