The Desert Pixie, Maple/Ash Bass

[skibum5545]

Come on, you guys-- four days and the only comment was a tech one? Some feedback would really be nice, especially on things I can improve on the next one.

As long as I'm bumping this thing, I might as well just fill in all the missing info:

Presenting the Desert Pixie!

This bass is my second creation; the first I made with the help of my dad, but this one was all mine.

First, some specs:

Swamp Ash body (Thanks to Guitarfrenzy for the stellar blank) with matching wood cavity cover

1/4" Flame maple cap

Birdseye on Birdseye Warmoth P-Bass Neck with Stainless Steel Jumbo frets (plays -way- smooth!)

2 G&L MFD Bass Humbuckers

Gotoh GB-7 Tuners

No-name bridge (from Guitarfetish, I think, on eBay)

DR Black Beauty strings, gauge 45-105

The whole thing was finished with automotive polyurethane by a local body shop.

Controls:

V-V-T, with a 1 meg tone pot and 500k volume pots

North/Both/South coil selector for each pickup (the black switches)

Momentary kill switch (the silver one)

Tonally, this bass is relatively versatile; it sounds good for most applications, with the exception of really clean hi-fi stuff (a la EMGs), but sounds exceptional for funk slap and metal applications. It's got a big, chunky sound that's bright but not overly piercing, and cuts through the mix quite well. I don't have sound clips for lack of a suitable recording device, but if I can scrounge something up by the end of the month (and find a place to host it) I'll get the links on this entry.

So, I guess there's nothing left but to show you the pictures. These were taken with a Canon Powershot SD300, 4.0 megapixel camera.

The full front:

The front of the body:

http://staticline.drastic-creations.com/t3.JPG

The back--the matching control cover was not cut from the same piece of wood, but from a cutoff, and yet the grain matches surprisingly well:

http://staticline.drastic-creations.com/t1.JPG

Here's a photo of the Desert Pixie with its big sister, the Forest Pixie (my first build):

http://staticline.drastic-creations.com/t2.JPG

Enjoy, and any comments, questions, critiques, criticisms, queries, quotes, quips, quabbles, and quaaludes are more than welcome.

Edited August 6, 2006 by Maiden69

[oz tradie]

That looks sensational.

The black hardware over natural finish wins everytime and this is no exception.

How did the weight balance turn out when on the strap??

Now you've made two, and with excellent results, it is now time to step into the realms of

producing your own necks..............go on....... you know you wanna.

[skibum5545]

Oztradie-- The weight balance turned out fine. It would be a little neck heavy, but the long top horn evens things out a bit, and it ends up sitting just about perfect.

Funny you should mention building a neck... I've got a joint project brewing with fellow PG member Mushytheshroom that's pushing my limits quite a bit past where I have before, but I'm trying to keep the project on the DL-- you never know who's watching-- but expect some more info in the next couple months.

Keep those comments comin'!

[verhoevenc]

As evil as it sounds I was hoping this bass would come out poorly, because of the thread name, so that I could do some reference to it with something like "no kidding this bass is called "number two" cause that's what it looks like!"

But shucks! It turned out really nicely and now i can't lol!

Chris

[skibum5545]

I was thinking about the title for this thread, too... I really should get it changed, but I'm not sure what channels to go through to do so. I think I'll just PM a mod, and see what they can do.

But you're right, it can't stay the same.

[Prostheta]

+1: oscillating spindle sander - don't leave home without it!

+1: black hardware on natural pale woods - the only thing that can make a J-bass nice!

Awesome build man. I only hope my second build has results as satisfying as that.

Edited August 7, 2006 by Prostheta

[DanielM]

That is a very nice bass you got there! good build.