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I've been thinking about building a cheap, functional practice bass that I can use on the commuter train to and from work and during lunch.
I've got a bunch of interesting "parts" lying around and a couple of ideas, but I know you guys have a ton of experience and know-how that maybe this idea can take more shape.
My main aim is space economy (not only length, but number of extra parts/wires should be minimal) quickly followed by functionality...I don't care as much about aesthetics but I will try to make sure it is not totally ugly.
Here are the parts I have handy:
My initial thought would be to build some tiny body wings to house the electronics (probably made of maple). Wind a single pickup (maybe a single rail or dual rail humbucker) with volume and tone controls and a switchable output jack (I will explain somewhat below).
I'm thinking of wiring the headphone out to a volume and blend pot to blend the signal from the pickup and the MP3 player and wire up some common power supply that powers both the amplifier and the mp3 player (I have NO idea how to do this, but it doesn't sound too complicated...hopefully I'm right).
I'd like the Bass In a Box/MP3 unit to also detach and work as a standalone practice headphone amp and to put a toggle switch in the bass to switch between using the practice unit (when "plugged in" to the bass") or the output jack (if I want to plug into a real amp).
I have very little idea how to do all this, but I can solder well and pick things up very quickly. I'd love for your input! Thanks!
I've got a bunch of interesting "parts" lying around and a couple of ideas, but I know you guys have a ton of experience and know-how that maybe this idea can take more shape.
My main aim is space economy (not only length, but number of extra parts/wires should be minimal) quickly followed by functionality...I don't care as much about aesthetics but I will try to make sure it is not totally ugly.
Here are the parts I have handy:
- Enough pieces of maple and jatoba (as well as a pre-slotted short-scale fretboard made of purpleheart) sitting around to build a short-scale (30" scale) neck-through bass without body wings. I'm thinking of making this headless if I can find decently cheap hardware or something similar.
- a Dean Bass In A Box which is easy to take apart:
- an old creative Zen 512 mb MP3 player (which already has a broken case but the circuits are fully intact and working):
My initial thought would be to build some tiny body wings to house the electronics (probably made of maple). Wind a single pickup (maybe a single rail or dual rail humbucker) with volume and tone controls and a switchable output jack (I will explain somewhat below).
I'm thinking of wiring the headphone out to a volume and blend pot to blend the signal from the pickup and the MP3 player and wire up some common power supply that powers both the amplifier and the mp3 player (I have NO idea how to do this, but it doesn't sound too complicated...hopefully I'm right).
I'd like the Bass In a Box/MP3 unit to also detach and work as a standalone practice headphone amp and to put a toggle switch in the bass to switch between using the practice unit (when "plugged in" to the bass") or the output jack (if I want to plug into a real amp).
I have very little idea how to do all this, but I can solder well and pick things up very quickly. I'd love for your input! Thanks!