lettsguitars

everything glued up and roughed out, ready for template routing. ziricote 'cat's eyes' and headstock cap.

i'll finish glueing the body, cat's eyes and headstock today, and we'll be ready for shaping. this one should be ready in a week or so, depending on when pups are ready. decided to go with the mahogany back. the cocobolo is pretty heavy and really thick, and the body is about 1 1/2". if i decide there isn't enough weight i'll put something on the back later.

ed got in touch to see if i still had a bass that was on ebay a while ago, i thought he was talkin about a different bass, all got a little confusing, but ed decided to let me make one. here's how it goes. he knew straight away that he wanted a cocobolo top. cool. wasn't sure about 4 or 5string, fretted or fretless. we went through a LOT of changes to the shape, and ed finally decided on fretless 5 string with a blank board. here's pics so far. mahogany core. mahogany neck. pacific blackwood finger board (i might use maccassar ebony). possibly a rosewood back, or just the mahogany. and cocobolo on top

weighed in i guess about 7lb, with packaging, gigbag, box etc, it was 6 kg. website not ready til next year. another build diary up today though.

how do? plenty here to wittle away the hours.

[quote name='guyl' post='1046302' date='Dec 3 2010, 01:20 PM']I've never waxed my natural Streamer since I bought it around 15 years ago. It has got some grimy marks - eg around the knobs and where my right thumb rests against the pickup. I'm scared of using wire wool though![/quote] fine wire wool is how you 'buff out' a natural oil finish, before waxing. it certainly wont do any harm. just keep it away from pickups and open tuners etc.

i had a corvette pro back in the day. warwick supplied the wax. what i found was, the light coloured wood (not sure what it was, i was just a nipper) tended to get a little grimy, and then i would wax over the top of old grime and start the process again. not sure, but maybe clean up with wire wool before waxing? any opinions?

i buy hipshot tuners on a regular basis direct from jason ungliech. i could sell you a used set. or i would happily get some for you, next time i place an order, which could be a couple of months away. i would have to arrange a price with jason, as i get builder discount, and do not want to get into a sticky situation as some kind of unauthorised reseller. but i'm sure i could get a good price for you. jon

and here she is. pete should be pleased. he's got a true one of a kind bass, with a one of a kind i.m.p ibstock brick pickup which sounds absolutely lovely. as i said earlier, these pups are still under development in various regards, but it is fully functioning, features tapped coils and a 4way rotary switch. all in all, a beautiful instrument, and only £500. thanks for all your comments. and next up, a groovy cocobola build for ed shearer. easy now, jon.

what a cool bass! bet it sounds great when it's done. should be worth a few quid n'all. what style of tunage do you play? i dont get these archtop cutaways though. it looks as though the bass side is actually cutaway more than the treble. same as an sg build on here. why would anyone do that? enlighten me.

groovy! we got it wired up and it plays beautifully and sounds absolutely brilliant. ben made a fine job of making this humbucker. very impressed. the cover needs developing further and i know he had a hard time teaching himself the art of vacuum forming, not perfect but it looks very cool to say the least. adds a real original quality to the instrument. vol, tone and 4 way switch. humbucker in series, humbucker parallel, single coil in series and humbucker series tapped at 50%. pics to come.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1042852' date='Nov 30 2010, 08:06 PM']Selling basses, the most common thing I hear is: 'I've been told it's easier than playing guitar'[/quote] it is definately easier to play the bass badly, than to play the guitar badly. that all changes when you start playing well. there are guitarists and bassists.

looks like you got a nice mahogany under there. maybe have a crack at a sunburst.

that thumb rest looks frighteningly close to the e string. is it?

looks like you made a good job, and if it suits you, then it's all good. has it affected the balance at all?

[quote name='Wil' post='1043428' date='Dec 1 2010, 10:05 AM']True, but I suppose it depends what you want from a manufacturer. Spector for instance have a core design that they've tweaked over the years, but when you purchase an NS Spector, you expect it to feel and sound like an NS Spector. I suppose the other end of the scale is someone like Carl Thompson where you get whatever the luthier creates for you and any deviations from design along the way are considered part of the character.[/quote] definately, you have hit the nail on the head.

[quote name='Wil' post='1043404' date='Dec 1 2010, 09:54 AM']Surely though a CNC is programmed to do just what the luthier wants it to do? Once they've perfected their design they can make a machine reproduce that design perfectly, every time. Most luthiers will still finish the bass off and set it up by hand anyway.[/quote] there no such thing as a perfect design. things should constantly evolve. again, just my opinion.

[quote name='Wil' post='1043312' date='Dec 1 2010, 08:39 AM']Well, that's your view and you're entitled to it, but it seems pretty crazy to me. I don't see a downside to using all the excellent technology available in addition to human experience in order to create a high quality instrument.[/quote] i just think we rely too much on these things. a computer cares not what it does. and you think a design is 'right' so you program your machine and off you go. no more 'happy mistakes', and a sterile product. i'm not dissing spector by any degree. just my thoughts.

[quote name='charic' post='1043300' date='Dec 1 2010, 08:19 AM']I like how does it balance? Looks like it may be a candidate for neckdive (looks can be misleading mind)[/quote] oh man. i assure you this bass balances perfectly. sitting down, it just sits there obediently. standing up, there should be a slight upward angle of the neck, the perfect playing position. as i tell any customer who's worried about the dive, it is one of the foremost considerations when choosing woods and deciding on thickness. and it's light too! which reminds me, a chap who is considering a build told me the other day that, he'd recently picked up a warwick (model escapes me) which had a serious case of the dives. unforgivable mr warwick, whats up? your factory workers got a bag on?

hmm. cnc machines. that is just lazy. in my stupid opinion, any guitar touched by a computer is not a handmade guitar. every 'handmade guitar should be one of a kind. the human eye, ear, and hand is unable to detect such low levels of tolerance, but is more than capable of sensing the work of human hands, which is the key to a really nice bass. interesting. there's a wal bass for sale on here at the mo that has people trying to sell their mothers. i wonder if wal used cnc's???

well, it happened! theres a great big lump of snow inbetween the bass and the pickup. tomorrow's gonna be roasting though, right? seriously, ben couldn't get over coz of ice on the road (wheres all this salt we're not short of). see what tomorrow brings.