Luckis Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 (edited) HEY everybody, ok this is the first time i get to show my humble work to people who REALLY know waht they`re doing! so here it goes But before, a little backgrund i think is appropiate... I´m from argentina, and i´m not glad to say that here there aren`t enough resources ANYWHERE for things like this, starting from the point that there is no supported underground musical scene to incentivate us musicians to do anything but practice at home, going on with minimun salaries, and on top of things, a government crisis couple years ago triplicated the valor of anything that comes from outside our borders. With that in mind, I started building intruments with a couple ideas on my head: - Spend LITTLE money! - Adeqcuate the processes and techniques to the tools in hand - Get used to work with CHEAP materials - Do own designs and crazy stuff (if anyone wants a Jazz Bass copy, they can get it from REAL luthiers...) - Do them well enough for me So, i started with... uhm MARTINELLI instruments! (my last name) Here it is (on the "altto" Album) After a couple of tryouts, This is the first one to come to light. It was finished on november, 2004. I`ve called it "Altto". It`s a 4 string necktrough fretted bass inspired in the work of the great Carl Thompson and on the magnificent Les Claypool!, but a design of my own. It`s 32" scale, 28 frets bass with an active circuit (akkord mics and ARTEC circuit of Volume, Balance and EQ (hi and low)) it has a wooden bridge and a kind of tailpiece that actually lead the strings into the bridge from de pegs. (in a couple of the pics the tailpiece was not yet installed...) Talking about it, it`s headless, but with no specil bridge, but the pegs behind the bridge. The woods, uhm, i`ll put the names in spanish since i don`t know them in english (anyone?) - For the body: Soita and Incienso - Neck: Soita - Fretboard: Incienso - Bridge: Incienso This work ended up costing around 400 pesos, what would be like 125 dollars... The pegs and hardware (including mics) i got them from a store in buenos aires, one of the few in the country that sells instrument hardware. The woods... got them from a wood shop near home that sells woods for doors, roofs, and furniture... due to this conditions there was no contemplation of level of moisture, etc, etc... (no way here) and i wasn`t about to pay a lot more for a good clean piece of wood. I had no router for this There is no trussrod, only a 1x1 cm bar of steel that i could install by handwork (sweat) also the pickup holes... hand hand handmade! The only glue used is epoxy. Dot markers are epoxy-filled drill holes in the wood... Everything was cutted with a (jigsaw it is?) and borders rounded with files and sandpaper. The finish is nothing but oil (aceite de lino!) all in all, the bass turned out quite good for me, i play it and enjoy it and i`m DAMN PROUD of it! I keep making my instruments this way, `have quite some more of them done and on the making, and learning all the time (much thanks to things like this forum and you people...) and fighting to keep going and learning in a country where everything seems to be against musicians! see ya, and please let me know what you think and if you have any question PD: Sorry about my english!!and thanks for your time! Edited April 24, 2005 by Luckis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 Hey Luckis, I have a very good friend who is Argentine (from Cordoba) so I know the situation! That is a very nice bass, well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 Incienso is Incense, how strong is it, I thought this was only used for aromatic stuff? Soita, I couldn't find and I never hear of it before. The Bass looks very nice. I like the carve around it. Bienvenido to PG! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckis Posted April 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 Incienso is Incense, how strong is it, I thought this was only used for aromatic stuff? Soita, I couldn't find and I never hear of it before. The Bass looks very nice. I like the carve around it. Bienvenido to PG! ← Thank you guys! Well maiden, Incense is quite hard, and it has beatiful stripes, and yes, it`s used for aromatic thingies also (i remembered this while working it, smelled funny) but around here is used a lot lately, mainly for fretboards. On the other hand, Soita i`ve found it myself, and never heard of it before or after my instrument making projects... have no clue however, i`ve been using it a lot, it`s not as hard as Incense but it works very nice when you are doing it all by hand Again, thanks a lot to both of ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 A wonderful bass! You're justified in being proud of it! Que te vaya bien, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Cavanaugh Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 Que te vaya bien ← Looks like it already went well! I just hope that white between the wood sections aren't the glue lines. I didn't know incense was actually a wood, no wonder it burns so well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckis Posted April 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 Que te vaya bien ← Looks like it already went well! I just hope that white between the wood sections aren't the glue lines. I didn't know incense was actually a wood, no wonder it burns so well! ← well, actually, the white lines ARE actually glue :D This bass was the first time i used epoxy and the woods on those glued sides were not very flat (the wood sealers around here are quite incompetent at those facts, that plus my own inexperience...) Didn`t knew epoxy leaves those marks....... and the only common wood glue around here is "cola vinilica" (in english anyone?) wich i heard on those days is not very trusteable and tends to get weak over the time.... as always in my case, i learn by making mistakes and trying! hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 THats a vinyl based glue, translated verbaly. There got to be some water based glue there that you can use. Next time try black epoxy, and make sure that you squeeze the woods very tight, that way if you have the line, it will look kinda like a small veneer. Can you order online and have it shipped to Argentine? If so, the titebond is water based, and I think there will be no problem mailing it there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckis Posted April 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 THats a vinyl based glue, translated verbaly. There got to be some water based glue there that you can use. Next time try black epoxy, and make sure that you squeeze the woods very tight, that way if you have the line, it will look kinda like a small veneer. Can you order online and have it shipped to Argentine? If so, the titebond is water based, and I think there will be no problem mailing it there. ← Black epoxy... i`ve had a hard time looking for it... didn`t gave up yet Is there any way i can stain the epoxy? that`d be great! maybe paint or something? as for orders online... suppose i can, but with the mentioned devaluation here it would cost me quite a lot of money :S but i guess if i don`t find any other solutions... Hehe, i`ve just remembered... i didn`t have presses ("prensas" i think thats the word)big enough for that at that time, so i put it in the wall and sit on the other side for like 20 minutes pushing.. hahahaha, the things that a man has to do.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassman Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Since you dont have any "presses" (clamps) of appropriate size, you can get by with some old bicycle tire rubber. Take the old inner tube of a bike tire and cut it in a manner that will yield the longest pieces- with widths of about 1/2"-3/4". You can wrap these around your pieces of wood and get pretty good pressure from them with a significant number of windings. Besides the wide glue lines- I must say that it looks very nice, especially given your lack of tools and proper supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckis Posted April 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Clamps, yeah... me and my english That bike rubber thing sure is cool! wish i`d come up with something like that at that time. Recently i bought a couple of bigass clamps to solve that, but that tip sure could be handy, thanks!!!!!! And thanks for your opinion bassman. This is so cool! i find myself learning more and more all the time.. it`s exciting! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pibrocher Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Awesome bass man. I like the contrasting woods, good design and smooth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassisgreat Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Looks great!! Only one problem, it's BACKWARDS!! Good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckis Posted April 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Looks great!! Only one problem, it's BACKWARDS!! Good work! ← HAHAHAHAHA! Forgot to mention... i`m a leftie We rule!!!! Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Very good lookin' bass my man 125$ you say huh? I still have to get under the 500$ mark Those chiseled pickup holes look fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted April 26, 2005 Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 You would not believe the number of people who've gotten into guitar building because they were lefties, and couldn't find what they wanted on the shelf. A lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckis Posted April 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 You would not believe the number of people who've gotten into guitar building because they were lefties, and couldn't find what they wanted on the shelf. A lot. ← Yeah, I think I forgot to say that was one of the main reasons for it. It`s hard enough to get good right-handed instruments around here, can you imagine for us lefties how it is???????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisting Shadow Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 (edited) Looking good! That is a bass you should really be proud of; not only does it look great, but it's unique too! Anyway; I have a question for you: is there a possibility that you could get a photo of the head-end of the neck? Headless basses have alway's intrigued me.. Edited April 28, 2005 by Twisting Shadow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitman32 Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 ME!! Thats how I got into building...ROCK ON LEFTYS!!! Great looking bass! Reminds of Beetlejuice for some reason.?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckis Posted April 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 beetlejuice?? hahaha! i don´t have a clue why, but you may be right... I´ll upload a pic of the head soon, meantimes i tell you... Common headless basses have like a stop tailpiece over there. I made one for this bass but from wood, you´ll see it in the pic. see ya and thanks a lot! Is encouraging that you guys like my job, thanx!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckis Posted April 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 There, i´ve uploaded the photo, check the album!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisting Shadow Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 Man that's nice! The headstock (for lack of better word) is suprisingly elegant for something so inventive. If it weren't for the lack of a zero fret, I'd hail you as a god... ...Screw it, I'M NOT WORTHY *bows down* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckis Posted April 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 Man that's nice! The headstock (for lack of better word) is suprisingly elegant for something so inventive. If it weren't for the lack of a zero fret, I'd hail you as a god... ...Screw it, I'M NOT WORTHY *bows down* ← HHAHAHAHA! Thank you very very much shadow, it makes me feel very good to see that you and the others like my work that much, considering it´s homemade now rise... hahaha, just kidding But, why is that of the zero fret? i didn`t get it, headless are supposed to have one or something? Thanks again!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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