glue bass and guitar together to make doubleneck?

wellREDman · November 17, 2012, 01:34:06 PM

Hi all, been lurking here for a while admiring the work and trying to get up the impetus to post my question...
I work at a special needs unit for Autistic kids, and part of my work entails coaching several groups of kids playing together a la "school of Rock". I am a bass player primarily, but can play enough drums, guitar and keyboards to support them all as they learn.
As I teach them I am perpetually having to swap back and forward between Bass and guitar which is a bit of a nause, and with my kids and their attention spans/patience levels can be very distracting for them.
In an Ideal world I would buy myself a nice twin neck and all would be good, but on my salary/budget that is a pipe-dream.
my question is this....
given that on thru neck basses the sides of the body are glued on, is there any reason why I cant buy myself a second hand encore p-bass and strat (or whatever) cut the top off one and the bottom of the other and glue/dowel/plate/bolt the two together to make a cheap and cheerful twin?
I have stripped and resprayed basses before, and done enough joinery, rewiring and bodywork to be confident I can do the job, I just want to know if there is any fundamental reason that it won't work.
obviously it's not ideal but it's the only work around I can figure given my situation.
cheers
Red

Highlander · November 17, 2012, 03:25:31 PM

Can't see an issue with that and welcome Señor Red - tough and worthy job...

if it's going to be function over form then it makes no difference what it is...

This is similar to one used by Mike Rutherford and I saw Jim Rodford use a (Fender Strat/P?) post Argent with a band called Phoenix - both instruments could be used as a doubleneck or as individual instruments...

dadagoboi · November 18, 2012, 07:37:17 AM

Welcome Red,
Sounds like a great idea to me! Look forward to following the build. If you use a LH guitar or bass for the 'bottom' instrument it will be really easy to combine the controls in one place.
http://www.rondomusic.com/BassLeft.html

wellREDman · November 18, 2012, 07:51:57 AM

If I use a 3 pup strat as the bottom, I was just gonna lose one and wire in the basspup , so just use the selector switch to switch between guitar neck pup, guitar bridge pup and bass, one set of pots keep things simple.
it will be a while before I start though, have to see what ebay washes up locally within my budget. and need to finish my current rebuild first.

Highlander · November 18, 2012, 10:36:57 AM

All projects take the time they take - some more than most (guilty as ~~sheded~~ charged) ...

drbassman · November 18, 2012, 10:56:32 AM

Makes sense to me. There also have been a raft of cheapy models on eBays in recent months. Might be a good alternative too. But, making one is always more rewarding and fun!

wellREDman · February 14, 2013, 04:59:14 PM

Okay so I have a cheap tele copy and a cheap p-bass copy, am currently stripping the gubbins out of them both ready for the saw...

any advice on gluing them together? type of glue etc.

I plan on cutting them both with a matching alternate step so that I can slide them around laterally to find a comfortable fit. Ill use screws to hold them together initially then glue them, after that I plan on removing the screws and drilling/dowelling the join

Dave W · February 14, 2013, 10:30:18 PM

I would use regular Titebond or its equivalent; if your joint is clean with no gaps and is clamped properly with enough pressure (according to the manufacturer's recommendations), you won't need dowels, screws or anything else.

drbassman · February 15, 2013, 04:20:26 AM

Dave is right on. Titebond is all you need with flat straight surfaces.

godofthunder · February 15, 2013, 05:30:07 AM

Sounds like a cool project! Pictures when done

A third vote for Titebond, clamped over night. They say you can unclamp and work with it after one hour but I never do.

the mojo hobo · February 15, 2013, 06:19:58 AM

A word about Titebond. Back in 1979 when my NR T-Bird headstock broke I took it to a shop in Dekalb Illinois to have it fixed. He used Titebond and laminated a maple veneer on the front. It didn't last. The second time he also laminated the back of the headstock. It too didn't last. The third time he said he wouldn't fix it again if it broke. It did break again. This all happened within months. After the third time I decided to fix it myself, which I did using Elmers Carpenters Glue. It held for 18 years before it broke again.

In talking to people about the failure of the repair by the professional repair guy the possibility was raised that he had clamped the parts too tightly. They said clamping too tightly weakens the joint. I'm not an expert, just sharing my experience and echoing Dave's recommendation to clamp properly with enough pressure, according to the manufacturer's recommendations.

drbassman · February 15, 2013, 06:24:58 AM

I've read the saem thing about "too tight" and I've backed off on going crazy with pressure when clamping. Also, the surfaces to be clamped should NOT be sanded glassy smooth. I rough them up a little with 100 grit which seems to improve adhesion. The glue needs to penetrate both surfaces with a microscopic film in between.

godofthunder · February 15, 2013, 06:50:21 AM

To much pressure and you will starve the joint of glue. Also when gluing two edges together I score cross hatches on each edge with a chisel being careful not to break to the edge.

Dave W · February 15, 2013, 08:28:14 AM

Most failures are from not clamping tightly enough or not applying clamping force in the right direction. If the joint is sanded glassy smooth, it's possible to starve the joint, but who does finish sanding of a glue joint? Not I!

Titebond and similar aliphatic resin glues operate with an almost infinitely thin film. If the joint is properly prepared -- planed or cut smooth and well-fitting -- it's almost impossible to starve the joint.

Of course glue joint failures do happen. On guitars, the most common I've seen have been on scarf jointed necks on some Asian guitars.

For a few years recently, Gibson was putting the glue type in the specs: Titebond 50, which is a commercial quantity version of the original (aliphatic resin) Titebond. If it's good enough for Gibson, it's good enough for me. As always, YMMV.

dadagoboi · February 15, 2013, 09:07:29 AM

Quote from: Dave W on February 15, 2013, 08:28:14 AM
Most failures are from not clamping tightly enough or not applying clamping force in the right direction. If the joint is sanded glassy smooth, it's possible to starve the joint, but who does finish sanding of a glue joint? Not I!

Titebond and similar aliphatic resin glues operate with an almost infinitely thin film. If the joint is properly prepared -- planed or cut smooth and well-fitting -- it's almost impossible to starve the joint.

Of course glue joint failures do happen. On guitars, the most common I've seen have been on scarf jointed necks on some Asian guitars.

For a few years recently, Gibson was putting the glue type in the specs: Titebond 50, which is a commercial quantity version of the original (aliphatic resin) Titebond. If it's good enough for Gibson, it's good enough for me. As always, YMMV.

Titebond works on the molecular level, it bonds with the moisture of the wood. It's close to impossible to plane too smoothly, the usual cause of failure is bad joinery or improper clamping. A proper joint will almost never fail at the glue line, it will be the wood on either side of it. You want a zero thickness glue line.

The problem in China when I was there was using cheap glue, (casein based, milk, like Elmer's white glue). Glue pots were left open and the stuff went bad in the S. China heat. Switching to aliphatic resin Titebond 1 and following best practices solved the problem but it was a fight to get the factories to buy the right glue. A big run of Pottery Barn dining chairs failing did the trick.