Son of Magni

Believe me there was no guesswork in it. I did about a dozen tests with different colors and mixtures over a couple weeks. I ended up with 90% red 10% blue mixed in water and wiped on one coat. Lightly sanded because of grain raising. Two coats of Watco with red mixed in. Then 6 coats of Tru-Oil. Yeah I thought the red strings would be nice on it. Who makes gold alloy strings, I know I've seen them on juststrings.com?

They're active EMG's, the ones with the preamps inside the pups. V/V/T

I like it, that's a pretty cool project. And as one person mentioned it would be great to play it with a slide too. I really hope you're going to give us some sound clips!

They sound great! I did some experimentation with them before doing any routing. lol! Actually there's no volume, it's a pan control. I can add more controls when I sell it, but I never touch a volume on the bass so I left it out. Thanks for the compliments!

for your enjoyment burl redwood top and back mahogany body macassar ebony fingerboard bloodwood, maple, and walnut lams http://www.thorbass.com/images/builds07/6s...one/front1_.jpg http://www.thorbass.com/images/builds07/6s...done/tail1_.jpg http://www.thorbass.com/images/builds07/6s...done/head1_.jpg

Yes, the neck is Ebony, Purpleheart, and Maple. 2 trusses Excellent work, Magni! Just as impressive as the spalt top you posted a while ago, though admittedly with 10 tuners, the headstock looks a bit crowded. How does it balance, with that many tuners on the headstock? And is the bridge/tailpiece homemade? It looks sharp, though I noticed that each set of two is adjustable for intonation, not every string. Again, awesome job It balances ok considering. They are lightweight tuners and half of them are guitar tuners. I really haven't played it much standing up but it didn't bother me. I built the bridge and tailpiece. The bridge has 5 adjustable saddles and the saddles have a fixed offset for the two strings. I did some tests first to determine what offset to use. Also, the heights of the saddles are set to follow the radius of the fingerboard and the bridge height can be adjusted at each end.

I'm not sure whether I have any progress pics for this. It was started a long time ago and I've been distracted multiple times. I'll look... Yes, they are in octaves. And *no quitting*

Here some pics for your enjoyment... http://www.thorbass.com/images/builds07/10string/back3_.jpg http://www.thorbass.com/images/builds07/10...ng/bridge6_.jpg http://www.thorbass.com/images/builds07/10string/head1_.jpg

They're DR coated strings, "Red Devils". They last longer than regular strings, unless your nut lock cuts your high E string in half

I just completed another project. This is a Tele based guitar (my first guitar) made with my body shape and neck-thru. It has Alembic Tele replacement pickups. Hope you like it... front neck back

Wow, that looks sweet. How did the back lam on the headstock come out?

Wow, I hope the flaws were pretty substantial

Dave, I haven't read the whole thread, but based on your first post and the pics things are looking really nice! One thing I have to say is, I'm impressed by your evaluation of your work at every step. You're taking every opportunity to learn by seeing where your techniques could be improved. Sign of someone that will be making some great instruments Edit: Yeah Bloodwood. I bought a couple boards to make tops from. I haven't cut it yet but it's amazingly dusty with fine red dust. I bet it'll be great fun putting this stuff through the plainer...

Thanks Jason and Jon, I can't take all the credit though. Mother nature supplied the beautiful materials... I realized I never responded to this. It's actually about 2 3/4 inches. This is something I experienced with the first bass I build with this template and made some changes to give a little more room. The guy who contracted this bass wanted the body width reduced, and the way I accomplished that brought the lower horn closer again. I'll probably reshape it a bit thanks to your timely question So, here's a short clip of me playing it. I'm really just a fretless player but it came out ok I think... Spalt Bass

That is Cocobolo, anyone considering using it should think twice because of the allergy risk. Played this bass in a couple jams over the last few days and it sounded great. After I get some clips uploaded I'll link to them if that's allowed...

It's like having the two jazz bass pickups except moved more to the extreams, and a MM in the middle... Still a couple more small tasks left but all set up and playable at this point. back3 edge2 front1 front4

slowly bu surely...

Here's one of the links about spalt that gave me the idea to use shellac, I can't find the other one anymore. Of note are the sections on Working Properties and Finishing. - SoM http://www.alanlacer.com/articles/spalting.html

The article I read about hardening with shellac was specific to spalted wood which is much more porous than solid wood. I seems to penetrate quite well since after three coats the spalt is still not sealed. The hard areas did seal with the first coat as you imply. I wonder what the durability is like compared to an oil/varnish finish like Tru-Oil... - SoM

A little update. I was going to use CA glue to harden the spalt top and back of the body, but I wasn't looking forward to breathing the fumes from the glue or the dust from sanding later. So after a little research I learned that clear wax-free shellac is also a good hardener. Shellac also has the advantage that you can use pretty much any finish over it. So heres a pic showing the body after three coats of spray shellac. The spalted areas are not completely sealed but are much harder than they were. - SoM

Darn those hazardous tuners!

I've used it, but I'd combine it with other wood for a neck.

This all seems like a lot of work. After cutting out with a bandsaw, why not just finish the shaping with a spindle sander?