Basvarken

Brooks SparkleBird. In Cobalt Blue candy finish

Thirty(!) years ago we recorded 10 songs in our rehearsal room with the band Bittermoon. We dragged a whole load of equipment to the moldy log cabin that was normally populated by the Boy Scouts. Our friends Bob and Rick recorded the whole thing on ADAT tapes. A kind of video tapes on which you could put multiple audio tracks. I can remember that those bitches often had trouble synchronizing. The intention was to mix the recordings in Doesburg at Rick's EP Studio. But that turned out differently. The recordings from the log cabin turned out not to be usable (because of inexplicable hum or something?). In the end, only the drums remained and the rest was replayed and sung in Rick's studio. When the whole thing could finally be mixed after months of toiling and tinkering, it was decided to do it in the Beverly Beat studio in Winterswijk. I don't really remember why. I do know that it cost a lot more money than we had thought beforehand... And as it goes when you -not hindered by any knowledge- insist on doing everything yourself, the result was actually a bit disappointing to us. In particular, one of our own favorites Back Against The Wall sounded weak and lifeless. Not in the least because in the final mix they forgot to turn on the bass drum, haha. Now, 30 years later, we can have a good laugh about it. And thanks to current technology, the forgotten bass drum has been found 😉 So here it is: a rehabilitated version of Back Against The Wall. Enjoy!

All of that is no problem

All my builds are in fact custom jobs. But they have to be Brooks basses. I don't build 1:1 copies. Nor do I have a desire to build fantasy shapes or amoebic creatures 😉 I am not an electronics wizard. So I don't offer to build custom circuits. I did work together with an effects builder for a weird bass a while ago. But I will not go that path again. But using pre-amps (like EMG or Bartolini) that are readily available is no problem.

None of the Brooks basses tend to be neck-heavy. Thanks to a combination of carefully selected materials and their arrangement: - Super light tuners. The modified Schaller GrandTune tuners for the octave strings weigh only 17 grams each. And the Gotoh GB350 tuners for the bass strings weigh only 39 grams each. - In addition, the rear strap-button is positioned well above the center of the bass, which shifts the center of gravity.

Just completed this build last weekend. More pics and the build process here:

After multiple layers of seafoam green and clear coat I was ready to apply the decals Laser cut the pickguard and engrave the flame logo.fille dit in with white acrylic paint. And mounted all the hardware

Filled the little gaps underneath the frets with a paste of ebony sawdust and titebond. [IMG size="1067x800"]https://www.brooksbassguitars.com/uploads/1/3/3/7/13376708/brooks-tb-12-sf-filling-fret-gaps_orig.jpeg[/IMG] [IMG size="1067x800"]https://www.brooksbassguitars.com/uploads/1/3/3/7/13376708/brooks-tb-12-sf-inlays-done_orig.jpeg[/IMG] And shaped the neck profile some more [IMG size="600x800"]https://www.brooksbassguitars.com/uploads/1/3/3/7/13376708/brooks-tb-12-sf-shaping-neck-profile2_orig.jpeg[/IMG] After I was done with shaping the neck and headstock I glued the body wings to the center piece. Could have left it there and call it the Bo Diddly Bird. But no. Cut out the rough outline prior to routing along the template of the body shape Then routed along the template Voila! It's a Thunderbird Rounded off the edges Routed the controls cavity And the profile for the cover Drilled the holes for the potentiometers And the output hole on the side of the body Routed the pickup cavities Squared the corners with a chisel Made a tummy cut with the shinto rasp Ready for the lacquer process Seafoam Green is a difficult color to catch on camera

Prepared the neck blank for glueing up the fretboard. Made these half round cut-outs to make some room for the band saw And after I had cut off the excess at both sides of the neck, I prepared it for the actual glue-up Using a staple to prevent the fretboard from "swimming" sideways when clamped. Fretted the ebony fretboard. No inlays this time Used the trusted method of clamping with strips of inner bicycle tubes: Let it det and dry for a couple of hours. And then started to shape the neck profile. I use several tools for that: shinto rasp, rounded coarse file, scrape steel and strips of sandpaper. Drilled the tuner holes And cut out the headstock shape Drilled the holes for the sidemarkers Glued in the luminlay (glow-in-the-dark) dots.

The neck blank is a nine-ply construction of mahogany/khaya and walnut strips in between. This combination makes it very stiff and consistent already. I started with the reinforcements in the neck. Routed the slot for the carbon strip in the middle Then routed the slots for the two spokewheel truss rods Taped off the edges where the fretboard will sit. And then shaved/planed the part where the body wing will be glued in an angle to have the neck a perfect pitch. And at the other end of the neck I cut off the headstock angle. And planed that nice and smooth As you can see the truss rods taper a bit following the taper of the neck. Narrow at the top nut and wider where the neck meets the body. I glued in little pieces of mahogany where the spokewheel part lies a bit deeper

New Brooks offspring was born last weekend! It's a twelve string bass and we call it: TB-12-SF Specifications: - Khaya Mahogany body wings - Nine ply Khaya Mahogany/Walnut neck. Neck through - Seafoam Green high gloss finish - Ebony fretboard - Luminlay side dot inlays - Jumbo frets - 34" scale - Buffalo horn nut - Three ply black/white/black pickguard - Custom made twelve string bridge set - Two spokewheel double action trussrods - Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck - Lace Alumitone Bass Bars - Controls: Volume Volume Tone - Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners - Schaller GrandTune octave tuners - Pure Tone Multi Contact jack output - Schaller S-lock strap buttons - d'Addario EXL 170 - 12 strings - Weight: 4.5 kg I'll share the build process in separate posts below.

Another addition to the Blue Bass family. The Brooks SparkleBird. The pics don't do the colour justice. In real life it is much more teal/turquoise. This pic comes close. But still misses the vibrance of the colour

Yes. That's where is got them. Not exactly cheap...

Yes, for a Cheap Trick tribute in the USA, called Cheap Trip. The customer now owns 7 Brooks 12-string bass guitars...😵