H's JBA-4 Fretless

[Dedman]

Thanks guys! I'm sure it won't be as easy next time

"Next time"......... *watches as Adam collects another soul and stuffs it in his bag laughing manically.

Remember kids, no one stops at one.

[wazkelly]

Most of the time we have these visions in mind as to how things should look only for it to come out slightly different.

Good to hear your 1st experimental brew worked out perfect.

[andrewdosborne]

Nice one H, looks awesome

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[UpperCaseH]

Yeah, there'll be a next time for sure! And probably several more after that. I can't decide whether it's the enjoyment of the process or the fun of having a new instrument that's the best part, but they both add up to something better than "I bought a new bass". I've been emailing Adam with stupid questions about what's included with what and I'm on the point of ordering a kit at the moment.

In the mean time, here's a quick and dirty recording of the fretless. My recording skills are extremely primitive and I've never used this amp to do anything other than the demo you can see there of the pedal I posted earlier, so the recording leaves a lot to be desired but I think it shows the character of the instrument if you can ignore the input clipping I couldn't get rid of in the 20 minutes I had this morning to do it.

Bass directly into Ampeg PF500 into interface and Cubase because I didn't have time to do anything more fancy: https://soundcloud.com/furtivedog/fretless-bass-test-1

Edit: New kit ordered, gonna do an LPA-1 with black hardware. Plan is ebony timbermate all over, black back, sides, and neck (try to make the grain show on the body) and then either a more transparent black or transparent dark red on the top and maybe headstock. Finished in Tru-oil again because I enjoyed that process.

[Brendan]

Sounds great H - overall - are you happy with the build? I'm guessing so as you've already started the ball rolling on #2...

[UpperCaseH]

Sounds great H - overall - are you happy with the build? I'm guessing so as you've already started the ball rolling on #2...

Yep, very happy with this as my first "finished" kit guitar. I'm not sure if it's finished finished because I'm not yet 100% happy with the action. Right now it seems like the nut is a little bit tall, but I don't want to start making adjustments until a few weeks have passed and the neck's settled in properly.

This one's technically build #2 - I've got a telecaster on the go but the dingotone still hasn't cured on it after 5 and a bit weeks, and with what I've learned from the bass I'm seriously considering sanding it and starting again because there are things I could do better./ I'll give it another week or two and see what happens though.

I'm not joking when I say that I can't figure out if there's more enjoyment in having the new bass or in building it. Wood work and especially wood finishing was not at all in my skill set before I started, and I'm finding that it's very relaxing and enjoyable to have something like this to work on, so there's every chance I'll just keep going and keep trying to improve each time. There's about 4 different ideas floating around in my head about stuff I'd like to try, so I've got plenty of inspiration to go on with.

Overall, I was expecting the process to be very difficult, and... well it wasn't easy, but it was far from the impossibility that I thought it might be 3 or 4 months back.

[ThreeBbass]

I'm not joking when I say that I can't figure out if there's more enjoyment in having the new bass or in building it. Wood work and especially wood finishing was not at all in my skill set before I started, and I'm finding that it's very relaxing and enjoyable to have something like this to work on, so there's every chance I'll just keep going and keep trying to improve each time. There's about 4 different ideas floating around in my head about stuff I'd like to try, so I've got plenty of inspiration to go on with.

Hey H, I totally agree with you ... it's no wonder this guitar building game can get addictive. I'm also getting near the end of my first build and have already ordered the next one!

[UpperCaseH]

Short video demo: https://youtu.be/tnhxxgoqqRo

I can't get audio from my interface to sync with my cheap webcam, so it's recorded via smartphone. Gives a bit of a better idea than the previous demo though.

Hey H, I totally agree with you ... it's no wonder this guitar building game can get addictive. I'm also getting near the end of my first build and have already ordered the next one!

Haha, for sure! (Gotta go check the tracking page again to see if it's moved!)

[Dedman]

Sounds great H!

[andrewdosborne]

Good demo H nice sounding bass

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