bassman Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 (edited) Here is the link - by the way I have never been able to post my images onto my posts- what gives? The first 4 pics are the newest. My Webpage It still needs several more coats of poly/oil. I also need to find a lathe so that I can make the knob out of matching amboyna burl. The finger board needs to be oiled as well. Please give me some feedback (positive or critical) on this bass as I am already planning the next one- very similar but with some killer changes if possible so that the face will have an even cleaner look. Specs... Fishamn Matrix NAtural 1 transducer with active preamp Single control- volume MAple body with sound chambers Birdseye neck, cocobolo fingerboard,hot rod truss, 2 carbon fiber rods 1/4" Amboyna Burl Top Bone and Cocobolo bridge- "trimmed down" zero fret Quilted maple cavity cover ABM headless hardware- minus the bridge of course LaBella double ball tapewounds Sam Maloof's poly/oil finish- some killer stuff I tell yeah It will have a hidden strap lock system once I actually order the damn things 34" scale- with 30 "invisible frets"- you know what I mean Edited January 3, 2005 by bassman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 That looks awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePlague Posted January 3, 2005 Report Share Posted January 3, 2005 i'm not much for headless instruments, but that design looks awesome. the shape really goes well with the fact that it's fretless IMO. and the no magnetic pickups leaves more of that beautiful wood to be admired. very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Sweet! How does the Fishman mount up, under the saddle? Or in the chambers? How's it sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted January 6, 2005 Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 For the knob, you can try a drill press if you have one. You can drill a small hole, then glue in a dowel rod as the shaft. Put that in the drill press and take your dremel with a sanding drum to it. When you're done you just re-drill the center hole. I've only done a couple like that but it works. An even easier idea (which shows you what an idiot I am that I'm still using my drill press) is to buy a plug cutter for around $25-30 and you can make all the knobs you want. But they need a lot of cleaning up if you're going to use them as knobs. Only the top of a plug is meant to be seen. The cut is a little rough. It's a little harder to center the hole, too. A simple way to center the hole would be to lock everything in place on the drill press. Then (assuming your knob is 1" diameter) drill a hole in some scrap with a 1" bit. Then drop your knob in there and switch to the smaller drill bit. It should be perfectly centered. That's a great design by the way. I think it's a 100% success! I wish I could play it right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassman Posted January 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 The fishman mounts under the saddle- it is extremely responsive to the nuances of fingering techniques. For a sloppy player this setup is not ideal. For a player who can play without producing "garbage" noise (some people think they dont do this until they record in a studio) the sound coming out of this bass is incredible, it has more swell than I have ever heard in a fretless and the harmonic content is very rich. It is has a very playable feel to it with a super smooth, not glossy, neck and board. That being said, it needs some help (in my taste) with EQ. I opted to use no EQ on board for this bass just to keep it clean and simple- beside my ampeg preamp rocks. The treble must be turned way down, the udersaddle transducer detects fingers sliding on even tapewound strings- but if you turn the treble way down it is remedied, and it still will have the woody treble associated with upright bass. I also like to bump up the lowend on my preamp. erik, thanks for the suggestions- I had considered doing that... we shall see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 erik, thanks for the suggestions Gotta give props to Frank for the knob pointers... The treble stuff you describe with the piezo is exactly what happened on my Ovation acoustic when I switched from a plastic saddle to bone. The brightness went way up; the acoustic sound was improved, but plugged in the attack from the pick is just too harsh. As soon as I can make one, I'm going to replace the bone saddle with ebony; if that's still too bright, I'll try cocobolo. You might try that as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 How'd you work out string height at the nut with the headless system and the fretless? I can't quite tell from the pictures. Did you use a zero fret, and let the headless system deal with spacing, or did you use a full-blown nut, or did you use a spacer nut and zero fret? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassman Posted January 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2005 Skibum, I let the headless hardware deal with the spacing, the zero fret is only there to set the string height. The zero fret has been greatly reduced in height to bring it down to the appropriate action for a fretless. Erik, I may change the saddle material, at this point I am really considering the additon of a single stacked (quiet) jazz pickup near the neck. I would have to back up a bit to do this but I really wish I could pull some more low end out of this baby- I played in a reggae band for 5 years and I think the craving for very deep low end will always stick with me. The high end doesnt bother me- I can easily tame it with my preamp section. Taking away from certain freqs with an eq doesnt really bother me, what bothers me is really having to boost the freqs to much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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