Acrylic and Aluminum Fretless Bass | No Wood, only 'Tone Acrylic' :)

I made this short-scale, fretless bass from a piece of reclaimed acrylic that was used as a TV show prop and an aluminum cutoff. The pickup was rewired by Gemini Pickups.

Also thanks to Tools Today fro providing the cutters. Parts list is below:

51428-K 1/2” Dia Up Cut Plastic
46577-K 1/4” Dia 3D Carving / Flat
46294-K 1/4” Dia 3D Carving Ball Nose
46292-K 1/8” Dia 3D Carving / Flat
45771-K 30° V-Groove
MA10080 10” Acrylic saw blade, Mamba by Amana Tool

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be good,
Tim

[manderson]

smoked acrylic is a superior tone plastic to clear acrylic.

[felixfromnebraska]

Loved it, but I still like the one you built for me to give to my son. Update: He is doing great, he had a heart transplant 4 weeks ago, and is coming home from the hospital next Monday.

[Dad-Gad]

I'm pretty sure aged acrylic would have more sustain, everyone knows that !

[floydloonie]

I love your acrylic bass! Very cool & the "use of acoustic "tone acrylic" was an inspired, choice of material to use for the build, Clear clean highs, and transparent lows, and the midrange tones are virtually as smooth as glass!! Thank you for sharing your project with us viewers.

[wizrom]

Don't flame polish. Just sand with progressive fine papers down to 1200, then lube with Vaseline and stay at 1200 greased sandpaper for a while. Then finish with car chrome polish mixed 50/50 with Vaseline on a tshirt cloth, you can get a glass like finish without any risk of melt rippling.
That would also stop any heat warping of the neck.
Gluing the aluminium fingerboard to acrylic will never work long term because of the different heat expansion of the two materials the join will always fail later.

[meberg]

This is legitimately one of the best build videos I've ever seen, on any topic. If everybody did this, youtube would be 5000% better.

[josiahding]

Very impressive... oh wait wrong channel.








No kidding tho that's a rly cool bass I'm actually impressed 😂

[GlarryGuitars]

Tim sway---- not afraid to fail or succeed. Doesn't care what u think, doesn't claim theory as fact. And I's willing to sacrifice time and money to answer all of our questions. Tim u are a genius and a true Luther love ya brother

[JackmanWorks]

Even better than what I expected from this acrylic and I expected a lot!

[Timone]

I dig the armadillo.  The bass sounds better than I thought it would with an aluminum neck.  Very creative and entertaining to watch.

[boblangill]

It's clear. It's cool. And no hidden broken nails to mess up a planer. Nice Tim..real nice.

[stir_stick]

We are always *way more critical* of our work than anyone else is. That thing looks and sounds great! Nice work, thanks for posting! 👍🏻

[BadFriend_s]

Aluminum neck-through, with interchangeable acrylic wings

[Dan_Kornfeld]

A brilliant build! The armadillo absolutely works - armored animal, bulletproof polycarbonate, Excalibur-like aluminum fretboard! Very cool! Keep doing what you do!

[nobodycares]

All in all, despite the things that you were unhappy with, I think you've made a beautiful instrument.

[arenotdiy]

Your method for making build videos is fantastic. I love your honesty with the viewer, it makes your uploads full of useful content for other folks wanting to emulate you. In other words, you rock man.

[Francois_L_]

Tim: I was talking to my dad about your acrylic bass a few days ago and he told me that he's seen guys at his job's model shop (back in the 80's) polish acrylic using a soft leather wheel. The friction would melt the surface but not affect the overall stability of the parts. It might work with artificial leather too. I also saw a guy who was restoring old screwdrivers and his final step was something like 12, 000 grit paper. Might be a better solution than heating the stuff as it's a lot more controllable.

[madhatterforher_hadher]

Awesome accomplishment on your very first prototype Tim! Twas very interesting and therapeutic to watch! All the very best Brother!😎👍🏻✨

[AidanXavier]

The idea of a cyberpunk looking bass like that that plays with an upright bass sound is amazing

[conservatvepatrot]

Old timer tricks :). A rolling paper is even better, for setting your bit.

This was amazing man. Truly, well done.