Jeff Miles' all-American 4-string fretless bass

[Jeff Mills]

Introduction and a little about my most recent build 33 3/8" scale Semi Hollow body unlined fretless 4 string bass.

The entire bass is made in USA with ALL Made in USA parts (down to the last screw)

The body is slightly carved top, 2" thick quarter sawn poplar, 14 1/2 wide, 21 1/2" tall. The neck is quarter sawn hard maple "C" shaped semi thick (custom shaped for my big hand), two twoway truss rods. Finger board is also quarter sawn hard maple 10" radius, 1 11/16 @ nut, 2.200 @ the other end. The neck is removable and set 6" into body in a mortise and tendon fashion. held in place by two 1/4-20 hex head bolts and neck tilt by 4 1/-20 set screws (accessible under neck and middle pickups). Nut is Rickenbacker vintage delrin. Tuners are Hipshot HB1, bridge is Hipshot Rickenbacker replacement chrome plated brass. Truss rod and control box cover are 1/8 maple, pickups are custom and wiring is my own design output is either stereo (when using two heads) or mono.

Some good points:
Playability - excellent
Sound - can be dialed in to almost a double bass to a growling wolf
Sustain - it just keeps on ringing till you lift your finger of the strings.

Some bad points:
Heavy - the hipshot brass bridge comes in a 1lb 6 ounces - although I'm sure it adds to the sustain... it also makes for a heavy bass.
Mans bass - not for small hands or the timid - 16 year old daughter can not play comfortably on the neck, says it's HUGE - however I don't see anything wrong with it - it's not a toy bass.

I named her Leahbacker - her sister (next build) will be Rachelbacker (a slimmer fretted version of Leah) I went after a two wives of Jacob theme.






Thanks

[Gerry Beckles]

Outstanding Job! Reminds me of a project I've been trying to complete for some time.....I'm sure Rachel will be even more of a looker

[Scott French]

Jeff, love the all American theme! Are you using NOS or used electronics? If not care to share some of your part sources? I haven't been able to find a lot of USA electronics options and I am too a big fan of American made stuff.

[Mark Wybierala]

Jeff, I wish we were neighbors. That bass is awesome! Its quite like the direction I have been wanting to go. I love the look of Rics and you captured exactly the look that I appreciate about them. This ought to be their new model. I'm serious. It classical Ric but modern. What did you do for finish -- your whole process?

[Jeff Mills]

Jeff, I wish we were neighbors. That bass is awesome! Its quite like the direction I have been wanting to go. I love the look of Rics and you captured exactly the look that I appreciate about them. This ought to be their new model. I'm serious. It classical Ric but modern. What did you do for finish -- your whole process?

Thanks for the compliments, this is only my third build so quite the greenhorn. It would be cool if we were close by - we could share resources and knowledge.

I really built this bass to solve a few technical playing problems I developed over the years.

The first that was really bothersome was that I found my self wrapping my thumb around the fingerboard, like a ball bat - not good. Those store bought basses have such thin necks and I'm a pretty big guy with big hands. So I carved up several different neck profiles (the U / V and C) at various thicknesses and found the one that fits my hand and is thick enough to stop me from wrapping my thumb around the fingerboard but not to thick to be un-playable. I settled in on a C profile and what I'm calling a semi-thick neck.

Second problem to solve was I found myself curling my "fretting" hand pinky finger up twords my palm while playing - also not good. The "Fender Style" necks have a 1 1/2" nut and 3/4 string spacing at the bridge, The angle is pretty steep for me. So by using a ricky finger board like angle I was able to overcome my pinky problem. The strings are spaced closer at the bridge and wider at the nut on a ricky bass than on a fender style.

Third was scale length - 34" is a little to big for me to play comfortably. I could hammer and pull from the 1st to 5th frets respectively on a 34 but not smoothly - I had to jump my hand. This 33 3/8" scale is just about right for me to hammer and pull from the 1" and 5th frets. Actually I took a 34" scale template and just chopped off the 1st fret and called the 2nd fret the 1st fret this left me with a scale length that's darn close to 33 3/8". Granted it's an unlined fretless so I really didn't do any cutting just marking but you catch my drift.

Let me gather up my thoughts and I'll write up a short story of the entire build process.

Thanks again for the compliments.