Luthiery Laboratories

This took quite a lot of fussing to get set up properly, but the end result is a bass with a fully functional tremolo.

In the end, I scrapped the Bass VI strings and made my own set 80-65-45-36. The Bass VI set was too heavy for the tremolo to function properly, and also, the E was defective. The lighter strings dropped the string tension by about 20%, and that got the tremolo floating nicely. Note that the 36 is a guitar string. It is ironic that the spare Bass VI string set that got me started on the project ended up not being used.

Here is a close-up of the bridge, which you will notice is fully floating:

I had to plug two holes and drill 4 new ones. The saddles are cannibalized from a Bronco bridge. The tremolo is set up with 4 springs. Note that the strings top-mount, two of them using the existing saddle screw holes. Tuning is a bit fussy, just like a Strat, but it is actually fairly stable with tremolo use. Intonation with the shared saddles was not a problem.

I chose lipstick pickups for this project because they have bar magnets inside, so there are no issues with lining up individual pole pieces. Also, I think lipsticks just sound great for whatever you use them for. The electronics are active bass treble and volume, with a bypass switch. The pickup selector is wired in series rather than the usual parallel, so the combinations have more oomph, not less. I find lipsticks respond very well to active electronics, especially a little bass boost.

With the light strings and pickups, it has a very lively sound - a lot of punch and even a bit of twang. Strumming barre chords unplugged sounds like a guitar. Of course, positions 2 & 4 have plenty of low end, and you can dial it up as much as you want.

The neck is a piece of maple from the hardware store, as is the fretboard, which has a lovely flame to it. The headstock is guitar-sized with compact tuners to keep the weight down at the end of a full two octave neck, with the result that the balance with the guitar body is fine. Scale is 30.3". Decals are laser-printed. The truss rod is my own construction.

Finger-style playing doesn't really lend itself to tremolo use, and I'll have to make up my mind if a tremolo on a bass is really useful after all, but my first impression is that this is a fine instrument - looks, plays, and sounds great.

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Update: Bass IV

It's been together for a few weeks now, enough time for the wood to settle-in and the strings to stretch, so tonight I thought I'd go for a finer setup. It was a little buzzy in the middle frets, so I reversed the truss rod to put a little front bow into the neck. Remember, these extra-light strings are not pulling hard on it at all, I knew that would be the case, which is why I made sure to install a double-acting truss rod that is easily adjustable.

That let me drop the bridge saddles right down to their lower limits. I don't like that, so I shimmed the neck back a bit, and raised the saddles back to their original positions. After a few go-arounds with the floating tremolo, the saddles, and the truss rod, everything eventually converged to a nice low action. Finally, I lowered the pickups a good ways, which really evened-out and sweetened the response.

Is all this fiddling indicative of some defect in the design? Hardly. What you have here is a bunch of parts that were never intended to be put together. I just had to find the right fit.

And the final result? This thing is AWESOME !!! It sounds fantastic, with a tremendous tonal range from the three lipstick pickups, series wiring, and excellent active eq. Positions 2 and 3 on the pickup selector are my favorites. The bridge pickup alone is very thin. I could wire a 'blow' switch for all three pickups in series, that might be interesting.

Any style of playing sounds great, from picking to slap-and-pluck, in fact, the light strings make that super-punchy. The long skinny but short-scale neck and super-light strings make it feel almost slippery. You can bend notes like crazy, hammer-ons and pull-offs work great on the low action, and the tremolo works as it was designed to, just as well as on a guitar.

In fact, the left hand feels almost like playing a guitar, while the right hand is anything you would do with a bass. While it is entirely a bass, the overall feel is like some kind of hybrid, very well balanced and easy to play. Guitarists would love this instrument.

If you've read my other posts here, you'll see I am not given to bragging, but this one is something special. While my previous Strat basses ( and the Tele, and a couple of Jazzmasters ) were interesting experiments, they really weren't anything NEW, just me messing around with the tried-and-true. This one is exceptional. Hey Fender - build these !!! I've already done the hard part for you.

I think I've found a purpose for that extra Strat body - I'm going to build another of these, a little different though.