Prostheta Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 That's the one. I'm sure that my lack of subtlety has its own charms, somewhere deep beneath the layers. I'd like to see how you demo this one when it's complete, Simon. You've clearly got a great ear for tones and how to achieve them with your gear and playing application. How have you found this part of the equation....? Building instruments from the bottom up makes the tone seeker chain a lot longer, but a lot more comprehensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Thanks Carl! I'm not a bass player so hopefully I'll do justice to it. To be honest I purely went for aesthetics when designing the three builds. I was lucky to achieve great tones. Like for the zebrano and qld maple guitar, I've not seen or heard any guitars like that. So it was a leap of faith and it turned out really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 YES! It's finally assembled! This project was the toughest ever and the most time consuming. I'm glad I pushed myself because the end product looks and sounds fantastic. Things I could've changed in retrospect: 1. Bigger lower horn cutaway. I have problems reaching the 24th frets on the bass side because the lower horn gets in the way. Clearly a design flaw, but I probably won't even reach those frets! 2. Left the control cover as it was without laminating an aluminium sheet. It was a pain trying to get the veneer to stick evenly onto the aluminium because it kept breaking and I had areas where the glue didn't contact the veneer. The aluminium also made it much heavier and I couldn't get the magnets to get a firm grip enough so I had to use some screws in the end. The cover held in place with the magnets but a gentle knock against the edge would make it fall off. 3. Straight string feed from the nut to the tuners The A and D strings were at an angle going to the tuners, which isn't ideal. I designed it this way purely to get the tuners to line up nicely with the headstock edge and I neglected the string pull. I don't think it's a big deal on a bass without a tremolo unlike guitars, but I guess it's purely aesthetics. Anyway enough reflecting. Time for some pics! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 I've yet to do a complete setup and there are a couple of high frets which I have to take care of. But it sounds really loud and punchy and feels great to play. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 30, 2016 Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Well it certainly looks like it plays the part. You must have had a lot of fun with this one! Please please please don't do any slap when you demo it.....hahaha.....it never demonstrates much of the tone of an instrument IMO; I should probably do demos for the instruments I build. Kind of difficult when my music gear sucks so badly, what with all money going into tools and whatnot. The only thing I am not too much of a fan on are the pickups and the basic outline. The waist looks pretty wide, and I bet it weighs a fair bit! You're right about the string pull. It means nothing. Just stretch the strings in like you would any instrument to take any slack off the tuners or hanging through the nut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Haha I'm terrible at slapping anyway so I won't be slapping much. What about the pickups specifically? The soapbars? Also another thing I would've changed would be to slim it down, like you pointed out. The waist is too broad and it's really heavy! And I would've removed more wood from the butt of the neck because the bridge sits too far from the edge in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Far out this thing weighs 5kg/11lbs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 30, 2016 Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Nothing more than personal choice on pickups really. I can't comment on the Wilkinsons myself. It's a fine design other than the waist I think. Really nice work in the neck access sculpting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 I decided to go for the cheap wilkies because I was half expecting this project to fail so I didn't want to spend ten times the amount on some nice Aguilar ones. I may upgrade in the future now that is build exceeded my expectations. Also I'm not a bassist so I'd rather splurge on guitar parts instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 30, 2016 Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Fair call. Not sure if Nordstrands or Delanos would be a direct fit, however they're pretty good for higher-end soapbars also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Yes those are way too expensive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 30, 2016 Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 There are a lot of things I REALLY like about this bass. Single cut basses are an acquired taste - and having designed and built one recently and it was interesting how polarised the views on the threads were! But, there are some areas of real finesse on this. I think the carve of the upper neck on the back - and the back generally - is sublime. Wonderful stuff The bit that shouts out to me for a tiny tweak is the bass-clef on the truss-rod cover. Might be the photo but - compared with the very clean carve and inlay lines just about everywhere else, it looks like it just needs tidying up a bit. Pickup wise, the EMG HZ passives are pretty good and I'm fairly sure they do a six string version (and the overall shape looks similar) but actually Wilkinsons do pack a decent bang for the buck. Well done - fantastic effort and result 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Yes the inlayed bass cleft might have been a mistake! I free hand routed it and filled with epoxy. In retrospect should've just left it or made a decal. I was feeling lazy and didn't want to cut out more inlays out of abalone. I did consider the emg hz but the reviews weren't fantastic online and I couldn't find many demos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Thanks Andy. Trying to build a neck through with minimal tools was a pain in the arse. If I ever build another bass it will definitely be a bolt on. I like bolt ons because they're much simpler to make and you can always come back and adjust the neck angle. Also I agree with you that single cuts are an acquired taste. I used to find it weird last time but grew to like it, and eventually made one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 31, 2016 Report Share Posted July 31, 2016 10 hours ago, SIMpleONe89 said: Yes the inlayed bass cleft might have been a mistake! I free hand routed it and filled with epoxy. In retrospect should've just left it or made a decal. I was feeling lazy and didn't want to cut out more inlays out of abalone. I did consider the emg hz but the reviews weren't fantastic online and I couldn't find many demos. I think the concept and materials are fine. Just the freehand rout needs to be a bit more precise, maybe with the rout tidied up with a scalpel. I cheat on my routed truss rod covers....I don't fill them. Visually hides a multitude of sins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2016 Haha yes at that stage I was sick of all the intricate work so I was lazy and didn't tidy it up. I'll probably touch up the edges with a black acrylic marker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 31, 2016 Report Share Posted July 31, 2016 This is the trussrod cover on Tom's African Build (there's a thread somewhere on this very strange project!): Trust me....close up this isn't pretty- but shadows and light are very flattering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted July 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2016 That's nice! Maybe I should've done that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 31, 2016 Report Share Posted July 31, 2016 That would be a perfect job for my pantograph. I've been thinking about making a rough template with a coping saw and seeing how a slightly rough finish on a template translates through by reduction to an inlay. I suspect it will be pretty clean and precise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted August 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2016 Some pics... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted August 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2016 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted August 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2016 Here's a quick demo of the bass. Please excuse the sloppy playing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psikoT Posted August 6, 2016 Report Share Posted August 6, 2016 It looks and sounds really nice, congratulations... I should try with a bass some day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMpleONe89 Posted August 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2016 5 hours ago, psikoT said: It looks and sounds really nice, congratulations... I should try with a bass some day. Thanks! I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It took a lot of work but I think it was worth it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted August 7, 2016 Report Share Posted August 7, 2016 Lovely, lovely job 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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