loosetoe Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 As promised, below are the images of the completed bass. The bass is a 38" scale single cut/jazz bass. Project pics of its construction can be found at http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=6728 The body is one pice of Spalted Curly Maple. The headstock facing and truss rod cover were also taken from this spalted blank. The neck is a pieces of Mahogany/Maple The headstock has wings of Padaouk on each side. The fingerboard is made of Tulipwood with Hard Maple binding and Hard Maple inlay for the fret markers. The control knobs are also tulipwood. The side dots are Walnut. The nut is Hard Maple. The wood is finished with Waterlox high-gloss Original varnish. This is a tung oil /spar varnish mix that is commercially available. 6 coats of this were applied, sanding between each coat. The finish was then buffed back with 000 and 0000 steel wool. This removed the high gloss finish and gave a nice natural shine. 2 coats of paste wax were then applied after a few days rest. The tuners are Sperzel locking tuners in black/gold. The bridge is a Kahler adjustable unit also in black/gold. Since Kahler does not mix/match colors, I ordered a gold tail and had the baseplate powder coated black by a local shop. The pickup is a custom wound Ken Armstrong. The strings are DR High Beams. These are the only strings I have found which ar elong enough for the scale. Thank all of you for your kind words during the build process. Now if I only knew how to play this thing. -Wayne Lousteau (loosetoe) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Loosetoe, you MONSTER!!! I will never be able to build again knowing I have that to compete with. How's it play?!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Excellent excellent work, you should be proud! I've had bad experience with DR's though, how do you like those? Are they flatwound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Amazing. Weren't we just looking at mock-ups of the prototype a week ago? It really came together, and the final product looks even better than I imagined it wood (sic). Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 thats immense! but the strings look close to the edge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 it looks great,but like rob says...the strings being so close to the edge is the first thing i notice...i think you will have a problem keeping the strings on the board...aesthetically though it is superb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 The strings are fine, i think. The binding may create a bit of an illusion, but the strings on my bass look no further from the edge than those do, and mine was made in a factory... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 no illusion...they are too close Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 I hadn't noticed, but you may be right. I'd be curious to see it from another angle, so that we can better judge if it's an illusion or not. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loosetoe Posted May 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Naw no probelms with string width...the strings are 1/8 of an inch from the sides of the fretboard on each side. And if they were too close, that's the beauty of the Kahler bridge as it is adjustable side to side as well as front/back. But again, not problems with the spacing thus far. Here. This should put this controversy to bed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Naw no probelms with string width...the strings are 1/8 of an inch from the sides of the fretboard on each side. And if they were too close, that's te beauty of the Kahler bridge as it is adjustable side to side as well as front/back. But again, not problems with the spacing thus far. cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 ahhh now thats good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 you guys should listen to me more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 WOW! That is one spectacular work of art!! Simply amazing... You ought to be some kind of proud of that... Any chance you could post a few sound clips of her? Boggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primal Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 I've had bad experience with DR's though, how do you like those? What kind of bad experience have you had? I have only had one bad set and emailed them and they sent me a new set right out. Their new Black Beauties are excellent, by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 how do you play a fretless bass??? i've always wondered that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primal Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 Same way you would with a fretted one, only you "fret" the note at the spot where the fret should be instead of behind it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loosetoe Posted May 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 Say Primal, Since you obviously have experience with the DR strings. If you have one of them around, could you take a measurement for me? Could you tell me how long one of the Black Beautys is from ball taper to nut taper? I have a theory that all of their strings are a 40" scale. I ordered one of the Extra long scale sets and all of te part numbers were identical to the "normal" scale. I am wondering as I would prefer to have flatwounds on here. Thanks in advance, Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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