skibum5545

Definitely keep the Badass bridge-- a nice massive bridge does a lot for your tone; I have a badass II on mine, and it's great. I'd go with the drilling holes method. I wouldn't do it under the pickguard so much as farther out towards the edge. You could even drill in from the back and remove a lot of the wood that way, then put a 1/8" or 1/4" back on the guitar-- perhaps also walnut? The other option is just to use a well-padded strap and get used to playing a heavy instrument. The walnut bass you see in my avatar weighs in at just over 10 lbs, but I love it nonetheless. I've just gotten used to a heavy instrument. Good luck, and post pics!

If the whole label's in Latin (i.e. not just all the Anno Domini), type it up or post a pic, and I can try my hand at it. Strad or not, great find!

I messed around for about 20 minutes and came up with a few ideas, plus some variations on a theme. The last three are just the lower horn copied to the top horn, then offset none, towards the headstock, and towards the bridge, respectively.

Really nice basses; really original designs, too. The crotch top on the first one is just

I like it a lot! It's very clean, and has a classic look to it while still maintaining (jeez that's a funny looking word!) its originality. Give it a natural finish. If it keeps the cutting board look (oh god please forgive me for this pun), maybe it'll be good for practicing your chops? (I'm sorry. Really, I am.) Anyway, the only critique I would have is that the carving on the top looks a little abrupt. If you were to go back in with some heavy sandpaper and just smooth out the carve a bit, it'd be a lot more pleasing to the eye.

I'm gonna have to break from the crowd and go with option #2. The guitars that won each month have already had their time in the spotlight. The point of this competition is not to see which is the best guitar from the winners, it's just to see the all-around best guitar of the year, regardless of whether it's won in the past or not. Competition has been tough this year, and there are a lot of guitars out there that deserve a second look for this competition. Option #2 is the simplest and fairest option, and will likely make the competition far more interesting, too, to see how past non-winners compare against other months' entries. Just my $.02.

Had to go with the bass. He took an odd concept and ran with it, and ended up with a classy instrument that looks good and is still unique in many ways. It's hard to do that well, so it gets my vote.

That's a really creative approach to a classic design. I like it a lot!! I also like how he stains it to look like binding, even on the part that tapers it into the carve. I can't even imagine how one would do that with real binding, but it's a great look on these.

I've been really busy with school lately--I went with the hard classes Senior year, and I'm paying for it with my free time-- but I've still managed to get in some shop time. This bass is also going a lot faster than the first, if only because I've done this stuff before. The most striking difference you'll notice is the roundovers and the carving on the front and back. The top roundover has a 1/4" radius, while the back has a 1/8" radius, which gives it a strangely appealing balance of crispness of design and comfort. Here's the top: Another view: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...2/Topcarved.jpg A closeup of the top arm bevel: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...arveCloseup.jpg Here's a shot of the back and the belly carve: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib.../Backcarved.jpg A side view to show the depth of the carve: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...02/SideView.jpg I also made myself a custom swamp ash backplate. Since I couldn't have a true continuous wood backplate, I settled for the next best thing. Here's how I did it: --Traced out my backplate shape onto tracing paper, and transferred it to a chunk of scrap swamp ash. --Cut the chunk out on the bandsaw and spindle sanded the edges to final shape; checked it against my template and tracing. -- Cut off 3/16" slices of the backplate with the bandsaw and a guide clamped on the table, and chose the prettiest one. Here's the setup I used for cutting the slices. I staged this picture after the event, so you can see the nick I accidentally cut into my blank that rendered it useless for more slices : http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...gbackplates.jpg Here's the backplate: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...neBackplate.jpg Here's the template I'm using for cutting the recess: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...acktemplate.jpg Here's the creepy part: check out how well some of the grain, taken from a piece in an entirely different area of the body blank, lines up when the backplate's in place: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...plateonbass.jpg The other thing I got done was to drill the holes for the neck bolts as well as the recesses for the ferrules (black ones from StewMac). Next step: Drill for the electronics, drill for the bridge, sand it all, and then take it down to Maaco for some coats of clear poly.

I could really see that going metallic purple flake with 7 layer cream and black binding and chrome hardware and pickup covers-- but that's just me. No matter what color you choose, for some reason I think it's just screaming metal flake-- I don't know why.

Hey, man, I really miss the slam thread! Nah, Wes was a good Mod, but he's moved on to bigger and better things-- like having a life.

Well a couple good ones: --My dad had a 10 foot long, 1 foot wide, 2" thick slab of black walnut that's been air drying in his garage for the last 25 years. I made a bass out of it, and am probably going to help a friend build a strat from the same wood also-- talk about a good deal! The best part is, he also has 3 more planks of similar dimensions! Also, I bought a beautiful Swamp Ash blank from Matt Vinson (aka GuitarFrenzy) on this site that's being used in a 70% complete bass right now for a good deal. It turned out that it had a wormhole in it (that neither of us could have possibly known about), so he's sending me another blank for free-- talk about a good score there!

Yummy!! The look of P-90's has really been growing on me lately, and this guitar really works well with the cream covers. I'm helping a friend of mine build a custom Strat (it's still in the planning phases) and I'm trying to convince him to use P-90's in it. Actually, I don't even play guitar (only bass), but I like the sound of the P-90's I've heard that I guess I'm just trying to live vicariously through him.

I really like it! Actually, the subtlety is what makes it so attractive. It's not gaudy or even (god forbid) '80's, it's just... swirly! To those of you who find that it looks amateurish, would you mind pointing out where it needs improvement? I can't really see it, and it'd be nice to know for the future.

I like it a lot! Honestly, I think it would look better still if the horns on the headstock cut all the way down to a point, but as-is it looks good too. Deffo a large improvement over the old 'stock. The finish is nice too. A subtle finish on a rather wild body adds an altogether pleasing air of class to the guitar; what could have turned out flagrantly '80's took the high road instead.

Thanks for the good review, Lovekraft, but it appears this one's going to the highest bidder!! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=7365891249 Remember--you PG.com guys can still BIN for $250; just click the button and email me before you pay. Good luck, and bid early, bid often!!

Jeez, haggardguy, it's an honor even to have my name in the same post as Setch, and even more so given the nomination. I'll have to decline, though; I'm only 17 right now, school's taking up way more time than it should, and I'd hate to have to play a neutral party in the great debates that go on around here! Anyway, Jelly Man, I wanted to throw your name into the mix. I'm sure it's come up before, but I guess I believe in second chances... or something like that.

I understand that the guitar must have been done for money (though now that you mention it I'd probably play a Honda logo bass for free), but who is the customer? I assume FedEx? What's the story behind their contacting you, having a purpose for it, etc?

Cool design and impeccable execution, but... why?

The only problem I see with it is that the bouts are even with each other, and the horns are swept. If you were to change one of the two, the design would flow a lot better. It's a good start, though!

I like it. It's a strange but strangely pleasing combo of metal, classy, and quirky. I'm not too fond of the shape as it stands, but I think that, with some tweaking, it could work out to be a rather nice guitar. Oak isn't too common a tonewood, and you don't tend to see birdseye as a top too often. Actually, I really like the birdseye. As long as the oak sounds good, it's fine--it certainly looks good! Anyway, I hope you're more pleased with your second build, but this one is deffo nothing to be ashamed of. I assume you're doing a second build, correct?

Actually, I really like the idea of a fuzzy red amp with big googly eyes. Not exactly metal, but hey, it's got googly eyes! Actually, polished aluminum diamond plate would work quite well. You could also go for truck bed liner, and even get the water drop finish like LGM offers on some of his Leviathans. And then add googly eyes!!

Some specs: -350 Watts @ 4 Ohms, 240 Watts @ 8 Ohms -Dual Preamp (tube and solid state) -Built-in compression -10 band graphic EQ -Active and Passive Inputs -23.5 lbs -17.25 in. wide x 13.5 in. deep x 3.25 in. tall Those dimensions don't include the rackmount ears; the ears add an extra 2 in. to the width. I'm selling this amp because I just bought a new Eden amplifier and don't need two bass amps. I owned it for a year (bought it used at my local Guitar Center), and in that time I've had no problems from it whatsoever. It sounds great, works great, and is quite durable. I'm asking $250 to start from PG.com members; I plan to set the BIN price on eBay at $300. Of course, once (/if) I put the auction up, PG.com members can still buy the amp for $250 with the BIN-- just let me know who you are before paying. Buyer pays actual shipping (from zip code 48103) through whatever company you want. Here are some pictures; if you need any more, I have my digital camera at the ready: Front View Corner View Another Corner View Back View Specs on back Good luck!

I really like it! The shape is unique without being too over the top-- a very hard balance to reach. Do you have any pictures of the back? The neck sounds cool too!

In a bass neck, extra support can never hurt. Often times people will put two truss rods into their bass necks, especially for 5+ string basses. While this is probably overkill on a 4 string neck, graphite never killed anyone. I say go for some support; it's always better safe than sorry.