Constructing A Bass V template

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

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Awstin
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Constructing A Bass V template

Post by Awstin »

There isn't a single bass V template around that I can find and I am getting ideas again... Does anyone have any software that they can make a template from pictures of them online? And scale it.
Last edited by Awstin on Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Josh »

definitely are better off lucking out and buying one. as weird as those things were I wouldn't try to make one.

there's only 15 right? I saw one for sale for like 2/3000.
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Post by Awstin »

I would be able to build one no problem with a template.

Here are some good pictures

http://offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtop ... 1&start=30

http://www.talkbass.com/attachments/bassv-jpg.23028/
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Re: Need some help! (BASS V template)

Post by Addam »

(
Punkacc9 wrote:Does anyone have any software that they can make a template from pictures of them online? And scale it.
I'm pretty there's somebody on TDRPI that does this kind of thing and they did a tutorial, scaling from known measurements such as scale length, nut width, skewing, those kind of shennanigans (might have been on offset, but 99% sure it was TDRPI).
Have a dig around in their 'home depot' area of the forum.
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Re: Need some help! (BASS V template)

Post by Awstin »

AddamInsane wrote:(
Punkacc9 wrote:Does anyone have any software that they can make a template from pictures of them online? And scale it.
I'm pretty there's somebody on TDRPI that does this kind of thing and they did a tutorial, scaling from known measurements such as scale length, nut width, skewing, those kind of shennanigans (might have been on offset, but 99% sure it was TDRPI).
Have a dig around in their 'home depot' area of the forum.
I'll try but I did hours digging through pages and found nothing haha.
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Post by Chris Fleming »

I could use the top down picture and if you know the max width and length I could do one on Illustrator easy enough and send you a PDF?
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Post by finboy »

Isn't there one at the guitar shop near robroe?
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Post by Awstin »

Chris Fleming wrote:I could use the top down picture and if you know the max width and length I could do one on Illustrator easy enough and send you a PDF?
That would be awesome.

And yeah, paging Robroe... If you could very casually go in there and get some quick measurements that would be pretty cool haha. Ya know for the whole shortscale community.
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Post by Awstin »

Alright so i found a great picture of one online that is straight ahead. I scaled it up by measuring the mustang bass pickups I had. It may be a cm off but it is the best thing out there so far, that I know of to a template. Here is the guard. I am working on the control plate at the moment and then I will start on the body! I think I am going to do a 4 string variant and use a SS neck instead of having a custom neck and pickups made.



ImageUntitled by punkacc9, on Flickr
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Post by Awstin »

well, I got 23.5" for the neck. If that is true.. the scale length is 38" Holy shit. And I thought the body was huge...
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Post by Awstin »

Ughhh. I just don't get this. the Fender book I have says it is 34" but i scaled it to the mustang pickups which is .75" big. It lines up perfectly with my mustang bass pickguard too. But I am getting 38" scale. How can I be that off??? Here is a picture of the bass to scale and the green line represents 34" starting at the bridge. How is that 34" scale???? I am about to give up :roll:



ImageBass V 34 inch by punkacc9, on Flickr
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Post by BearBoy »

Josh wrote:there's only 15 right? I saw one for sale for like 2/3000.
Wikipedia says about 1000 were produced. No idea if that's true or not.
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Post by Chris Fleming »

I tied it a few times with different photos but that red one seems to have the least amount of distortion from perspective so I went with that one. Did you manage to find out the max width of the body?

Here's a small version of what I've done so far. You'll have to make adjustments for the neck pocket are as it wasn't possible to entirely acurate

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Post by Awstin »

That looks good. Nope I haven't found out anything at all on measurements. It's suppose to be 34" scale but I just can't see it. That bridge is so far back on that already really long body. The body from the top horn to the bottom is only a few centemeters shorter than the nut to edge of the neck. I made a complete body template but I'm not sure if it's right. It should be. I scaled it perfectly with the mustang pickups. And it even looks the right size next to a jazzmaster body. (I saw a video on YouTube of a bass v compared to a jazzmaster in size) These body's are HUGE.
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Post by Awstin »

Making templates sucks...



ImageUntitled by punkacc9, on Flickr
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Post by Awstin »

This is what i ended up with.



ImageUntitled by punkacc9, on Flickr
ImageUntitled by punkacc9, on Flickr
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Post by Chris Fleming »

Looks good. No need for mine then.

I read on Wicipedia that it's 3 inches longer than a P-Bass, and as you say the bridge is righ down the bottom so I think it must be a longer scale length? Or something weird. It's tuned differently so not sure how that comes into play?
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Post by Awstin »

It's gotta be longer than 34" scale is all I know. My Fender book lies.
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Post by paul_ »

Bass Vs are 34" scale and have smaller bodies than P or J basses. That thing on wikipedia about them being "3 inches longer than a P-bass" is a comment on it's unpopularity/unwieldyness and so most likely refers to TOTAL scale [length of the instrument], not string scale, and the Bass V's longer headstock to facilitate the 5th machinehead would certainly account for that sort of length (looking at my JB it would appear I'd need almost exactly 3 more inches to mount another tuner of the same vintage fender style).

The Bass V's body looks huge because you either assume it's the size of a Mustang or Precision at first sight, BUT the neck is a 15-fret and the body is picking up more slack than it would on either of those basses. The neck pocket is much further up and the horns are super short as a result, this makes the bass comparable in length to a P-bass body.

A guy in a thread on talkbass suggested it was a 30" scale and wondered if it could therefore be tuned like a modern 5-string very easily, and this dude from Knooren Handcrafted Instruments in the Netherlands chimed in:
we had one for repairs coming in and we strung it up with the normale BEADG tuning. It was a sunburst one with blocks in the neck, I measured the scale length and it was a 34 inch long scale bass.
Image

It's more likely the pickups are not the same size as the Mustang bass ones since they're not Mustang bass ones, this was a purpose-built unit and many people describe the Bass V sound as very P-bass like, not something you hear about Mustang basses that often.
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Post by Awstin »

Dude.. They're definitely larger than a p bass. Look how big the body is in that picture and it's all the way in the back. And yes I found that entire thread but I still don't believe it is 34" scale. Look up "bass v" on YouTube. There's a sunburst one on there and he compares it to his jazzmaster. Look at how much bigger that thing is compared to the jazzmaster.