Cerb

Actually, some denser woods such as wenge can stand up to the elements fairly well. I don't plan on finishing mine once it's all glued in place. Though, it will have 2 carbon fiber rods and a truss rod.

I just updated the blog again. It now explains my revised plans and has a few new pictures. If anything, look at it just to see the fingerboard I'm gettin' from Larry!

A few people over at talkbass.com have used them and liked them. I've yet to try one out because of a lack of cash, but I plan on getting one in the future.

If anyone cares, I just rewrote all of the CSS, so the colors are alot easier on the eyes. A few more designs were also added.

I think they're playable, just silly. The reverse explorer style is okay, but still not proportioned well. The guy gets an "A" for ingenuity at the very least.

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Reverse explorer? You mean the second one? Surely you can tell that it is a woman with her legs as the horns...

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I think he meant this one, made by the same guy.

I also forgot to mention that the piece of mahogany has been sitting in an attic and has been aging for 40 years .

It actually started out as a cutout, but I just lightly shaded it to see what it would look like solid. I like it cut out more than I like it as a solid singlecut. As for which I will start with, I've already began 1 (under the progress pics link), and I'm not really sure which I will do next. Body wood will probably be mahogany, as I have just been given (yes, free) a piece that is 12 feet * 8" * 3/4". That piece will last me a good long while, and I may even do a totally mahogany bass, neck and all.

Yet again, a few more designs have been added. There is also a simple headstock design.

Since we're talking about such things, I had a question I've been meaning to ask, too--

In offset neck profiles, is the fatter side normally toward the high E or the low E?

Welcome to the site, Mark!

Greg

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I think you mean high G and low E.

Bumpity bump bump

Well, I've just added two more designs if anyone wants to check them out. The first of the two is just a somewhat decent singlecut with an "Omega" cutout on the lower bout. The second is the one that I really love. You'll just have to check it out.

While a decent design (I'm a bassist... I like my curves ), I hope you don't plan to play while sitting. It looks as though you are off to a great start, though .

Ever thing of drawing up a singlecut?

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I have a couple. This is really the only singlecut I would like to build:

It's what I think a Jerzy Drozd singlecut would look like if he made 'em.

That Wal and the Zon were the 2 designs I was trying to keep away from. I can't say that I see any Wal in it at all :-\. The Wal is too curvy.

jmrentis - Hopefully I won't have to pick just one. With any luck I can build most of them in the future.

nollock - That's actually the reason I liked the 4th (baby got back ). The 5th would probably be an extended range, so the long upper horn would help balance out the fat neck. I do intend to make most of them at some point. If you click on the Concordis - Fretless 4 link you can see the current one I'm working on.

Mr. Churchyard - Pagelli was the first thing I thought when I saw my finished drawing, though it really doesn't look much like their 3 octave bass.

You can see all of my designs at cerb.trap17.com under Concept Drawings. Most of them have just been done in my spare time in study hall/lunch. Some are just decent while, in my opinion, a few are really killer. What do you think of them? My favorite five are in the following links.

http://cerb.trap17.com/HPIM0180.jpg - My most recent. Very simple, yet elegant. Probably my favorite at the moment.

http://cerb.trap17.com/HPIM0138.jpg

http://cerb.trap17.com/HPIM0168.jpg - 3 octave neck

http://cerb.trap17.com/HPIM0136.jpg

http://cerb.trap17.com/HPIM0169.jpg - Nice, long upper horn for good balance.

So, on a scale of 1-10, what do you think? Also remember these are designs for bass, so I'm sure that a lot of you guitarists won't know what to think of them . For such a similar group of instruments/musicians, our designs seem quite varied/different .

Also, moderators, I'm sure that if this is in the wrong place, you will move it. I wasn't quite sure where to put it.

You could very well be correct about the other brands that the site sells. I'm only speaking for Essex, and even then only for their basses. I've never came in contact with any of their guitars.

Actually, their stuff is amazing for the price. It certainly isn't $5,000 custom amazing, but it's great none the less. Check this thread over at Talkbass. It's an Essex Megathread. I'd say that 95% enjoy the quality as-is without modification. I love my fretless J.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57599

Fotoflame is a process used to make the top maple cap appear flamed. It's basically a transparent film covering the wood that has the flame grain printed on it. That guitar appears to have a real figured top, though.

You guitarists and your pointy things *shakes head*. I, personally, don't like it at all, but if it plays nice, why not?

I'm not sure about their guitars, but Essex (rondomusic.com) makes some pretty kickass J and P bass copies for about $130. Their guitars are even cheaper. I'd check them out. I'm laying down the groove on a fretless J Bass made by them at the moment, and it's killer.

Edit: I was just looking through their guitars, and on the second page is a decent looking V for $130. A lot of their guitars look right up your alley.

Edit 2: If you were planning on getting something with a figured top, the SX brand guitars and basses use fotoflame. But, hey, so does fender . There are quite a few other brands of guit-fiddles on the site, though.

The new build is intonatable with the ABM bridge.  The old build was fretless, so an acoustic bridge is fine.    You intonate each note individually on a fretless by touch and ear anyhow... the bridge is only relevant insofar as it should be in the right spot according to scale length and have a teeny bit of 'compensation' so that your imaginary fret lines more or less line up... but even then, you're playing by ear and feel.

Looks awesome.  I love the Pickup covers.  How do they sound?

Greg

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Very nice! Who's the headless system made by? Why did you decide to go with a non-adjustable acoustic style bridge? Intonation on a fretless is difficult as is. I can't imagine not having intonation correct across all strings.

You mention the drummer and the vocalist, but no mention of Ryan Martinie, their bassist? Shame, shame. He's possibly, Steve Harris of Iron Maiden aside, the most technically proficient metal bassist of our time. The guy's got killer chops, and he locks in with the drummer amazingly well.

The drummer and the bassist make Mudvayne what it is. Without them, Mudvayne would just be another run of the mill metal band.

Needless to say, I love 'em.

I still demand a full frontal shot.

Very cool! Headless, I'm guessing? I love the figure on that maple top.

Let's see a picture of the whole of it.

Heck, I'd leave it as is. It gives the bass some character, some mojo.

If you must, though, the best place to get your hardware would either be eBay or directly from Warwick.

As for finishing, I'm not sure the height of the paint. Just expect it to take quite a while.