Simo

Thanks The pickups are EMG P81/P85, they're exactly the same as the 81/85 humbuckers, just in a P90 sized housing.

Spalted Maple Singlecut 24 frets, 25.5" scale Body: American Cherry Top: Spalted Maple Neck: Maple/American Cherry Fretboard: Ziricote Inlays: Sterling silver side dots Pickups: EMG P81/P85 Dunlop Flush-Mount strap locks Ebony knobs Body Finish: Rustins Plastic Coating (brushed) Neck Finish: Hard wax oil [

Custom pickups, with Ebony covers.. courtesy of German Pickup guru Harry Häussel

I've not used Box Elder before but I understand from what I've read that the colour will fade over time in exposure to sunlight. I've not decided on a finish yet but it will be something that contains uv inhibitors to help preserve the colour. The fretboard blank has arrived this week.. the fretlines will be a pink/red colour to match the top, so I've gone for a plain Ebony board to help those stand out. I've also taken an off-cut from the body, bookmatched it and planed it down to use as a headstock veneer.

I can take a picture of the inside of my dust extractor if it would make you feel better

Hi guys, I've not been around here for a few months, just thought I'd post some pics of one of the builds I've been working on... This will be the first singlecut bass I've built, the shape is basically a singlecut version of the design I used for the 5 string fretless (and the 6 string Redwood bass I built last year). The spec is as follows... 34" scale, fretless Flame Box Elder top African Mahogany body Bolt-On neck, Maple Ebony fretboard (with fretlines) Hipshot hardware (black) Custom made Häussel Bassbar pickup (bridge) & Häussel Jazzbucker (neck) Flame Box Elder top: African Mahogany body blank (2 piece): Body cut and sanded to shape (the top has been wiped over with a damp cloth to raise the grain) Carving the rear contour: Control cavity routed: Pickups marked out, ready for routing:

Long time, no update!... I was unable to get the neck finished inside the competition deadline, but I was still allowed to enter and I'm pleased to say I won I've had to do some re-finishing work on the body since then, after knocking it by accident against my vice which left a nice mark on the back of the body I've been busy with other projects over the last couple of months, so I haven't had much free time to spend on it but it's finally nearing completion, I'll post some pictures and hopefully some sound clips/videos when it's done. Here's a picture I took for the voting poll, assembled with the un-finished neck.

Luckily the deadline for the competition has been extended for another month, to give slackers like me time to finish The finish is looking good so far, I've been really impressed with the Tru-Oil.

Nope, no grain filler or sealer, just Tru-Oil.

Thanks 3rd coat of Tru-Oil, starting to shine up nicely...

First coat of Tru-Oil...

These are different to the coloured strings you'll see on most guitars... They're Labella Deep Talkin' nylon tape wound strings, which produce a more upright bass tone due to the layer of nylon wrapped around the metal winding. For standard electric/acoustic coloured strings try some DR's. I use the DR Black Beauties on my acoustic.. the coating is barely noticeable, they last very well (without losing the coating) and most of all they sound great.

I've strung her up today for a test fit, just to check everything is as it should be before I get stuck into final sanding and finishing...

No dust, just black CA. The ones I use were from ebay, I brought them quite a while ago so I can't remember what they cost. I found the longer crimp beads tend to come with the hoops.. the smaller, hoop-less tubes are often only a couple of millimetres long, which would make fitting them a bit more fiddly. Snipping the hoops off is easily done though, and it definitely beats cutting sections of long tubing down. No probs

They're 'crimp beads' sold for making jewellery. They normally come with a hoop on one end, so I snip that off with some fret cutters, add a drop of black superglue in to the hole and tap them in gently with a small plastic faced hammer. I leave them slightly proud of the surface and once I've added some more black superglue (if needed) to fill the centre of the inlay, I use a small, flat file to make them flush to the fretboard.