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Multiscale Chambered 8-string Hybrid Singlecut


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The day job has been annoyingly consuming these past few months - but hey, if I didn't have it then I wouldn't be building I guess!

The nut is cut, bolted on the neck, and the tuners and bridges have been fitted. I strung it up to confirm all the various alignments :D and now it is disassembled and ready for Tru Oil.

This thing will really come alive when the Tru Oil hits it. This weekend.

BH8-1.jpg

BH8-2.jpg

BH8-3.jpg

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Alright - some measured progress over the past few weeks (another way of saying that other things have been stealing my time!!!)....

Fretboard is radiused @ 28" and is now ready for tapering:

fretboard10.jpg

:D Thats pretty flat, I use 16" radius and thought that was flat enough lol. And what are you using for a bridge? I have seen bridges like this before but I never knew if they were built like that or if they are just single saddles of that sort.

Edited by Juntunen Guitars
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Yep its pretty flat - but Ben has some classical training if I recall, and so it would not be the flattest neck he's ever played.

Those bridges are from Ralph Novak - they are basically brass angles with holes drilled into them, each holds a single Strat/Tele saddle, not much to them. The ones on this instrument are the Graphtech stringsaver saddles.

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You gonna do anything about the end of the fretboard? I feel like there's too much wood after the last fret, looks kinda awkward.... maybe add another fret or something....

As it stands, there are 22 frets - not enough room for 24 - and 23 would be even more awkward than a bit of fretboard IMO.

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You gonna do anything about the end of the fretboard? I feel like there's too much wood after the last fret, looks kinda awkward.... maybe add another fret or something....

As it stands, there are 22 frets - not enough room for 24 - and 23 would be even more awkward than a bit of fretboard IMO.

Yea your probably right, just looks kinda barren to me... but still, it looks amazing

Oh, and is there any chance you could get that wood soon for me?

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The workmanship of this instrument is really well done sir.

Everything looks very well thought out, and it is going to be really fun to hear the results.

On top of it all, the wood you ended up with just happens to be loaded with eye poppin' goodness.

The figure and tones look a bit like daybreak in the woods on one of those warm spring mornings.

Love it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got it all together this weekend - fretwork done, neck on, hardware on, strung up, set up - and it made its first noise. I LOVE that moment, it is like a child being born.

Or Frankenstein coming to life (take your pick).

Only bummer - the dual-concentric pot I ordered for the stacked bass-tone knob for the bass pickups has a wierd center detent on both shafts, NOT what you want on a volume pot. :D So I ordered a Fender one, and they sent me the wrong pot! :DB)

Updated pics.

BH8-9.jpg

BH8-10.jpg

BH8-11.jpg

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I know Bass doesn't respond well to the same types of gain that guitars sound good with

It can..really...just turn the gain down a bit.All tube gain seems to transfer well to bass.

But if you are just downtuning but still playing as guitar with thicker strings,just back than gain down about 30%...seems to work for Meshuggah

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Maybe you've explained this before and I either missed it or forgot....

Why are the pups so far beyond the width of the strings?

This may have been covered and I haven't noticed, but what's that squareish route between the two pickup cavities for?

Think of taking a P-bass pickup and aligning the two parts of it so they are even with each other - that's what that is.

There is a separate pickup for the 3 bass strings, and then a bridge & neck set for the 5 guitar strings. They also go to separate output jacks so that you can bi-amp.

teehee

[edit]

Now that i've reread the post, I realize that you're asking about the width beyond the strings, and not the extra pickup... my bad. My guess is that it has something to do with the width of the pickups available vs the pickup placement. Am I correct in assuming that you don't want the two outer guitar pickups picking up the sound from the lower strings?

Edited by Moth
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I know Bass doesn't respond well to the same types of gain that guitars sound good with

It can..really...just turn the gain down a bit.All tube gain seems to transfer well to bass.

But if you are just downtuning but still playing as guitar with thicker strings,just back than gain down about 30%...seems to work for Meshuggah

:D .... hard to turn down the gain when you're playing simultaneously.

from experience I've found that bass frequencies are too low to get "good" sound out of when using guitar settings. as you suggested , you can reduce the amount of gain , but again - simultaneous.......... gonna be either too clean for geet or too dirty for bass through one amp.

Unless of course you're playing clean. :D

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Pickups - yes, the bit that is extending beyond the outer strings is due to the fact that these pups are mainly modified stock humbuckers and P-bass pickups. Bartolini does not make a 3-string bass pickup :D , nor a 5-string guitar pickup :D - and we do not want the bass pups to pick up the guitar strings, and vice versa.

There are two output jacks (bass & guitar), and they will go to separate amps.

Ben is coming over to pick it up this weekend, I will be sure to record some clips.

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The sun rises on the final day that the BH-8 is in the shop - Ben is coming today to pick 'er up.

BH8-15.jpg

The stacked volume-tone pot arrived the evening before, but I discovered this morning that the threaded part of the shaft was not long enough to protrude through the thickness of the top. So - of course - the day Ben is due to arrive, I am routing more wood from inside the control cavity!! :D

All's well though. Finally, the man has the instrument in his hands.

Benthe8-2.jpg

Benthe8-1.jpg

Clips to follow.

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