Brushed gold, short scale offset bass [finished! pix p.3]
- solfege
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass
Looks fantastic.
- countertext
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass
What the fuuuuudge? My hat’s off to YOU, suh.
- Rgand
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass
That's a clean build. Very, very, cool.
- CROSS_guitars
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass
I always love seeing Hand made hardware.
This design is giving off Full Harvester vibes.
Nice!
This design is giving off Full Harvester vibes.
Nice!
- W.L.Weller
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass
The custom brass saddles are excellent, and making me think I could take a crack at a custom bridge. I mean, the whole thing is excellent, but I know better than to think I could pull a whole build off. Hats off to you!
- epizootics
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass
Thanks y'all
It is DONE!
It turned out to be a more complex build than I'd anticipated and it definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. I ended up making sheets detailing what I had to do in what order, instead of my usual 'rushing ahead and maybe things'll be fine' approach. Guess what? It helps to be organized
Halfway through, I realized the location of the bridge relative to that of the different cavities was going to make the grounding of the strings & bridge a challenge if I wanted to drill a hole between them. Feasible, but dangerous and possibly messy. After a lot of head scratching, and before drilling into the unknown, it came to me that that whole body top was metallic. A quick check with my multimeter gave me a continuity reading between the bridge and that pesky little silvery layer. Phew.
Everything went smoothly once the neck was glued on. For once, I made an exhaustive list of the parts I needed and put them all in a tray before I started the assembly, rather than my customary 'yeah, I know where I keep my pickgard screws' (I don't - I have guitar parts hidden everywhere in my workroom). That really helped avoiding that 'last few yards nervous breakdown' where every pot seems bent on playing hide-and-seek.
Anyhow - everything is up and running and it is one feisty little bass! The saddles actually intonate pretty well. It definitely falls into Mustang/P-Bass territory, with a lot of thump with a whole bunch of mids. I took it out to band practice yesterday and it sat very nicely in the mix. I ended up going with slightly degaussed Alnico 8 rods in the bridge and a fairly hot turn count (by my standards anyway - 14 kOhms's worth of 43 AWG) and I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Kinda like Alnico 2 rounded, organic highs but a tighter response in the lows. I don't know why people don't use A8 more, it is a very cool and viable option. I make Jazzmaster sets with A8 in the bridge and A2 in the neck that is a nice variation on the usual JM flavor.
For now, I still see all the little imperfections (notably the inlaying work of the pickguard that's less than stellar) but it's a really fun little bass. My wife loves it and we can now get back to studying those Talking Heads bass lines (we share Tina Weymouth as our favorite four-stringer out there).
It is DONE!
It turned out to be a more complex build than I'd anticipated and it definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. I ended up making sheets detailing what I had to do in what order, instead of my usual 'rushing ahead and maybe things'll be fine' approach. Guess what? It helps to be organized
Halfway through, I realized the location of the bridge relative to that of the different cavities was going to make the grounding of the strings & bridge a challenge if I wanted to drill a hole between them. Feasible, but dangerous and possibly messy. After a lot of head scratching, and before drilling into the unknown, it came to me that that whole body top was metallic. A quick check with my multimeter gave me a continuity reading between the bridge and that pesky little silvery layer. Phew.
Everything went smoothly once the neck was glued on. For once, I made an exhaustive list of the parts I needed and put them all in a tray before I started the assembly, rather than my customary 'yeah, I know where I keep my pickgard screws' (I don't - I have guitar parts hidden everywhere in my workroom). That really helped avoiding that 'last few yards nervous breakdown' where every pot seems bent on playing hide-and-seek.
Anyhow - everything is up and running and it is one feisty little bass! The saddles actually intonate pretty well. It definitely falls into Mustang/P-Bass territory, with a lot of thump with a whole bunch of mids. I took it out to band practice yesterday and it sat very nicely in the mix. I ended up going with slightly degaussed Alnico 8 rods in the bridge and a fairly hot turn count (by my standards anyway - 14 kOhms's worth of 43 AWG) and I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Kinda like Alnico 2 rounded, organic highs but a tighter response in the lows. I don't know why people don't use A8 more, it is a very cool and viable option. I make Jazzmaster sets with A8 in the bridge and A2 in the neck that is a nice variation on the usual JM flavor.
For now, I still see all the little imperfections (notably the inlaying work of the pickguard that's less than stellar) but it's a really fun little bass. My wife loves it and we can now get back to studying those Talking Heads bass lines (we share Tina Weymouth as our favorite four-stringer out there).
Yup, what with the padauk neck and Kay heastock, it definitely went the Harvester way. I must say Anthony's work was the main thing that made me want to build instruments in the first place. The world of French lutherie is well-dominated by ultra-figured wood and kitsch body shapes and his guitars were a complete breath of fresh air.CROSS_guitars wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:00 pmI always love seeing Hand made hardware.
This design is giving off Full Harvester vibes.
Nice!
It's honestly not as bad as it looks, and a lot of fun, to make your own hardware. Just make sure you have a bunch of materials to waste in the beginnings I have a drawer full of scrap from my first attempts. If you're careful in your layout and give the geometry a good think before cutting your pieces, you're usually ok. Drawing 1:1 plans really helps. You can usually spot most potential problems this way. Bridges are basically cramming a bunch of moving parts in a very small space. I'm always surprised at how much space is actually taken up by 3mm height screws in this context.W.L.Weller wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 3:40 amThe custom brass saddles are excellent, and making me think I could take a crack at a custom bridge. I mean, the whole thing is excellent, but I know better than to think I could pull a whole build off. Hats off to you!
- marqueemoon
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass [finished! pix p.3]
That’s awesome. Tina is one of my favorites too.
- antisymmetric
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass
*places hands over ears* Not listening to this nonsense!epizootics wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:24 pm
I ended up making sheets detailing what I had to do in what order, instead of my usual 'rushing ahead and maybe things'll be fine' approach. Guess what? It helps to be organized
What a cool little bass, it's come out fantastic. Glad you didn't go with the accidental reverse headstock- Brian Eno is right about a lot of things, but sometimes a mistake is just a mistake.
Totally agree about Tina also.
Watching the corners turn corners
- solfege
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass [finished! pix p.3]
I know I've said this like three times in this thread, but this is really fine work. I love the design, and the execution is from my point of view really very good indeed.
- ThePearDream
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass [finished! pix p.3]
This turned out really fantastic! I like how the black under-layer outlines the gold. The recessed pickguard is super cool and I love the simplicity of the name plate on the headstock. There are so many cool details that all work together to create an understated elegance.
Doug
@dpcannafax
@dpcannafax
- PJazzmaster
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass [finished! pix p.3]
WOW Great job !!! Great design
- Harvester
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass [finished! pix p.3]
APPROVED
so elegant.
cheers, AP
so elegant.
cheers, AP
- epizootics
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- antisymmetric
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass [finished! pix p.3]
^^Cool, glad he got to see it.
Watching the corners turn corners
- cdwillis
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Re: Brushed gold, short scale offset bass [finished! pix p.3]
Great job. That is an amazing looking bass. I'd love to see a guitar version.