November Guitar of the Month Competition

[andrewdosborne]

Another sensational round of GOTM builds nice work everyone


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[Marijn]

Finally, I was allowed by my parent to build a bass. I've been nagging for it for a few years and now that I'm starting a study in Design, they thought it would be a great addition to my portfolio. So I started designing several basses, I still have ideas to build about 8 different basses. But this custom idea, combining a Thunderbird and Telecaster was "the one".
After a long wait ( it was only 8 weeks but I couldn't wait to start building!) the kit arrived in the Netherlands and we had a slight problem. A few things weren't there... we e-mailed Adam and the problem was solved in a wink of an eye, great service.

The build got a headstart with the sanding which really went well for a first time.
After a few layers of paint it already had the wow effect and, while I had my holiday, I got up early to finish it. In the meanwhile, I was designing a name-based "brand" logo for the headstock and I came up with the current design with its name Bluebird. Installing the hardware and soldering the electronics wasn't a big deal and at the end of the day I had my finished bass. I'm really happy with Bluebird, and it sounds amazing.
I am sorry for the not so top quality photographs, I had to crop them to upload: enjoy them as much as I do!

[andrewdosborne]

That’s a really nice bass Marijn. Look forward to seeing more of your future builds. The parents give in eventually with enough hint dropping


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[Sonic Mountain]

Supercool bass and nice custom work.

[teamjeffo]

That looks schweet

[Sonic Mountain]

I don't know if its because I'm paying extra special attention this month, but the sheer diversity and quality of the entries is crazy.

Glad I'm not judging.

I think I'd better order a Thunderbird Bass kit.

[Kick]

Well done job Marijn

[wokkaboy]

Awesome thunderbird bass Marijn. sweet job. As you say Sonic this is a great bunch of diverse axes this month

[Melkor]

My first build. It's the STA-1M kit with s-s-h configuration in the pickups. I painted it using Accent flat black spray paint and the front is covered with sections of Batman comics (blasphemy!). Glossed with Accent quick dry spray gloss (lots of it! About 2 cans just on the body!). I cut the head stock to go with the bottom of the Batman logo by hand. I got the Pro Rock Gear strap locks on it and matched the guitar with a Batman strap I picked up on eBay.

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Noyce Axe mate, noyce!

[billb]

hahaha THREE TBird basses in one month! It is so definitely the right shape for a bass.
This one has taken me 6 or 7 months to finish and is one of those projects that kept fighting me all the way, nothing major just lots of little things going wrong- but i'm really happy with the final result.
There was a little bit of body work to shape and thin the top rear corner so it sits better and a lot of filling and sanding to blend in the raised centre section which is just a couple of mms of wood glued on the top of the body. I also routed the neck pickup shape for the P and added a battery compartment on the back. I didn;t use the battery compartment in the end because I changed my mind half way through and went for passive pickups - an EMG P in the neck which is reasonable and a Lace Bass Bar in the bridge (which is lovely!), with basic V/V/T controls. All the cavities etc. are fully shielded with copper foil. Hipshot ultralight machine heads and a Hipshot Kickass bridge along with some decent strings keep everything nice and solid. I also put Paua marker dots in and moved the strap lock attachment to the neck plate so it balances better.
Most of the work went into the finish, it was bad timing trying to paint it over the depths of winter south of Canberra but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Undercoat, gloss black and clear where all spray cans from Supercheap Auto, with lots of sanding in between. For the Aztec calendar design I used a stencil and airbrush. The whole lot was then polished with car polish.
The truss rod cover was cut by Pablo with some custom decals. The pickguard I cut out of 3mm thick acrylic that has a metallic cloth or something embedded - it looks great in the light.
Anyway, pictures: