This is a parts bass I cobbled together. I wanted to keep everything as simple as possible. I also wanted to keep to a few simple ingredients that always seem to work. 34" scale flatsawn maple bolt on neck, ebony fingerboard, ash or alder body, Bartolini pickups, Hipshot hardware.
The Allparts neck is one piece flatsawn maple, with a slab ebony fingerboard. The lined fretless 34" scale fingerboard is about 0.21" thick at the center, fair enough for a reasonably priced neck. It has a straight 10" radius. The neck is 0.90" deep at the nut, and 1.02" at the twefth position. It's a comfortable "C", and it adjusts very evenly. I keep it a couple of thousandths shy of straight, so if it decides to move back just a hair on the way to a gig, it will still be playable!
The neck has a vintage tinted finish. I polished the fingerboard on this one up for myself, but it was very good out of the box. There were a few traces of brown in the board, which suggests to me that is real, undyed ebony.
The Allparts body is two-piece ash, with a clear gloss natural finish. I would have preferred a one-piece body, but that would not have been simple to source, or cheap.
The pickups are Bartolinis. The smooth top end and meaty bottom are perfect for a fretless. CTS 300K ohm pots with treble bypass networks on each volume, a 0.0223 Orange Drop on the tone control, and a stereo jack to provide a little more security.
Hipshot string-through or top load aluminum bridge, ferrules, lightweight tuners, and string retainer. The neck plate is a thick one from Philly Luthier. Dunlop strap buttons. A bone nut, some boxwood knobs, and D'Addario XL165BT strings.
It weighs 8 pounds 10 ounces. I have the action set at exactly one hair over 4/64" on the G at the seventeenth position, and two hairs over 4/64" on the E at the seventeenth. It is speaking clearly at this height, and I can play it a little harder before it starts to squeal. It would give up loads of mwah at lower settings, but it lost a little clarity, and for me it lost some versatility, so this slightly higher action works great for me.
The pickups are adjusted to just short of warble level. These are fairly low output pickups.
The quality of the Allparts neck (made in Japan) and body is fine. If you can find an Allparts dealer who discounts heavily, this is a fairly inexpensive instrument. Fretless means no fretwork is necessary. The nut is the only element that requires any real skill.
The Allparts neck is one piece flatsawn maple, with a slab ebony fingerboard. The lined fretless 34" scale fingerboard is about 0.21" thick at the center, fair enough for a reasonably priced neck. It has a straight 10" radius. The neck is 0.90" deep at the nut, and 1.02" at the twefth position. It's a comfortable "C", and it adjusts very evenly. I keep it a couple of thousandths shy of straight, so if it decides to move back just a hair on the way to a gig, it will still be playable!
The neck has a vintage tinted finish. I polished the fingerboard on this one up for myself, but it was very good out of the box. There were a few traces of brown in the board, which suggests to me that is real, undyed ebony.
The Allparts body is two-piece ash, with a clear gloss natural finish. I would have preferred a one-piece body, but that would not have been simple to source, or cheap.
The pickups are Bartolinis. The smooth top end and meaty bottom are perfect for a fretless. CTS 300K ohm pots with treble bypass networks on each volume, a 0.0223 Orange Drop on the tone control, and a stereo jack to provide a little more security.
Hipshot string-through or top load aluminum bridge, ferrules, lightweight tuners, and string retainer. The neck plate is a thick one from Philly Luthier. Dunlop strap buttons. A bone nut, some boxwood knobs, and D'Addario XL165BT strings.
It weighs 8 pounds 10 ounces. I have the action set at exactly one hair over 4/64" on the G at the seventeenth position, and two hairs over 4/64" on the E at the seventeenth. It is speaking clearly at this height, and I can play it a little harder before it starts to squeal. It would give up loads of mwah at lower settings, but it lost a little clarity, and for me it lost some versatility, so this slightly higher action works great for me.
The pickups are adjusted to just short of warble level. These are fairly low output pickups.
The quality of the Allparts neck (made in Japan) and body is fine. If you can find an Allparts dealer who discounts heavily, this is a fairly inexpensive instrument. Fretless means no fretwork is necessary. The nut is the only element that requires any real skill.
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