Fenderbird build, reverse or non-reverse?

[godofthunder]

 Nice neck ! I like allparts stuff alot.

[Blazer]

I finally got my grubby hands on a pickup that won't scare off the purists. It's a rather fat humbucker of an old Ibanez Roadstar bass.


One of THESE to be precise.

Tomorrow I'll start work on the body. I'll photograph the whole thing so there's eye candy on the way.

[Chris P.]

Cool!

[Fred Hammon]

How about a lefty Star Bird:



One of two DS leftys made by Frank Stavem
Google him.

Fred

[Chris P.]

That's gorgeous!!

[drbassman]

This is very cool!!!!  I've even been thinking of going solid with my Maple NR.  I've got some mods I want to make that will require refinishing it, and that blue is very sharp!!

How about a lefty Star Bird:



One of two DS leftys made by Frank Stavem
Google him.

Fred

[Barklessdog]

This is very cool!!!!  I've even been thinking of going solid with my Maple NR.  I've got some mods I want to make that will require refinishing it, and that blue is very sharp!!

Wow Fred that is stunning!

[Blazer]

Well you guys I did a LOT of work and made pictures of the whole process and I guess it's final now, it will be a reverse.


First up here's the pieces of the glued mahogany before I took the clamps off


And here's the mahogany with the template on top, as you can see, the center block is from a different kind of mahogany as the mahogany I used for the sides, it makes that the center has a darker shade. Also visible in this picture is the fact that one of the pieces had shifted during the glueing process, this caused a little problem which I solved later.


Here's the Ibanez Pickup I mentioned earlier, it's a "Super P" pickup which as the name implies...


...is a P-bass pickup underneath a large cover. The advantage of using such a pickup is that I don't have to do much modification to the body if I want to install, say... a Darkstar or a Musicman humbucker.


Here I am routing the neck pocket, as you can see I used a Jazz bass template to do this, why make new templates when I can get the job done with the existing ones? Also visible on this picture is the fact that the center block is slightly off-center but given the fact that I want to give this bass a solid color it doesn't really matter


A good snug fit, this neck won't be going anywhere. Trustworthy templates are a blessing.


And the thing in full.


After I routed the pickup cavity, again, I didn't need to make new templates just for this pickup, I used an existing one and glued little blocks to the sides to make it fit.


Here's the little mishap of one of the pieces shifting during the glueing process I mentioned earlier. I sawed it out a little more in order to glue a piece of wood in.


The white stuff you see at the edges is the ultra strong and fast drying epoxy glue I use, it's dependable stuff and I don't know what I'd do without it.



And here's the thing in full on the bonnet of my car.


But now it seems that I need to lengthen the neck cavity because the bridge is rather close to the pickup. On the other hand, given the sound of that big Ibanez pickup that might be a good thing.

So what do you guys think?

[Barklessdog]

You need to move the neck pocket in because the neck will be a long reach and as is will be even more a neck diver. I remember  a guy at the pit building one that way and he did not like the position, he ended up selling it..

As you are probably already aware of, If you look at a Tbird the neck is set far in the body.


You would need to move the bridge as well.

[Barklessdog]

That is why I like my Fenderbird style so much because of the lower horn cutaway for upper fret access. Although I dont think it looks as nice as the Orange & black ones.

[Blazer]

Yeah I'll definately have to re-rout the neck cavity, no big deal though. 
Although I'm not sure of deeping the lower bout like that Black entwiste Fenderbird you posted.


Anyway, I was thinking of maybe giving it top binding just to add a hint of class. Since I haven't done work on contouring the body yet, that option is still open.

[drbassman]

Yep, when I did my bolt-on neck TB, I used a standard Fender neck pocket and the first fret was quite a reach!  If I did it again, I would drop it down toward the bridge as you folks are mentioning.

[Chris P.]

Great Blazer!!!! Love it! I wish I had your skills!

[Barklessdog]

Yep, when I did my bolt-on neck TB, I used a standard Fender neck pocket and the first fret was quite a reach!  If I did it again, I would drop it down toward the bridge as you folks are mentioning.

Unless you drive an Alfa and already have gorilla arms!

[Chris P.]

BTW: I always love one pick up birds. Can't wait to see the finished blazerbird.

I used to have a very bad steering Seat car (that's a Spanish Volkswagen..) once..