Mustang VI - digging for the bottom end

Painting? Routing? Set-up tips? Or just straight-up making a guitar from scratch? Post here, and post pics!

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MattK
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Post by MattK »

They wouldn't match the strings of course - there are four pairs of polepieces, one for each string. Since the high and low strings would be in more or less the same place (a bit narrower spread) then they would be picked up normally, but the other strings would be quieter because they'd be misaligned.
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Dave
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Post by Dave »

I don't do this often but BUMP what happened to this project?
iCEByTes wrote:5 Most Jizz face maker Solo�s , classic Rock music i ever listened.
iCEByTes wrote:Blunt a joint , Take the Touch , Listen this.
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Post by hotrodperlmutter »

FFS
dots wrote:fuck that guy in his bunkhole.
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Post by Dave »

hotrodperlmutter wrote:FFS
Bwah hahahahhahhaha I am such a cocktease
iCEByTes wrote:5 Most Jizz face maker Solo�s , classic Rock music i ever listened.
iCEByTes wrote:Blunt a joint , Take the Touch , Listen this.
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Post by MattK »

Um. Well, it's been a busy year and I haven't done anything to it apart from shaping the neck a little a few months ago.
I will get onto it soon. I don't even get to play much these days, let alone build things! It's winter down this way and these things are more like summer projects.
Enough excuses.
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Post by Dave »

MatthewK wrote:Um. Well, it's been a busy year and I haven't done anything to it apart from shaping the neck a little a few months ago.
I will get onto it soon. I don't even get to play much these days, let alone build things! It's winter down this way and these things are more like summer projects.
Enough excuses.
Damnit! Do it man! ;)
iCEByTes wrote:5 Most Jizz face maker Solo�s , classic Rock music i ever listened.
iCEByTes wrote:Blunt a joint , Take the Touch , Listen this.
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Post by MattK »

Your avatar looks like Rubber Johnny. So I'll get right on it.
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Post by grandnoise »

I've recently wanted to do something like this, I sent an email asking whether their Bass 6 neck and Shortscale Jazz bass body where compatible and they said not, but I'm wondering if it would be so small it would be unnoticeable as the difference in width is about 0.25mm either side.
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Post by MattK »

Well - I guess you could either modify their shortscale jazz by cutting a 6 string nut and modifying the headstock as I did, or you could just buy their Agile VI which didn't exist at the time I started this project, and mod it as you wish.
It also doesn't matter about the bridge on a jazz bass body, you can just fill the screw holes and put a six string bridge wherever you like, so no need for the scale length to be correct (i.e. you can use a full size jazz body). However the routs need to be plugged and re-made to put the pickups where you want ... either the Agile VI or a shortscale neck and a body blank you rout yourself would make a lot more sense as starting points. Not something I can do now, but I would if I were starting again.
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Post by sgtelzilcho »

Sorry to revive an old thread with my 1st post but I'm going to make a Bass VI following what you've done in this thread, I've just got a few questions though. What did you do about the neck pocket? It looks like the neck was a tad too small for the pocket. And if the pocket is bigger than the neck how did you line them up correctly? sorry I'm really new this sort of stuff, I just stumbled across your thread on Google and was inspired.
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Post by MattK »

It's actually not resolved yet, I have let this sit for months without doing anything and am in the process of reviving it. I plan to cut a block to fit the large neck pocket, then rout a new pocket into the block. However the shortscale neck was able to bolt on directly and held full string tension without problem, even with the larger pocket.
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Post by sgtelzilcho »

A friend suggested putting it in the original pocket and then just filling the gap and sanding the lower side down. If I'm not that bothered about the look of the join would the way you've currently got it connected suffice for the time being? When you bolted it on I assume you drilled new holes like you said you planned to? Did you have the neck shoved right down in the pocket with the end of the neck touching the end of the pocket? lots of questions sorry, I'm inexperienced :)

EDIT: and I'd just like to say it's people doing things like this that make me really want to get into guitar building, you're an inspiration. I planned to make a Bass shaped like a Sea bass and call it the C-Bass, one day when I can actually build guitars.
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Post by MattK »

I wouldn't take inspiration from me, this thing has sat unfinished for a year or more!
I kept two of the original screw holes in the neck but the other two were spaced differently, so I doweled them and drilled new holes using the holes on the body as a guide. This gave me a gap of about 4mm between the neck heel and the body (and also on the bass side of the neck pocket. I did this because if I had seated it deeper, the bridge would need to move too far back to sit on the body properly. I completely agree that if you're not fussed about looks, or cut a pickguard to cover the gap, there would be no problem filling the gap with something simpler. Lots of people use epoxy putty for this kind of thing, and now that I say that, I am thinking I might do it to this because it would be SO much easier.
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Post by sgtelzilcho »

You don't have to have finished it to be inspiring, it's the fact that you set out to do it and just did it, I couldn't do this without your helpful thread :)
I'm e-mailing Rondo and he said he had a neck he could send me but I'm waiting for a reply regarding shipping to the UK, hopefully it should be OK they do say that they sometimes ship to western Europe. Once it arrives and I've bought a cheap P-bass (I've chosen a p-bass because I won't have to fill in the lower j-bass hole and I can just rout a fresh one) I'll get to work, I'll start a thread to document the build but I think I might be asking for your help again soon :)
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Post by MattK »

Some kind of mutual support group might get both projects done! I'm working on a body drawing today.
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Post by sgtelzilcho »

Yea, maybe looking at what I do will make you want to do a bit more on yours and vice versa :)

I look forward to seeing what you do next, I'll try and do a photoshop mock up tomorrow of what I hope mine will look like. If it's possible I was hoping to have a bass cutoff switch for each pickup, I just thought you might be able to get some interesting sounds that way, instead of just cutting all pickups. But I don't know much about guitar wiring so I might end up make a pigs ear of it.
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Post by MattK »

The low-cut switch should be dead easy - just put a capacitor in series with the pickup wire (i.e. connect one lug of the cap to the white wire coming out of the pickup, and the other lug to the pickup switching setup. Then have a double-pole, single-throw switch which, when it's on, connects a short to bypass the cap. So when it's off, the signal goes through the cap (strangled) and when it's on, the signal travels through the short and passes through unaltered.
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Post by sgtelzilcho »

Hi again
I've started work and I'll try and snap some pictures and start a new thread soon. All I've done so far is sand the body but I'm having a bit of trouble finding a 2" wide bridge with a 14" radius, would you be able to link me to where you got your parts? And I think you mentioned you had to do some modifying to the bridge you got. I'm thinking about just resorting to getting a Tune-O-Matic bridge and using it with a Mustang tailpiece that I'll probably have to modify slightly :/
How about you? done anymore work on it yet?
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Post by MattK »

At the moment it's a standard Jaguar bridge and a Mustang tailpiece with the spring bars removed and replaced by screws from under the plate (M6 or M8, can't remember, but it was a Japanese bridge from a Jag-Stang I think). The tailpiece had to be modified because of the thickness of the bass strings - it's designed for the strings to pass through the bar, then turn a right angle to wrap around the bar on their way to the bridge. The sharp turn angle snapped a couple of bass strings so I used a Dremel to make grooves so that the string curves around instead of making a right angle. When I get it routed for the springs, I will try it floating, and see if moving the trem snaps the strings!
The string spacing from the tailpiece meant that I knew a Jag bridge would fit and it did. I used the Jag bridge so the strings could sit where they liked - the bass strings being much less tolerant of bending around corners than guitar strings. Of course on a VI there is six inches between the tailpiece and the bridge, but I didn't have that room.
If you want to go tune-o-matic style there is a Schecter bridge with adjustable spacing and a 12" or 14" radius. What's your neck radius? Most Jazz Bass type necks are 7.25" (classic) or around 9.5", aren't they?
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Post by sgtelzilcho »

Well I wasn't wanting a Tune-o-matic particularly but it was the only one I could find that was 2" wide, and even then it goes just over 2". I found a Jag bridge that was 2-3/16" but I didn't want to run the risk of the strings not fitting the width of the fretboard. I'm getting a neck from SX same as you except this will be the new headstock design, I think that's the only difference from the old ones. The neck radius is 14". Will getting that slightly wider Jag bridge matter? I do like the look of them but like I say I was having trouble with finding the right width.