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The Octo~bass .


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Hey Mike, Yep all good cheers, it's a lovely sunny day today on the big island, love the elm tops knots and all, stained or natural?

Nice! It snowed today ( again :D ) so I went sledding with the kids. had a nice bonfire in the fire-pit and then a snowball fight, followed by hot chocolate made by grandma. It was great!

I did nothing with the octo-bass as I'm contemplating lopping off the dolphin head like Scott suggested. Don't wanna act hastily.... so I got to it on my brothers bass - routed the pups and cavity for the controls, then drilled the looooong tunnel from the output jack to the neck pup. always a scary one to drill by hand. Came out great though.

I like the new cover for your pointy stick. Looks great.....

and I'm thinking the wifey needs some knickers like that. :D

Oh yeah , and Natural. B)

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Wow. :D

whip 'em out wednesday??? or world of warcraft?

I can't tell if thats a good wow, but I somehow doubt it....

I said no more pics till complete, but I smoothed out the upper horn after pondering Scotts advice.

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at this point, all shaping is done ( I hope... ) the tuner holes are drilled, the battery box is done and the strap button holes are in.

IMG_0309.jpg

I'm happy with the way its come out so far.

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It looks more elegant now...if that is an appropiate word for this design. This should be an attention getter on stage.

SR

If we're stretching it enough to call it a 'design' , we can stretch it enough to call it 'elegant' :D .

* reaches for boots, it's getting deep in here *

In all honesty, I like it better. I looked at it for days before committing the saw to it, but I do thank you for the suggestion. I weighed the options and looked and yours was just a better idea. leave it to an awesome carver to see the subtleties...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am currently up in the air over this thing, hardware-wise. The bridge is gold, the pups are black... what color tuners/knobs / output-jack cover is going to look right on the guitar?

The red and purple wood look sorta 'striped-suit-ish' , if that makes any sense...

I'm, actually thinking of doing a black and gold mix, but I'd love to hear some other thoughts.

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This is where she is right now..... still un-done at this point, but playable...

I kind of like the mix of hardware, but may go with all black knobs. Same with the bass tuners, may change those to black as well.

IMG_0348.jpg

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There's an unfinished string retainer on it at the moment, and a few spots that will need a touch-up on the teak-oil.

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I'm in the process of making ebony cavity covers for the controls and battery, too.

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Almost there.

Sound-wise, it's a monster. active 3 band EQ , pickup pan knob and the octave strings make a crazy amount of sounds possible. great sustain and a very pronounced, piano-like bass tone.

I'll post a video when she's 100% wrapped.

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Thanks.... apparently the shape reminds people of different things.... a tommy gun, an elephant, Shrek .... a 'bong' !

its a playable Rorshach test..... :D

Seriously though... I played this thing for hours yesterday! The bottom two strings sound like the top strings on a 12-string guitar! , the other four just sound like a regular bass, but the combination can yeild some neat sounds!!

I am certainly having fun with this one. :D

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  • 1 year later...

Oh, my aching bones ! I decided to break this beast out at band practice last week. After 4 hours, this thing left me with a serious shoulder ache.

So I stripped it down today and weighed it sans hardware and pups- it's 12 Lbs ! Woof.

So, in the interest of being able to use it live repeatedly, It's going under the knife. I'll keep you posted.......

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Oh, my aching bones ! I decided to break this beast out at band practice last week. After 4 hours, this thing left me with a serious shoulder ache.

So I stripped it down today and weighed it sans hardware and pups- it's 12 Lbs ! Woof.

So, in the interest of being able to use it live repeatedly, It's going under the knife. I'll keep you posted.......

NOOOOOOOoooooooo! don't cut 'er!!!

and post the promised video!

:angry2:

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Turn- first off- WELCOME to the forum. :D I appreciate you concern, but it's only aesthetics. I honestly did consider building a stand for it, something made of wood, very heavy and large but decided I don't want to haul it all to gigs n such. I could leave it as is and only break it out for certain tunes.

I have a 5 string made out of swamp ash, and it's good for shows, so I'm not backed into a corner with it but as Wes so wisely pointed out, a bass thats not being used is useless.

The most interesting thing I play on it is the song "Dee" by Randy Rhoads. It just sounds cool an octave down!

I'll video it up after the "surgery".

When i built it, I chambered the devil outta this thing and only kept one picture of the "map"........ re-shaping it TOO much won't happen, but that big purple-heart horn can go for sure. The feet are being rounded over into a more traditional shape and the flap-disk is being taken to the back to shed some thickness . I'm hoping for 3-4 Lbs lighter, but only time will tell.

I'll re-weigh after and post up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The great flapper-disk massacre of upstate NY happened yesterday........ I took a saw to the horn and then made a giant pile of red/orange sawdust with the flap-disk. Reshaped the body a bit and thinned it down a lot, as planned. It's lighter, but i still have some more removal to do, this time with a slightly more controllable tool than a grinder and disk. It worked fast- but had me way nervous about going through into the chamber.....

Didn't happen, thank God -but the rest will definitely be done by hand! :D

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