Bassisgreat

JUST a bass??

The bastard string will do no harm. Your theories are most likely correct.

Just for S&G, here's a very quick and rough version of what I'd do to the thigh cutaway. It is a thin line, so it may be hard to see... To me, right now it doesn't follow the natural line started by the curve (which I like) in the bottom end of the body. Maybe the angle is playing tricks on me (it could also be the pickguard shape, not too sure I fully dig that) , and by all means, it's your design and your axe. I like the guitar, and hope it turns out awesome!

It's a beautiful bass, Phil! I hope I can do nearly that well on my 4th instrument! What's the scale length on that monster? Looks HUGE. Your customer's got some cajones to play that fretless.

That makes for some fun mental images. One question, though. I see alot of builders making wooden bridges, and I wanted to give it a shot; how would this affect the grounding situation. I'm using single coils on my bass, which are already known to be a little noisy, so I definitely want to do what I can to keep background crud to a minimum.

There's no reason there should be a string tied around the sound post. None that I've ever encountered anyhow. It's placed there with a tool and removed in the same manner, and unless the string is attached to some other part besides just the sound post then it's just a mystery string put there to confuse people. Bastard string.

Don't drink and play with hot/sharp things!!! I dig the design. I'd make the thigh cutaway a little deeper to "sexy it up" some. What kind of finish are you going with? Natural?

That's some gorgeous wood you had to work with! It turned out awesome. I see a crazy skull/zombie-ish face when I look at the top...

wow, nice clean inlay!

Yeah, that's incredible. I'd say I want it, but as a bassist, I couldn't allow that thing to never see the light of day in good conscience.

It's looking great, Rick! I dig the design, and the wood choices are going to look really great when it's all finished up! I REALLY like how you were able to get that little bit of coloring in the heel part of the Limba neck. To me, half the fun of designing is seeing a piece of wood and finding a way to let nature help you along in the design process.

Thanks, Jon! A tiny bit to report, but sadly no pics. (I REALLY need a camera...) I glued up the body blank and made a change in the wood design for the back. I decided to include the Ziricote between the Sapele wings to add a dark touch to the back and spice things up a little bit. I also made some small design changes (probably not noticable to many) that I think will help structural integrity. Now I'm going to make my 1/2" acrylic template and go from there. Hope everybody has a Happy Easter. Or if you don't celebrate Easter, have a great weekend!

I swear I was searching high and low for that tutorial on PG and talkbass yesterday and couldn't find it! I don't know why... I REALLY wish the pics worked! Oh well, it's detailed enough that I think I'll get a good product out of it. Thanks!!

Glad to hear it worked out for you! FWIW, you *can* use an oven, heated to about 150-170 degrees for about 20 mins (I've done it) , but you have to be aware that an oven is going to try to dry out the wood, which gives you potential problems with cracks/checks, etc. If the joint is worse than the risk, then it's worth a shot.

Looks like it's going great! I'll say it again. I LOVE that sapele. Mahogany and its variants are so beautifully understated. Then when you get a close look, everything pops. Pure class.

This is an amazingly well designed axe! Can't wait to see it! Wish I could play it (well, hack at it - I'm a bassist)!

sorry to hear about your business, man. It's hard times these days. I'm looking for a job right now, the one I'm working will be over in a month, so I'd much rather be in your office. Anybody in DFW wanna give me a job??? I'm reasonably bright and hard working!! :D Hope you have more projects to share soon, I really dig the guitar in this thread.

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!! Definitely first class work, man! Care to share how you made the case? I'm planning to build somthing very similar for my bass.

haha, yeah, Wez, looks that way. I hadn't noticed the dates on the posts, except for the last 2 or so. In any case, it is an awesome guitar, and hopefully the second one turned out great too! Too bad he's not here to share it...

Just more of the same... Great guitar! I think I can see the way the tuners work, but correct me if I'm wrong. The outer tube is attached to the threaded rod that is fixed to a block (which is fixed somehow inside the tuning mechanism?) and thus loosening or tightening the tube would effectively adjust the string tension (tune). I'd be interested to hear it from the horse's mouth, though, because what I just typed is somewhat incomplete, even if correct. I really dig how you recessed the tuners rather than making a cutout in the body for them. That is ingenius and gives the guitar a great unique look. Can't wait to see that inlay. Looks like quite a challenge, but if it turns out, it will be awesome!

I don't want to break any rules by double posting. I have this in a thread in the auctions and websites section already. If mods need to delete this one, no sweat. Here's a link to that thread http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=35069 Here's a link to the auction http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...E:IT&ih=010 and here are some pics of the board http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/Picture023.jpg <--- slightly damp with a little naphtha to show color and figure a little better http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/Picture028.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/Picture026.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/Picture019.jpg And for good measure, here's a pic of my most retarded tattoo (that I love) and a dog dressed as an oompa loompa http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/P8096519.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3...oompadog6vf.jpg

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...E:IT&ih=010 I resawed it and got a top out of it, and the remaining piece is 5/16" thick X 6 -7 1/2" wide X 26-29" long. There is a knot and a check in the edge. If you know someone with a good resaw, you may be able to get another top out of it, but you can certainly make at least one or two fingerboards (it's supposed to be the holy grail of fretless boards, and lawd knows it would look wild ) and here are some pics of the board http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/Picture023.jpg <--- slightly damp with a little naphtha to show color and figure a little better http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/Picture028.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/Picture026.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/Picture019.jpg And for good measure, here's a pic of my most retarded tattoo (that I love) and a dog dressed as an oompa loompa http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3/P8096519.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/JQR3...oompadog6vf.jpg Thanks for looking! Edit: forgot pics... d'oh.

Looks good so far. Don't you just love the smell of Walnut being cut? I noticed that the neck isn't centered in the center laminate, are you going to cut off the excess on the right side to center it? Keep us posted on your progress!

Looks awesome, man. Keep up the good work!

Looks great! I'm one of the "dig the tail cutouts" kinda guys. As evidenced by the bass I'm working on now.