PlungerModerno

It should be OK indefinitely, with the truss rod loose, or tensioned pretty tight. Just might take longer to settle in when you set it up if it's pretty tight and the neck is more flexible. I'd look along the neck, if it's flat or has a slight bow in either direction, I'd leave it. If it has a substantial back bow without the strings I'd give it a few turns to loosen the truss rod, count them carefully and write them down so you can get it close to that state when you're setting up again. In my experience a neck that needs a good bit of truss rod tension will need a couple of passes to get the relief right while it settles in anyway, unless you get lucky. If it has major forward bow, now would be a great time to take some or all of that out, without the string tension, by the truss rod or by clamping if needs be. If it's a dual action rod be careful, you don't want to clamp it when the rod is under any sort of tension! If in doubt, don't - especially if it's not a neck you can easily replace! EDIT: You shouldn't use clamping pressure unless you have to on any neck, you risk marking the finish, or worse, and I guess a single action rod, especially a DIY or low quality one might be even more fragile than all common dual action rods.

Looks mighty, sounds

Lookin' gorgeous!

I saw a bass or guitar with one a while back, thought it looked pretty different. I think there was even a custom bass with a flake/glitter trans guard with a tint - kinda like this but with a lot less glitter and see through: I might be mistaken, could have just been a paint effect and a clear guard. Cool way to paint a guitar, let you cover the 2 tone with the 'guard if you fancy it!

Yup I think it's cheapness if they're using softer woods, plus they don't want to start doing it on the high end line and then roll it down to the lower end stuff if they believe can't sell the feature since it's hidden. Who are the 'electronics are the only thing that affect sound in solid bodied instruments' camp? I've seen @BigRedX say " the choice of wood on it's own does not matter in construction of a solid electric bass or guitar" and I've said something similar when it comes to the species of the wood at least, given how much wood types overlap in density, stiffness, and other properties. I think even in acoustic construction those properties are what matter, species matters only as far as what kind of properties wood harvested from that tree tends to have. Just like the species doesn't tell you if it's a beautifully figured piece of grain, it doesn't tell you if it's a super dense example. Ash being the obvious example that varys a lot. The bass with a piezo example is, at least as I understand it, a clear grey area between electric and acoustic, since it is truly both in a way magnetic pickups aren't.

The attention to detail, the careful planning of the laminates revealing themselves... it is exquisite.

Looks cool, kinda like a frankenbass. I'd recommend a clear or translucent pickguard: It's a lovely sparkly blue.

Indeed, for many softer woods it makes a lot of sense. For a dense piece of tough hardwood it makes no difference in my opinion, at least not the first 5,000 times you screw it in and out. After that a machine bolt & threaded insert is massively more dependable! But what does the threaded insert glue or screw into? Methinks the density, stiffness, and grippyness/bite of the pilot holes/holes wooden walls will matter a whole lot if you're using a soft wood. I know I'd want to glue in blocks of maple or a similar tough wood if I was building a balsawood body bass lol!

Density, stiffness, and ability to hold screws I imagine!

Definitely, softwoods are generally knot central and you can come across pockets of sap, plus they tend to sand unevenly based on the grain. Like hardwoods (including balsa and ebony) there are quite a range of softwoods. I gather slow grown fir or pine from a cold climate tends to be very strong and stiff. Douglas fir is traditional for masts, with excellent reason. You can make pine or fir necks with no truss rod that work. I'd still put one in though!

Imagine acoustic guitars without pine and very close relatives for tops? I think it has a few fans in solid body instruments too!

Ooooo... I looked into the Ashula, hadn't heard one in a good while. Turns out it's not a single model!

Looks better and better. I think a matching fingerboard or extended rest (like a ramp as you mocked up) with the light/dark striping, as well as the neck heel laminates with a transparent rest would have all looked and played beautifully, this way you can get (with a little contorting) a 36th and higher fret position for some very interesting sounds!

Nah maple syrup, even if it's frozen solid with a layer of rosewater on top ain't wood! Although I bet it would sound sweet!

Lol I clearly needed to do more thinking before I put my foot in my mouth!

Same. Or it could be the "Justice For All" scenario, where the bassist is taking the place of a very sadly missed former member, and they aren't happy to let him or her shine just yet.

Or use a contrasting shade of wood or another material to get a lined fingerboard. you'll never make a defretted fingerboard look perfectly like an unlined board - unless you plane it down to below the fret slot level. Might as well embrace it in my opinion.

I would tend to agree, the material the instrument is made of can make a massive difference, the most common demonstration we would have all experienced is dead spots caused by resonance (I think it's mostly density in this case, how you tune a wooden block instrument is you make it lighter by making it smaller, I think somebody already mentioned the experiments where this theory was developed: https://www.vintageguitar.com/1772/fender-headless-bass/ https://web.archive.org/web/20200918180102/https://www.vintageguitar.com/1772/fender-headless-bass/). My interpretation would be the species alone tells you only half the story, given how much wood varies within the same plank, let alone the same tree, let alone the same species. Without seeing the grain and knowing the weight we have only a general idea. I think we could theoretically do a large scale series of carefully designed tests to establish if it's a quantifiable difference to a bassists/guitarists ears solo'd vs. in a mix. I can't see anybody bankrolling it, given you would need dozens of identical bodies from each species, and even if you did the research, who would reproduce it to demonstrate it's validity? I won't hold my breath! I think all those DeGeirs sound lovely, but they do not sound different enough to my ears to be a factor in choosing any over other factors (e.g. what's in stock, which colour I like etc.).

I imagine the guy making them has a wealth of knowledge to go with the DeGeir reputation. Look at the attention to detail and variety of woods used: https://www.degierguitars.com/bebop-70s-gallery/ https://www.degierguitars.com/elevation-gallery/ I would take him at his word, I won't deny his experience, but he is a custom builder outside of an ideal "lab environment", i.e. very much a small sample size, typically 1, of each combo of woods and exact same electronics (not same brand/model of pickup & loom, the exact same one since we know pickups, pots, and caps all vary subtly, some quite noticeably due to pretty slack tolerances on most of them). Without a fairly large scale experiment with appropriate controls (e.g. all painted bodies, to blind the test to the players, then recorded and compared by a different group of people to hopefully have a double blind) that is reproduced, we can't say much. I know a few people attempted to do this with a sample size of 1 for each species of wood, but these weren't even single blinded experiments. I would add that we could try to also eliminate the weight/density argument at the same time. Maybe add non-metallic weights to the bass body, or chamber the denser woods - since these would be painted (and of course we'd throw in a chipboard and plywood bodies) it should be easy to hide.

An important point! You can't change rules or measures halfway through. Use the same measurement standard, like a band tuning to the same tuner/piano. As long as one part of the ruler isn't out more than the other, it'll hopefully be close enough!

Nice A/B/C shootout. Pity there's no blind section, but somebody could make one (put a static image on screen, put them in a different order, calling them A, B and C). I suspect the 3 different pickups in the same bass might sound subtly different, I would say other factors are at stake than wood species, given these are 3 different (albeit very similar) basses, you have the whole system being compared (tone circut, strings, setup, etc., on top of the variables of playing).

That is strange. Babicz have a good rep, I'd be shocked if it was well out of spec. I'd be curious to see the regular bridge vs. the Babicz.

I agree you should try it with tape before spending money - see if it solves your problem. A more permanent solution is to take off the covers and replace them with solid ones, or if you don't mind modding the pickup covers - gluing wood veneer or plastic to the face of the cover. It won't look like an Xotic pickup: But it should work. Woods generally easier to paint than plastic if you wanted a solid colour. If the strings are hitting it a very tough wood or plastic would be ideal, or just lower the pickups (maybe look at a preamp or booster for raising the output, or just hotter pickups? if you don't like the way they sound lowered).

I think, if it's a reinforced neck without adjustment (metal or graphite bar) it would be possible without doing anything to the fretboard as @Andyjr1515 said it would just mean cutting and putting the nut at a fret position. In practice I think the most likely situation this might be relevant to might be a headed to headless conversion. If you have to reattach the headstock it's so much work you probably want to just make a new neck. Likewise if it's an adjustable truss rod, you'll have to replace it or do major work on it, a new neck is nearly as handy. Perhaps if it's set neck or neck through, has a cracked fingerboard AND you're converting to headless - then it might be a good idea to go with the existing neck and replace with a shorter truss rod.

I wonder what that bridge pickup solo'd sounds like!!!