OK so I was looking for a new bass and I really liked the look of the Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass . Now don't get me wrong, the Fender instruments are quite good and I did like the feel of them, but I've built a couple of Warmoth basses before and they are absolutely stunning!

So, I liked the Marcus Miller and decided to make a copy of one. The Fender range of MMs only comprises 3 colour options none of which I'm too keen on. Also there is only 1 neck option (maple/maple with white pearl block inlays) which I'm also not a huge fan of.

I wanted to do things my way so I decided to build again! Well, technically 'assemble' but there will be some routing and finishing involved in this project.....

Over the coming weeks I'll be keeping a diary here of my progress so people can be taken through each step of assembling a guitar/bass from parts and make up there own minds if they want to go down that route, or just buy off the shelf.

Dan

First up: planning the build.

I knew I wanted to change a few things over the standard Fender Marcus Miller, mainly the neck style and the body colour. I also wanted to keep my budget under the price of a new Fender.

First I set about the neck. I'm not a fan of white pearl block inlays, so I ordered a Warmoth Jazz bass neck made of maple with a maple fingerboard. It has black block inlays and the fingerboard is bound with black binding. The standard MM has a vintage 3-bolt neck attachment which I'm also not that keen on. I prefer 4 or more bolts for a more secure fit, so I had this drilled for the standard Fender 4-bolt neck plate. I had Warmoth finish the neck for me in clear satin lacquer. They also installed the frets and nut for me. Afterall I'm not exactly what you would call a luthier!

The one problem with Warmoth is that when you order a finished neck with a maple fingerboard, the frets end up being lacquered too! This will have to be removed but that will happen at a later stage. Here is a similar neck to the one I've ordered. Click for larger image.



As I have said earlier I have built a couple of Warmoth basses before and I really love their necks. They are the most comfortable and stable necks I've ever played. The reason? Have a look HERE

By the way, at this point I would like to point out that I am in no way affiliated with Warmoth.

Quote Dan LB:

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As I have said earlier I have built a couple of Warmoth basses before and I really love their necks. They are the most comfortable and stable necks I've ever played.

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Warmoth are easily on par with Fender Custom Shop, but at a fraction of the price. I've had loads of necks/bodies from them and they've never been anything less than awesome!

Parker Fly I have found the same to be true. Warmoth really do make outstanding parts! My last two basses have come from them.

Dan.

To keep costs down, I've decided to finish the body myself. I'm thinking of staining the wood black, then spraying it with clear lacquer so the wood grain can still be seen under the top coat. If anybody has any tips/advice on this, it would be much appreciated.

The Fender Marcus Miller(MM) has an active EQ circuit installed and is top routed. All the electronics are only accessible by removing the pickguard. I like this approach as it keeps the back of the body looking clean.

Now, Warmoth don't do a MM control cavity rout so I'll be doing that myself...
I found a nice hard ash jazz bass body in their 'showcase' section of their site. It weighs 5lb 8oz, so it's quite heavy, but I really like that in a bass. I find it makes for better sustain.
It is top routed for standard Jazz Bass controls so I'll have to make the cavity larger to accommodate all of the electronics. More on that later...

Here is a pic of the body which I have just recieved. Again, click for a larger image.



Dan

Now for the hardware and electronics.

I sourced most of what I needed from Bass Parts Resource. They also have a guitar parts side to their site. I found them to be very good on price and they provide very fast shipping. The rest I sourced from eBay and StewMac.

Well then, what hardware and electronics have I opted for? As this is to be a Fender copy with a few personal tweeks, I have used some Fender hardware. Here's the list:

Tuners: Fender American series J/P tuners.



Neck Plate: Fender American Standard


String Tree: Hipshot 3 string retainer


Bridge: Hipshot 'A' series for Fender



Pickguard: Fender Marcus Miller Signature


Control Plate: Fender Marcus Miller Signature


Battery Cover: Fender Marcus Miller Signature


Active Preamp: Aguilar OBP2


I'll use a pair of Lindy Fralin Jazz Bass pickups I have lying around and some 250K CTS split-shaft pots.

Dan

Quote Dan LB:

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The one problem with Warmoth is that when you order a finished neck with a maple fingerboard, the frets end up being lacquered too! This will have to be removed but that will happen at a later stage. Here is a similar neck to the one I've ordered. Click for larger image.

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Did you specify that when you ordered it? I have unfinished fretboards on several of my Warmoth necks, but with a satin finish on the rear of the neck.

I've had them do all manner of bizarre routing and finishes and they've always managed to get it right, inspite of my poor drawings/instructions.

When they finish a maple neck with maple fingerboard for you, they spray the whole thing - frets and all.

Quote:

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Note: On maple necks with maple fingerboards the entire neck is finished including the fingerboard & frets. We do not remove the finish from the frets. This work is part of the set up, assembly and fret leveling process, and these services are not currently available from Warmoth Guitar Products, Inc.

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I also have necks with no finish on the fingerboard but they are both flamed maple/ebony. This is my first maple/maple.

I suppose I could have ordered the body routed the way I wanted it, but buying from their showcase is far quicker as the items there are already made. I wanted to try my hand at a bit of routing too! Also I wanted to keep costs down too so doing the routing myself made sense. The body I ordered cost me $180!!!! With the dollar so weak I couldn't resist!

Dan

I'd be interested to see how this works out. I'd quite like to build a Musicman stingray style 4 string bass but with the 5 string style pickguard. A bit like the bass below but 4 rather than 12 string.

Ok. I didn't have much time to get anything done today but here's the progress so far.....

First up I wanted to prepare the body for routing.

In order to design a routing template for the control cavity, I wanted to get the pickguard on the body and in order to do this properly, I wanted to have the neck in place.
Since I won't have the neck for this bass for another few weeks, I removed the neck from one of my other Warmoth basses, and temporarily sat it into the neck pocket. As usual with Warmoth products this was an exact and snug fit.

I carefully positioned each part of the the pickguard in place making sure it all fitted properly around the neck pocket, control cavity and pickup routs, then taped it in place with masking tape.


I then marked with pencil, every screw hole, and also the two holes for the output jack and the active/passive switch. I also marked the outline of the pickguard in all the places I needed, then removed it.



From here I was able to calculate the area of the wood to be removed from the existing cavity. I'll copy this outline to a blank acrylic template later.


As you can see from the picture, I also shaded the area to be removed for the battery.

I bought two acrylic templates from StewMac for the routing of this bass. One of them is blank (which I'll cut later for the control cavity), the other is for a battery box. I positioned the latter on the body and will secure it with screws prior to making the cut.



To avoid drilling unnecessary holes in the body to mount the template, I'll drill some new ones in the template that line up with the pickguard screw holes. One of the pre-drilled template mounting holes falls inside the section of the control cavity I've yet to remove. For this reason, I'll rout for the battery first. I circled this hole and marked the top of the template, so when I come back to doing the job, I know exactly how I had it before.

Dan

I've just stumbled across this excellent post!! I'm thinking about building a 70's style big headstock strat at some point and this could well be my inspiration to stop thinking and just do it!

Would you be able to draw up some figures of total cost at some point?

Look forward to reading more,
Mike

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my music

Hey Mike, yes I'll be adding up the cost of everything soon enough.

I've just set up my router so hopefully I'll make some more progress this week.

Dan

Looks like you've got a one piece body? Does it/will it have an effect on the sound or is it purely cosmetic?

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my music

Quote Mike Lynch:

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Looks like you've got a one piece body? Does it/will it have an effect on the sound or is it purely cosmetic?

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Mike, it's actually a two piece body. From the top and the back it certainly does look like 1 piece. I'm not sure what the thought behind using 1 piece bodies is. They're certainly more expensive but I don't know if they're any better. Anyone?

Ok. Today I decided to do some routing. Firstly I positioned my battery template on the body and secured it with a couple of screws. I made sure to countersink the screws so the router base ran over them smoothly. I ran a straight edge over the template to make sure they were sunk deep enough.


I had my router already set up with a ball bearing routing bit that I bought from StewMac. In the picture you can see the cutting head of the bit at the bottom, then there is two ball bearing 'collars' with some plastic tubing on top. This tubing is there to stop the collars riding up the shaft while using the router.


I made sure to have the depth for the first pass set so that the first ball bearing collar was protruding from the router base when fully plunged. This collar then rides inside the template.

Ok so now I was ready to do some routing...... or so I thought.

I donned my safety goggles and a dust mask, and inserted my custom moulded earplugs ( I had to use these as I have no other ear defenders). ALL OF THESE SAFETY ITEMS ARE ESSENTIAL!!! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO ANY ROUTING WITHOUT WEARING THE PROPER SAFETY EQUIPMENT!

So I plunged the router into the body and proceed to make the cut. All was going well until the bit started to cut into the template!!!! SH1TE! I didn't have the plunge lock engaged and I let the router raise up a little by accident.
I realised what was happening quite quickly and shut the power off.

I was able to complete the routing in several passes, albeit with a now misshaped template. When I finished, It looked pretty bad.


I then had the idea to clean up the template with my Dremel and go over the existing rout. The finished result is not perfect but I'm pretty happy with it. Bear in mind this is the first time I've done any routing!

As you can see, the battery compartment will now run under the control plate slightly, but I'm not too concerned as it will all be covered up. The inside of the battery rout will be lined with sticky-backed foam to stop the battery knocking around inside.



So let this post be a lesson to those of you that intend on doing any routing!! I'd recommend making some test cuts on some scrap wood before you start.

Next I have to make a template in order to rout the control cavity...........

Dan

Looking good!

A tiny error I guess, but one that you've learnt from and can thankfully be covered up by the control plate.

Did you buy the router or hire it? Its not really the average garden shed power tool.

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my music

I bought the router in my local DIY store. It's a cheapo job and only cost €30. I bought the router bit from StewMac.com.

I'm not too annoyed with myself for f*£king it all up, as you say, it's all going to be covered by the pickguard and I learned from my mistake, which afterall, is the whole point of this thread!

Dan

Today I made a template for the control cavity rout. I traced the outline of the pencil marks I made on the body onto an acrylic blank. I then drilled out as much as I could first with a hand drill, then fine tuned the whole thing with a Dremel and a sanding bit.

I mounted this to the body in the same way as before and checked the screws were countersunk deep enough. I made sure this time to have the plunge lock engaged on the router when I made the cut. It took 4 passes.

I'm quite happy with the finished result


Again it's not perfect, but then, I don't have any previous routing experience, and all of this is covered by the pickguard.

To anyone making their own templates, I'd advise you to take your time and be very patient. It really pays to have the right tools also.

Next I'm going to apply a few coats of black woodstain.

Dan

I've also drilled a hole between the battery cavity and the control cavity which is not visible in the photo. I erased all the pencil marks on the body too, prior to finishing.

Dan

Looking good! How did you drill the hole between the battery cavity and control cavity? Do you just go at it at an angle?

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my music

Quote Mike Lynch:

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Looking good! How did you drill the hole between the battery cavity and control cavity? Do you just go at it at an angle?

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Hey Mike. Yes I just got a long drill bit and went in at an angle. Today I hope to get a couple of coats of black woodstain on the body. While this is drying, I'll start mounting components on the control plate.

Dan

I've put 1 coat of black stain on the body and it's already close to what I'm looking for. I'll post photo's when I've done the second coat and it has dried.

In the mean time I mounted most of the electronic components into the control plate. I made sure to remove the plastic protecting film from it first because I hate trying to remove it from around pots etc later. I'm sure you will have experienced this at some stage if you ever owned a Strat from new! Some people prefer to leave it on if they intend to resell the instrument, but I find it'll just start to peel off anyway.

As you can see from the photo, the back of the control plate had already been covered with conductive foil.


I've also installed the knobs on the pot shafts. The two metal knobs are Vol / Vol, and the plastic jazz bass knobs are Bass / Treble.
The switch will be EQ on/off.

I made sure that the two volume knobs point in the same direction when fully turned up, and that the two EQ knobs point in the same direction when at their centre detents.



I'll mount the Aguilar preamp to the control plate with some sticky backed velcro. Now it's time to fire up the soldering iron and start wiring this puppy up.

Dan

I've reached a problem with the wiring of the preamp.

I'm unsure of the purpose of two of the wires. One is Red/Black, the other is Brown/Green. Neither the diagram supplied with the Aguilar OBP2 or the diagrams available online for it, specify these two wires. I'm waiting on a reply from Aguilar tech support.

Anybody have any idea?

http://aguilaramp.com/pdf/support_wiring_obp2.pdf

I guess you're wiring as page 4 suggests? (EDIT: but with bypass toggle) Are you saying that you have 2 extra wires coming out of the preamp that are not shown on the diagram?

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my music

Edited by Mike Lynch (22/04/08 12:37 PM)

Hey Mike. Yep. I'm wiring it as per page 4 but I'm adding the EQ bypass switch as per page 2.

I have two extra wires coming from the preamp that aren't listed. One is Red/Black, the other is Brown/Green.

My gut feeling would be to ignore the stray wires for the time being and solder up following page 2 and 4 and see if it works.

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my music

Yeah I was thinking of doing that, but seeing as I'm in no rush, I'm going to hold off until I get a reply from Aguilar tech support.

I've given the body another coat of black woodstain today. It's lookin sweet! Here's a little sneak preview.


Dan

OK, just got a reply from Aguilar. Here's what they said:

Quote:

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Those wires are, well, "extra". You can cut them off or ignore them, because they do not do anything. What happened is that the OBP-2 and the OBP-3 share some common tooling, and in a recent manufacturing run, these two wires got placed on the OBP-2 by mistake. We thought that we caught the problem early, but a handful of these preamps got tested and shipped, and you got one of them. We test every single preamp twice before it ships, but the way that the wires are connected during test did not check for "extra" wires. This has been corrected, and it will not effect the functioning of your preamp.

It is a good idea to tape off the ends of these wires no matter how you cut them so that the ends do not accidentally short against another part inside the bass.

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So I guess I can go ahead and start wiring it up.

OK it's been a while but I've been tipping away at it.

I finally got the body finished (and by finished I mean painted! ) I applied two coats of black woodstain like this


by way of a foam brush like these ones


and it pretty much did exactly what it said on the tin! I just allowed a day between coats and let it all dry for a few days.

I then painted the inside of all the cavities with Conductive Shielding Paint that I got from StewMac. I applied three coats of this, allowing a day between coats. I also made sure to extend this sheilding to the top of the body around the control cavity, so it makes contact with the foil backed control plate. To achieve this I just masked up the area with standard masking tape.



I let this dry for another day or two and here's what I ended up with








The only reason I painted the pickup cavities, was so no bare wood shows. You can see inside these cavities even when the pickups are installed. Fair enough, you have to look pretty close to see it, but that's the way I wanted it. I don't know why I did the battery rout!

Originally I was going to spray lacquer over the woodstain, but I really like the look of it the way it is, so I've decided not to. I know this still leaves the grain open but I hope that won't be a problem.

While all of that was drying, I wired up the controls on the control plate


I now just have to install the pickups in the body and wire them up, run a string ground and also ground the shielding in the control cavity.

Dan

Oh yeah and wire up the battery clip!

Looking very good!

You're wiring is very neat - have you used cloth wire?

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my music

Thanks Mike.

Most of the wiring sprouts from the Aguilar preamp which is standard plastic coated wire. I've connected all of that as per their wiring diagrams and used 'push-back' cloth wire for all of the earthing. The pickups I'm using have cloth wire too.

By the way is that your pedal board I see in this months PM?

Dan

Yep, that's my pedal board!

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my music

NICE! I might have to talk to you about some of your home-made units!

The neck arrived for my bass from Warmoth yesterday. Pics soon!

Dan

Haha, no problem - I'm not the best with electronics but I'm not afraid to have ago! I hope to one day build some of the DIY compressors and pre-amps that are posted on the web. And probably sooner rather than later, one of the valve amp kits that are available.

Are you going to apply a decal to the headstock?

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my music

Yes Mike, I'm going to apply a Fender decal to the headstock, and I intend to follow the thread you started last year. It was this thread that actually gave me the confidence to do it!

For anybody wondering what I'm talking about....
Here's a link to Mike's headstock decal thread

I ordered a couple of decals from DecalJoe.com

Dan

So here are a few photos of the neck I received yesterday.......

The next step was to apply the decal......
As you can see from the photos the ones I received are very good quality. I ordered two, just in case I made a mess of the first one. They also came with four 'offset body contour' decals too.