Oxbow Guitars - "ADS" Bass
I was approached by a client who couldn't decide between buying a stock Rickenbacker 4003 or commissioning a custom build.
After going through all the options available, he decided to take the plunge, settling on a design that married some Ric features with some more contemporary appointments.
As the first of this design that I've built, it has inherited the name "ADS" from Andy Dixon-Smith, the fellow who commissioned it.
Many of the parts on this bass are bespoke, and some, as far as I know are unique.
34" Scale, neck through, strung with Roto flatwounds, tuned BEAD. 10"-16" compound radius.
Pomelle Bubinga/Wenge 9 piece neck with Maple accents.
Wenge wings.
1 piece Pomelle Bubinga 10mm top and matching headstock facing.
Ebony board with Ebony binding.
22 jumbo frets.
Bison horn nut.
Twin 2 way truss rods, parallel to centre line with magnetic grain matched truss rod cover.
5.5mm carbon reinforcement rods installed parallel with board edges.
Schaller M45 tuners in vintage copper.
Hipshot R bridge (brass) custom finished by Schaller in vintage copper.
Lace Alumitone Bassbar 3.5 pickups custom finished by Schaller in vintage copper.
Volume/volume/tone control configuration, all push/push pots with coil split per pickup and series/parallel on the tone.
Dual treble bleed capacitor/resistor circuits on each volume, .047uF tone cap, all NOS paper in oil cpacitors.
Vintage push back wiring throughout.
Schaller strap locks in vintage copper.
Switchcraft barrel output jack custom finished by Schaller in vintage copper.
Copper and abalone "bullseye" fretboard markers in "Z" configuration.
Copper and Luminlay "bullseye" side dot markers.
Copper cavity shielding.
Magnetic cavity cover cut from grain matched Wenge
Maple and dyed black Pearwood binding all round, no plastic!
You can see more shots of this bass, including some progress pictures on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/oxbowguitars
I build, repair and customise guitars for a living out of my workshop in Worcestershire, UK. Aside form a short lived stint building violins at night school, I'm completely self taught. All my guitars are built using handheld manual and power tools only. I have nothing against CNC, just don't have/use one myself.
