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Mouradian-style 4 string bass


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Hi

I've mentioned this a couple of times in one of my recent summary threads but it probably warrants a proper build thread as it develops.

I was contacted by someone who has seen and played the Camphor and Alder Single-cut bass I built for Kert and has clearly got me in the 'mad as a brush and will try anything' category of builder.

What he wants is a bass very much in the style of the custom job that Jim Mouradian built for the 'Yes' bassist Chris Squire back in the 70's:

Chris Squire.JPG

Headstock will be different and the lower bout will be a touch slimmer but this sort of thing, in a cream solid colour, is what the guy (Nic) has asked me to have a go at.

For no better reason than it worked OK last time, I opted to have a similar construction to the EB-3ish SG bass I've just finished, albeit with some different woods.

Agreed spec is:

  • 34" scale
  • Mahogany weight-relieved body
  • Maple neck with rosewood centre splice
  • Rosewood fretboard
  • Passive but with a couple of massive humbucker pickups
  • Semi-concealed Smoothhound wireless TX / cable alternative

I'll bring the progress thread up to date over the next couple of days  :D

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This is the slightly tweaked shape.  Just 5mm or so off the rear upper and lower bouts:

_MG_9550.JPG

 

I thicknessed some mahogany down to c. 20mm and started cutting out the shape for the top:

_MG_9648.JPG

It's going to be a solid colour so no problem with the colour mismatch.

Then got some nice plain maple, using my central rosewood laminating splice offset to form the truss-rod channel:

_MG_9703.JPG

Then squared and thinned the neck down to finish maximum width, notched and fine-tuned the slot for the top to sit into and band-saw cut the side shape:

_MG_9725.JPG 

...and finally cut the bottom mahogany wings, using the top as a drawing template:

_MG_9750.JPG

_MG_9753.JPG

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20 hours ago, Johnny Foreigner said:

This looks fun.

Tangentially related: I once shot a piece with the Mouradians about guitar care. Lovely blokes. And Pat Badger from Extreme was hanging around in the shope while we were setting up.

 

Brilliant.  They have a great reputation for very sound, experience-based, knowledge and a passion for getting it right...even way over here in the UK 

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Bit more progress today.  Got the rear wings on (and Mrs Andy is out again, Scott :thumb:):

_MG_9832.JPG

 

And agreed with Nic, the future owner, that we'll use my logo swifts on the 12th fret.  These are the paper templates in place:

_MG_9825.JPG

 

...and while the glue for the rear panels was curing, I jeweller's saw'd out the swifts:

_MG_9830.JPG

Now...which needle file shall I use to finish them off? :lol: 

With the top still off, I will rout the cable runs, weight relieving chambers, etc and then glue the top on before final shaping.

Even with the top just laid on, it's beginning to look like a bass, though :):

_MG_9833.JPG

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20 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Your wood choices go together so nicely it's going to be sad to see the top painted. The colors bring to mind @psikoT's lovely single cut.

SR

I'm pretty sure even the neck is going to be solid colour.   Shame in someways but he's very excited by it anyway so no probs :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Reasonable amount of progress on this.

Got the back wings glued and lightening chambers, etc routed:

_MG_9863.JPG

 

Then the top glued on and the edges rounded.  The fretboard isn't glued yet:

_MG_9899.JPG

 

For the headstock, I attached a couple of wings cut from the neck excess and then went for a cutout to try to give a passing nod to aspects of the body shape:

_MG_9934.JPG

 

Here is what it is starting to look like:

_MG_9936.JPG

_MG_9940.JPG

 

The mahogany is going to be painted solid cream.  The neck, including body section, left natural and the headstock will be stained a little darker with a central cream stripe and a few swifts :)

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I like how the edges are "roundabout" . Also- I noticed the bridge is "close to the edge". :blush

 

Guess I shouldnt become a comedian- (I had a couple more but they were worse than the first two and those were pretty lame)- seriously though- looking good- and like how you styled the headstock- it flows better than the original headstock. 

is the cream color you mention like the color of his ric?

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Much prefer your headstock to the original one. The one on the original Mouradian looks like a bit of an afterthought.

 

5 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

_MG_9940.JPG

You may want to consider adding a bit of reinforcement to that little flap of timber at the edge of the wireless cavity, or even taking it off completely  I can see an ill-positioned lead or guitar stand accidentally snapping that off.

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4 minutes ago, Mr Natural said:

I like how the edges are "roundabout" . Also- I noticed the bridge is "close to the edge". :blush

 

Guess I shouldnt become a comedian- (I had a couple more but they were worse than the first two and those were pretty lame)- seriously though- looking good- and like how you styled the headstock- it flows better than the original headstock. 

is the cream color you mention like the color of his ric?

I think @Andyjr1515 will be reluctant to let this go when he's finished building it. That would make him an Owner of a Lonely Heart.

And You And I should discuss sending this one down here to the South Side of The Sky instead? Perhaps you could give me a discount of Five Percent For Nothing, then we'll hit the pub so that can be Going For The One pint or two?

...I'm done...:blink:

 

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5 minutes ago, curtisa said:

I think @Andyjr1515 will be reluctant to let this go when he's finished building it. That would make him an Owner of a Lonely Heart.

And You And I should discuss sending this one down here to the South Side of The Sky instead? Perhaps you could give me a discount of Five Percent For Nothing, then we'll hit the pub so that can be Going For The One pint or two?

...I'm done...:blink:

 

lol- you went further than I did bro. and better than I did. and I totally forgot about 5%! well done! (I may have to pull out my RECORDS) ha.

In danger of hijacking poor Andy's thread- this could get hilarious- or ridiculous- or both. but at least he has two pats on the back for the headstock design. 

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17 hours ago, curtisa said:

Careful what you wish for...

Yes Andy- careful- as "It can happen". (where is the drum rim shot emoji when you need it)

Maybe you should have said to "leave it" alone- but now- "onward" folks. :wOOt

 

Question for you Andy-on the cream color (and I ask this cause I have tried and failed over the years)- when I think of Squires Ric the original is more of a late 60s/70s fender color (and I am careful here to say vintage cream or vintage white cause alot of the stuff they put out these days is no where near the original colors- and I get the whole "yellowing of lacquer" over time thing- )do you have a product in mind- or technique that you are willing to share(if not- cool). IMO-two of the hardest colors to reproduce in their true original form are that cream color- and the 70s fender and gibson "midnight wine" "wine red"colors. (and the reproductions are no where close to the originals)

a good example -hendrix's strat he used at woodstock- that is the color I have in mind when I think of Squire's original Rickenbacker. I have seen some of the Squire signature models from Rickenbacker that I would say were spot on, and some that were more yellowish than the original. and its tough to get a good photo of that bass from that period that isnt affected by stage lighting. 

Edited by Mr Natural
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4 hours ago, Mr Natural said:

Yes Andy- careful- as "It can happen". (where is the drum rim shot emoji when you need it)

Maybe you should have said to "leave it" alone- but now- "onward" folks. :wOOt

 

Question for you Andy-on the cream color (and I ask this cause I have tried and failed over the years)- when I think of Squires Ric the original is more of a late 60s/70s fender color (and I am careful here to say vintage cream or vintage white cause alot of the stuff they put out these days is no where near the original colors- and I get the whole "yellowing of lacquer" over time thing- )do you have a product in mind- or technique that you are willing to share(if not- cool). IMO-two of the hardest colors to reproduce in their true original form are that cream color- and the 70s fender and gibson "midnight wine" colors. (and the reproductions are no where close to the originals)

a good example -hendrix's strat he used at woodstock- that is the color I have in mind when I think of Squire's original Rickenbacker. I have seen some of the Squire signature models from Rickenbacker that I would say were spot on, and some that were more yellowish than the original. and its tough to get a good photo of that bass from that period that isnt affected by stage lighting. 

I haven't got my head around it yet.  

I have a photo of the Ric that the prospective owner used to play and what he wants to emulate. For the sake of a couple of spray cans, I'll see how nitro from a UK supplier Manchester Guitar Tech fares...you start with an Olympic-ish White and then overspray with a yellowish tinted clear.  I'll also look at car colours - there are some fiat and European ford colours that are in the right spectrum, again maybe with a tinted overspray.

I'm starting to look at options while I am still a way off the finishing stage....

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12 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

For the sake of a couple of spray cans, I'll see how nitro from a UK supplier Manchester Guitar Tech fares...

I'll be interested how you find their coloured nitro. I'm using their clear nitro when I finally get around to putting a finish on. Their metallics look interesting too

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13 hours ago, Norris said:

I'll be interested how you find their coloured nitro. I'm using their clear nitro when I finally get around to putting a finish on. Their metallics look interesting too

Hi, Norris

I used their stuff for a butterscotch tele last year...I'll post a shot when I get onto the desktop.  It worked well but was frighteningly expensive compared to my normal methods...

 

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10 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Hi, Norris

I used their stuff for a butterscotch tele last year...I'll post a shot when I get onto the desktop.  It worked well but was frighteningly expensive compared to my normal methods...

 

Your "normal" methods involve a £3 bottle of ink - yes it IS relatively expensive :D

Btw, I don't think I've mentioned what a great job you are doing on this bass yet ;)

Edited by Norris
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5 minutes ago, Norris said:

Your "normal" methods involve a £3 bottle of ink - yes it IS relatively expensive :D

Btw, I don't think I've mentioned what a great job you are doing on this bass yet ;)

Well, to be fair, it's a £3 bottle of ink, a £1 micro-fibre cloth AND £2 worth of varnish and thinners .... I don't skimp, I'll have you know :lol:

 

I suppose my surprise was that, with carriage (it is treated as carriage of hazardous materials due to new transport regs and put onto 'specialist' couriers) it came to £100 just for one £200 build...

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3 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Well, to be fair, it's a £3 bottle of ink, a £1 micro-fibre cloth AND £2 worth of varnish and thinners .... I don't skimp, I'll have you know :lol:

 

I suppose my surprise was that, with carriage (it is treated as carriage of hazardous materials due to new transport regs and put onto 'specialist' couriers) it came to £100 just for one £200 build...

Ouch! For that much it's probably worth driving up to Manchester to collect it!

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Got the fretboard glued while the neck was still squared off.  @Prostheta would be proud of me - full use of cauls top and  bottom for the clamping!:

_MG_9962.JPG

_MG_9964.JPG

 

Then today my favourite bit - the neck carve.  I use mainly a cabinet scraper but take the corners off with a spokeshave and rough it out with a micro-plane bade (and gloves :lol:)

_MG_9981.JPG

I'd previously made some plasticard templates from profiles taken from the new owner's favourite bass:

_MG_9980.JPG

Then carved the volute using pretty much every hand tool I have in my workshop plus a few borrowed from neighbours, local building sites and unsuspecting members of the public...

_MG_9992.JPG

 

 

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