Talon Bass

[Flon Klar Guitars]

Hey Everyone-

It's been a while since I posted a new build. I don't have a real shop anymore, so building has become more of a pain and less of a pleasure. That said;

This is Talon, my 10th completed project.

Type: 4-string bass

Scale: 35 inch

Configuration: Neck-through

Body woods: 5-piece laminate (each wing) of African mahogany core; black walnut top and back (headstock has walnut top only); blue-dyed birch accent lines; spalted maple "FK Spider" logo inlay

Neck woods: 7-piece laminate of Honduras mahogany center; blue-dyed birch accent lines, 2 layers of tigery rock maple on either side

Fretboard: Zebrawood, with mahogany "T" logo inlay at 12th fret; blue and white pearloid fret marker inlays; 26 stainless steel frets

Finish: 6 coats of tung oil; 3 coats of gloss polyurethane

Hardware: Hipshot Supertone bridge; Schaller M4 tuners, with drop tuner; 2-way truss rod; Hipshot string retainer (modified); Neutrik locking output jack; chrome with blue pearloid volume and tone knobs; handmade brass nut with adjustable-height saddles; handmade aluminum strap button extension; Dunlop Straploks

Electronics: (1) EMG MMTW pickup (both coils tied together); EMG EXB tone control

So far, sounds and plays great. Not so sure if I like the EXB too much; personally, I think it muddies up the sound. I'll have to play with it some more.

As is usual for me, I experimented a lot with materials, hardware, and techniques. Except the pickups- LOVE the MMTW!

I had some problems putting it together. It would seem that zebrawood probably isn't the best fretboard material. After meticulously leveling the fretboard and installing, leveling, and dressing the frets, I found that the frets buzzed horribly. I worked the frets until there was nearly nothing left of them, then discovered that the fretboard was quite wavy! Pulled the frets, re-sanded the board straight, re-installed a new set of frets (remember, they're stainless!). Still had the buzzing. Looked again at the fretboard- wavy AGAIN! Pulled the frets re-sanded the board, installed the 3rd set of frets. Finally, success!

Buzzing gone, but also- most of fretboard gone! This caused another set of issues: the 12th fret side dots were now showing through the surface of the board; with the lower fretboard, the bridge saddles bottomed out, so I had to router out a recess so I could lower the entire bridge; I had to grind down the bottom of the nut to lower it as well; and on top of it all, the headstock angle was no longer sufficient to get a good string break over the nut, so I had to replace the 2-string retainer (for the middle strings) with a 3-string retainer (which I modified to fit all 4 strings).

The other major problem was neck dive. With the upper horn being so narrow, I wasn't able to position the strap button where it should have been to balance the bass. After researching the options, I devised a little attachment that allows the bass to balance out. It's not even too ugly!

So I learned a few things the hard way. What else is new in guitar/bass building?!

Hope you like it! All comments welcome. Thanks!