Thread: Cheapness

Originally Posted by IWieldTheSpade

Hi all,

I'm interested in having a go at an electric upright bass, but not interested in spending the money on good timber for a first crack at one They're a lot of good timber wasted if a stuff up happens, and inevitably there's always a few kinks the first time.
Any suggestions on some timber types that will hold as neck worthy and are relatively inexpensive?

Thanks

Queensland maple might be a good choice for neckwood at reasonable cost.

Literally most any good quality hardwood you can get your hands on would work.... It might not be so easy to get the larger timber needed to do a 1-pc neck with the big scroll and all - but you could easily laminate it up out of thin stock.... For example - you could laminate it up out of pallet wood if you needed to....

My primary consideration would be looking for good, straight grain pieces... No knots, twists, cracks, etc...

Thanks

I started with MDF, it was just so easy to work with the first time around, just to give me some general ideas of buildings guitars, remember, nothing should ever go wrong if you build templates for EVERYTHING...

David..

Originally Posted by IWieldTheSpade

Hi all,
not interested in spending the money on good timber for a first crack at one
Thanks

if it turns out really well you really will wish you had spent a bit more on timber
the major input of a project is your time - the difference between good timber and rubbish at the end the job is negliglible

most first builds turn out pretty good btw
i have watched countless first build logs and cant remember one that turned out an unplayable uglee POS

Yep... So true!

I guess you gotta decide how much TIME you are willing to trade for how much Money?

If you want to build fast and moderately cheap - you want to minimize finishing difficulty and minimize making millions of joints.... and pick decent quality Lumberyard wood that is very friendly to work.....

For example - pick a medium density non-porous wood for the neck that carves fast and without trouble.... Not sure what the Aus equivalent of American Soft maple or Aspen is.... The advantage there is that you don't waste WEEKS of extra time filling pores and wrestling with the finishing.. Just sand and shoot your finish! And you won't have to waste extra weeks on making 6,000 different glue joints like if you scrapped it together out of Pallet bits and broken Curb collections.....

If you plan on a thick, colorful, opaque finish - you can start with Plywood and Bondo for the body.... It's beautifully easy to work... and usually very easy to collect usable plywood scrap for free....

If you have no money what-so-ever - then you just will have to scrap something together out of road side cast off's, dumpster rescues, and such.... Then, you can bask in the Glory of your Skill making up for a total lack of raw material quality!

Thanks