Dora the EX-4plora

[Rabbit]

Hi all

I hadn't intended to do a second build, The Hoff was just meant to be a cheap way to end up with a violin bass sound, but I got sucked in when looking at the basses on the web page. After waiting 2 weeks with no reply to my phone message, and another two week wait with no reply to the e-mail left on the address listed on the Custom page (how does anyone here manage to actually get a quote and order a custom? ), I went ahead and back ordered a standard kit, I'll just have to go to the extra work and possible expense of customising it myself . I'm guessing it should show up in a few weeks.

Most of the mods are just replacing hardware, there is one that requires some actual woodwork. I know that some people adore the hockey stick headstock, but I'm not one of them. It has to go! I'm planning on doing a reverse headstock. When I were a lad, I could have sworn the shape I wanted I had seen on an Ibanez guitar, but after looking at dozens of headstocks, I couldn't find it. I did find pretty much what I was after on a 6 string Solar guitar with an Explorer type body. I have already traced that into Inkscape, ready to scale to match the bass headstock when the kit shows up.

I know that Pit Bull have to ship some of their necks with blank headstocks due to copyright/patent issues, but is there an issue with the end user doing a duplicate of another manufacturer's headstock, or does it still need to be modified slightly?

Any Ideas?

[FrankenWashie]

If you are going to make 500 and sell them commercially then it might be an issue. Emulating a standard manufacturers shape for a one off for personal use shouldn’t be an issue. Just don’t slap the manufacturers name or brand device on it.


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[Rabbit]

If you are going to make 500 and sell them commercially then it might be an issue. Emulating a standard manufacturers shape for a one off for personal use shouldn’t be an issue. Just don’t slap the manufacturers name or brand device on it.

There's no chance of me putting a Solar logo or name on it...It's MY bloody guitar. not theirs!

I'm not sure what the width of the nut of a standard six string is, but I think that it's similar to the nut of the 4 string bass. I suspect that I will have to slightly elongate the headstock to accommodate the 4th machine head, so the ratios will not be the same as Solar's headstock.

[DarkMark]

Good thread name.
Strange, I’ve done a couple of custom orders and responses have been much quicker than your experience.
Good luck with the build.

[Simon Barden]

6-string Gibson style nuts tend to be in the 42-43mm wide region, which is about teh same as a bass nut. In necessary you can always make on from a blank.

What are you trying to do? Convert a 4-string EX-4 bass into a 6 string baritone? Or an EX-1 kit into a very short-scale bass? The former has lots of pitfalls, whilst there are some I can think of for the latter as well. It would be good to know just what your plans are.

[Rabbit]

What are you trying to do? Convert a 4-string EX-4 bass into a 6 string baritone? .

Hehe, neither of these things. I am converting an EX 4 string bass...into an EX 4 string bass! All I'm doing is changing the shape of the headstock, I will have to do some cutting and pasting to the original headstock to create a paddle to re-shape. The template I'm using is from a standard 6 string guitar. As it stands it will be long enough for 3 inline machine heads, but may be just shy of being long enough for all 4. I'll knw once I get my kit and can either scan the front side of the headstock (creating a reversed image with the holes in the right place) , or trace around, that I can superimpose over my template. Then I can move the lines to fit .

[Simon Barden]

OK, that's fine. It was the nut question that threw me.

[wazkelly]

Hey Rabbs, the EX's come with headstock already cut & shaped in the hockey stick shape and sadly there is no extra meat to play with as you find on any F style paddle neck. This could add just a few more degrees of difficulty to your intended project.

[Rabbit]

Hey Rabbs, the EX's come with headstock already cut & shaped in the hockey stick shape and sadly there is no extra meat to play with as you find on any F style paddle neck. This could add just a few more degrees of difficulty to your intended project.

Like I said, cut and paste .

I'll be adding cherry to the headstock to give me some meat to work with. It's getting painted so it doesn't matter that the timber doesn't match.

[wazkelly]

Can't wait to see how it all comes together.

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