Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richard Sanabia on August 24, 2014 at 3:46pm

Do you need a regular bass neck to bolt on? I've built several piccolo, tenor and standard CBG bass.

Permalink Reply by Larry Epstein on August 25, 2014 at 2:58am

Thanks for responding. The cigar box I have for it is pretty big: 8 x 14 x 4 inches. But I'm not wedded to it. I can always use another box.

I've built a half dozen 4-string ukuleles/guitars. They have all been acoustic-electric resonators. Three have thru-the-body necks. See the picture inside the Bering box. Three have some sort of bolt-onto-reinforced-framework inside the box. See the picture inside the Padrón box. I haven't tried building a true bolt-on design as you would have in a straight electric-only instrument.

I would be most comfortable attaching the neck as I have in the past. But it is fun to learn and try new things. Based on your experience, what box should I use, and how do you suggest I attach the neck?

Attachments:

• Bering inside.jpg, 431 KB
• Padrón inside.jpg, 430 KB

Permalink Reply by eK on August 26, 2014 at 6:19am

Don't know what  your budget is, but there are a lot of new and used "project" bass necks available on EBay. The usual caveats apply when shopping there.  But I just looked and saw some pretty good (IMHO) ~$50 deals on decent looking bass necks with truss rods and frets already installed. Some even come with tuning keys. Worth a look if nothing else turns up.

Another alternative is to hit the local guitar center chain store and look in the clearance section. They sometimes have dinged stuff they're selling for a song. If you're doing a CBB, the condition of the body won't matter. As long as the neck is fairly true you should be in business. They sometimes also have these oddball off-brand instruments of decent enough quality selling for less than $50. These can also be cannibalized for various parts.

Just be forewarned, some of these Asian-built guitars are a better buy than you'd think when you first see them. I bought a Baltimore branded bass not too long ago for $47 at my local Guitar Center. I got it with the intent of using it as a cheap Franken-bass I could experiment with for different pickup and electronic configurations. Turned out it played so well, and sounded so nice (after I replaced the stock pickups with something better), that it's now my "take to open jam nights" bass. It sounds great in a live venue, looks retro-cool (to my eyes at least) - and it lets me leave my more expensive instruments home where there's far less risk of them growing legs and walking off when I'm not looking.