skelf

Hi I don't do the renders one of my customer is a design student he does all the clever stuff I just provide the pictures. The BHS is a Tasmanian wood. The top and the back will be pretty thin so the mahogany will dictate the overall tone rather than the BHS. It does look a lot like spalt but the wood is sound no nasty soft patches to worry about. It is pretty light weight wise and seems pretty resonant so I have high hopes for the whole bass. Alan

First of a new model. A render of the bass using pics of the woods it will be built from. The spec. Top and back Black Heart Sassafras. Body core Hondo Mahogany with black contrast veneer. Neck 7 piece Flame Sycamore/Mac Ebony. Sassafras headplate Mac ebony backplate ,heel and control cavity cover. Fingerboard Mac Ebony. Hardware the usual ACG spec in black. ACG filter pre-amp. ACG pickups model TBD.

That is Mark's bass ready to ship. The spec on this one. Body core will be Swamp Ash with a Sappy Redwood top and a Quilt Maple back both with a black accent line. Neck 7 piece Bibinga/Flamed Sycamore with a Redwood headplate and a Quilt Maple back plate and heel all with accent veneers. Fingerboard acrylic impregnated Birdseye Maple from Larry at Gallery. Hardware all in black. Hipshot Type A bridge. Hipshot Ultralites. 2 ACG Fatbas custom wound humbuckers with coil switching on mini-switches. ACG custom pre-amp. ACG gallery

I have never played a bass with a 10" radius so I can't really say how they compare. Personally I like flatter boards I have a 5 string fretlees which has a flat board it takes a bit of getting used to but I would now be reluctant to go back to a radius on the board. I also built a 6 fretted flat and again I now find it very comfortable to play. I think the wider the board the easier it is if flat. A good compromise is a 20" or 24" radius.

Maurits Happy to help. If you ever get past just wanting a single cut I can help you with that as well. Alan

Thanks Ben. Always trying to improve on the last effort. De Trepagny I am really pleased with the bubinga it should look really good with some finish on it.

Thanks Travis. Alan

A pic of the redwood single cut in the spray booth.

Hi A few more of the progress made on the Bubinga single cut.

Back this time.

Hi A few more of the progress made on the Bubinga single cut. I have sprayed some white spirit on the bass to bring up the colours.

Some work done on the Bubinga single cut. That is the contouring on the body roughed in and the neck glued in with some of the carving done.

Thanks guys for the kind words. Here are some pics of the first Harlot bass. Almost finished just a few bits to tweak and it will be done. I am really happy with this model from a design point of view it balances really well and I find it very comfortable to play. The spec. Body is Swamp Ash with a Crotch Walnut top and black accent veneer. Neck 5 piece Flame Sycamore/Wenge with Ebony board Walnut head-plate back-plate and heel all with contrast veneers. Hardware. ACG filter pre-amp with 2 ACG Fatbas custom wound humbuckers. Ceramic magnet in the bridge and an Alnico 5 in the neck. Hipshot Type A bridge and Hipshot Ultralite tuners. Schaller staplocks and a Neutrik locking jack. The finish is satin lacquer. More pics at: ACG Gallery

That is the lacquer buffed I hope to get the bass put together tomorrow. Alan

Going to be starting this new build just shortly. A Recurve 5 string single cut with an Amboyna Burl matching front and back. A few pics of the burl which came from Larry at Gallery. It will be a left hander. Alan

Hi Travis Looks like it is all shaping up really well. Cheers Alan

Thanks guys. Pic of the front this time got the bass strung today.Just the holes for the pre-amp to do and then on to the sanding. Hope to get the sanding done over the weekend and start the spraying on Monday

Some more work done on the redwood single cut.

Hi Wes As you say thinking along the same lines but different enough to be called yours. Cheers Alan

One of my prototype basses has an acrylic black palm board and has been played a fair bit. The strings don't seem to be doing any damage certainly no more than on an ebony board. I use nickel strings on all my basses which are a bit softer than the stainless this will help I think. Alan

Hi Wes You can expect a call from my lawyers first thing tomorrow morning . Everyone has their influence's I really didn't like single cuts until I saw what JP did with them. That got me to see what could be done with the form. Up until then I had only seen things like Fodera single cuts which I really don't like.

You could use a small piolt hole then a jeweller's saw with a fine blade to cut it out. A laser cutter would do the job but I seem to be just a bit short of the several thousand pounds I would need to buy one. donations accepted. Just got this one finished my first Recurve single cut and my first set neck. The spec. Body woods, Alder with an Santos Rosewood top with a 3 mm Tulipwood accent between them. Neck will be a flamed Sycamore and Mahogany 5 piece with a birdseye/fleck maple acrylic impregnated finger board which will have semi-tone markers in Pear wood. Matching Rosewood headplate. The control cover, neck heel accent and backplate are Bubinga. 2 ACG FatBas pickups and the ACG filter pre-amp. Hipshot Type A bridge and Hipshot Ultralites Schaller straplocks. The finish is 60% sheen lacquer on the body with 20% sheen lacquer on the neck. More pics at. http://www.acguitars.co.uk/Gallery/105/

I don't think I would do a complete ring round the whole cavity you could get away with 3/4 wooden parts glued on to the side of the cavity to take the screws for the cover plate. The wood would look better than the metal fittings. Top notch guitar really nice stain job and finish. Alan

I am sure that will work and if the bass was one for myself I would be happy to try it. If it went wrong it would be me picking up the tab but if the instrument is an order I don't like to experimenting on them when someone is paying for them. Thanks for your thoughts if you get a chance to take some pics while your are trying out the above I would be interested in seeing them and hearing how you get on.

When I have enough wood to play with I resaw and do it the way you suggest. The Maple back is done that way. The limba back I did not have enough wood to do this so I took the cover from in front of the lower horn.