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Basvarken

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Posts posted by Basvarken

  1. I sincerely hope that when you pick up this bass, you can detach yourself from the Fender (type) basses you own or have owned in the past. 😉
    This is an entirely different animal. Both ergonomically and sound wise.
    Can't wait to see and hear you play it!

    Cheers to a new chapter!🍻

     

    • Like 1
  2. Laser cut the pickguard. Customer wasn't sure about the pickguard. I gave him the choice between none at all, White or Vintage White.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-both-pickguards_orig.jpe

     


    In the end we chose for Vintage White
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-vintage-white-pg_orig.jp

     

    When the bass was wet sanded to grit 2500 and polished with Meguiars I mounted the hardware and pickups
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-with-pg3_orig.jpeg

     


    It's hard to capture the color of this bass. Looks different in each light
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-without-pg_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-without-pg2_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-without-pg4_orig.jpeg

     

    Final step was soldering the electronics
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-soldering_orig.jpg

     

    • Like 7
  3. Cut the top nut for  a piece of bone
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-making-topnut_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-topnut_orig.jpeg

     

    Filled the pores with Rustins porefiller
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-porefiller_orig.jpeg

     


    And then took to staining the bass
    First a coat of yellow to give to that golden glow under a certain lighting and angle.
    I use Clou waterbased stain.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-yellow-stain_orig.jpeg

     

    Then did the edges with a light mahogany stain and feathered it out with a dry brush.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-light-mahogany-burst_ori

     


    Stained the neck and headstock
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-light-mahogany-stain_ori

     


    And the last phase was to stain the sides of the body a very dark mahogany color mixed with dark walnut
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-sides-dark-walnut_orig.j

     


    Then sprayed with sanding sealer
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-sanding-sealer_orig.jpeg
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-after-sanding-sealer2_or


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-after-sanding-sealer3_or


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-after-sanding-sealer4_or

     


    And then started to build up layers of clear. With lots of wet sanding in between
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-after-few-layers-of-clea


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-after-few-layers-of-clea


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-after-few-layers-of-clea

     


    When the surface was completely smooth I applied the decals to the headstock
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-decals_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-decals2_orig.jpeg

     


    Customer found out it is the 100th bass guitar he has ever owned. So he asked me to add the number 100 somewhere
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-decals-100_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-decals-back_orig.jpeg

     

     

    And I live in Velp 😉
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-decals-miv_orig.jpeg

     

    • Like 7
  4. Routed the pickup cavities.
    As you can see the customer had decided he wanted two pickups instead of just one.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-routing-pickup-cavities_


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-pickup-cavities-routed_o


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-test-fitting-pickup_orig

     

    Glued the first wing on
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-glueing-upper-body-wing_

     


    And then the other
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-glueing-lower-body-wing_

     


    Drilled the bridge stud holes
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-drilling-stud-holes_orig

     


    Roughly cut put the body shape, prior to routing it along the template
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-body-outline-rough_orig.

     


    Routed the body outline
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-routing-body-outline_ori

     


    Didn't risk to route too close to the neck join area.
    So I had to clean that up by hand.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-cleaning-up-neck-body-jo


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-cleaning-up-neck-body-jo

     


    Starting to look like it
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-body-routed_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-bass-shape_orig.jpeg

     


    Routed the controls cavity
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-routing-controls-cavity_


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-controls-cavity_orig.jpe

     


    Drilled some holes.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-drilled-holes_orig.jpeg

     


    Ready for the finishing process
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-unfinished-body_orig.jpe


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-unfinished_orig.jpeg

     

    • Like 8
  5. Shaped the neck profile
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-neck-profile2_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-neck-profile_orig.jpeg

     

    Prepared the ebony faceplate for glue up
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-thicknessed-faceplate_or

     


    Cut out the moustache (or open book) shape with a jewelers saw, before I glued the faceplate onto the headstock
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-sawed-faceplate_orig.jpe

     


    Glued the faceplate to the headstock
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-clamping-faceplate_orig.

     


    Drilled the tuner holes
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-drilling-tuner-holes-fro

     

    Didn't drill all the way through to prevent tear out. And to keep the diameter of the holes on the other side slightly narrower than the front. I've learned that the Hipshot Ultralites barely cover the entire width of the holes.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-drilling-tuner-holes-fro

     


    Shaped the volute
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-back-headstock-shaped_or

     


    Shaped the headstock outline
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-front-headstock-shaped_o

     

    • Like 6
  6. Cut out the truss rod access slot

    brooks-eb-tb-iv-trussrod-acces_orig.jpeg

     


    And made the truss rod cover from a matching piece of rosewood
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-trussrod-cover_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-trussrod-cover-in-place_

     


    Planed the centerpiece to the desired neck/body angle
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-planing-body-angle_orig.

     


    After the angle was done I roughly sawed the neck shape, in preparation to glue the fretboard on.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-neck-ready-for-glue-up_o

     


    Shot in a staple and cut it off just a little bit proud of the surface. This helps to prevent the fretboard from sliding off center when glueing onto the neck.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-preparing-for-glue-up_or

     


    The glued the fretboard onto the neck. Using inner bicycle tubes for a clamp.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-glueing-fretboard-onto-n


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-fretboard-glued-onto-nec

     


    Drilled the holes for the side markers
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-drilling-side-markers_or

     


    Glued the side markers in
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-making-side-markers_orig

     


    Filled the gaps underneath the fret tangs with a past of Titebond and rosewood sawdust.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-filling-tang-gaps_orig.j


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-side-markers-done_orig.j

     

    • Like 4
  7. As always the build starts with same blanks.
    I had my limber supplier make me a nice neck blank. He made it to the exact specs  that I asked for (nine ply  khaya mahogany with walnut strips in between.
    Plus two khaya body wings.
     
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-neck-blank_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-neck-blank-body-wings_or


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-neck-blank-body-wings-cl

     


     

    Ordered parts and hardware.
    Initially the customer and I agreed upon a single pickup bass, so I ordered just one Thunderbird humbucker.


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-parts_orig.jpeg

     

    Routed the slot for the spokewheel trussrod
    And chiseled out the spoke wheel part.


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-routing-trussrod-slot_or


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-trussrod-slot_orig.jpeg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-trussrod-slot-close_orig


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-routing-trussrod-in-slot

     


    Next I prepared the fretboard for the inlays
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-fretboard-markings_orig.


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-drilling-fretboard-marki

     


    Glued the inlays in
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-gueing-position-dots_ori

     


    After I had sanded the inlays flush to the radius of the fretboard, I prepared the fret slots for the frets.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-filing-fretslots_orig.jp

     


    Cut the fretwire a little oversized to the width of the slots. And taped off the fretboard for protection.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-ready-to-fret_orig.jpeg

     


    Hammered the frets in
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-hammering-the-fret_orig.


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-hammered-in-the-fret_ori

     


    Cut off the excess ends. And filed them.
    brooks-eb-tb-iv-cut-the-frets_orig.jpeg

     

    • Like 6
  8. Completed the build of the Brooks EB-TB-IV today.

    brooks-eb-tb-iv-full-1500_orig.jpg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-body-1500_orig.jpg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-headstock-1500_orig.jpg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-full-diagonal-1500_orig.


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-headstock-back-1500_orig


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-body-back-1500_orig.jpg


    brooks-eb-tb-iv-output-jack-1500_orig.jp

     


    - Neck through with mahogany body wings
    - Nine ply mahogany/walnut neck
    - Ebony faceplate on headstock
    - Tobacco burst gloss transparent acrylic finish
    - Rosewood fretboard
    - Jumbo frets
    - 34" scale
    - Handcut bone nut
    - Three ply white-black-white pickguard
    - Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop
    - Spokewheel trussrod
    - Thunderbird style pickups nickel.
    - Hipshot Ultralite tuners
    - Output Pure Tone
    - d'Addario EXL170BT Balanced Tension strings
    - Strapnuts: Dunlop Straplok Nickel Dual Design
    - Weight: 3.5 kg


    I'll post pics of the build process in posts below

    • Like 14
  9. 8 hours ago, Dazed said:

     

    Intriguing.
    Can you tell me what’s going on with this one?


    It is my tribute to the legendary Quad Bass that Jol Dantzig of Hamer built for Tom Petersson back in 1978.
    Instead of the built-in 4 channel mixing console with one fader for each coil, I gave it a built-in compressor and a built in Sans-Amp type overdrive. Plus I made it 34" scale.

    You can view more pics and the entire build process here:
     

     

    • Thanks 1
  10. 18 hours ago, Richard R said:

    That is quite astonishing.  How long did the build take you, including the thinking and planning which must have been considerable?

    From the initial idea and sketches to the completed build, I'd say about a year.
    The actual build took about four months (in my spare time)
    Then I had to wait about two months till the built in effects were ready.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2
  11. First applied the yellow all over.
    The did the red on the outlines while the yellow was still wet.
    And feathered them to the inside with a dry brush.

    brooks-qb-burst-stain_orig.jpeg

     


    After the first few layers of lear it already looked gorgeous

    brooks-qb-after-first-layers-of-clear_or

     

    and a few layers later...

    brooks-qb-after-more-layers-of-clear_ori

     


    The effects panel go the same treatment.
    And when it had enough layers of lear to be perfectly flat, I applied the lettering for the effects with decals

    brooks-qb-applying-decals-effectspanel_o


    brooks-qb-typography-effectspanel_orig.j
    brooks-qb-decals-headstock_orig.jpeg

     


    When the lacquer process was done, and after the polishing I could start mounting the pickups.

    brooks-qb-pickuos-mounted_orig.jpeg


    brooks-qb-pickuos-mounted2_orig.jpeg


    brooks-qb-pickups-and-panel-mounted_orig


    brooks-qb-pickups-and-panel-mounted2_ori

     


    Then put the tuners and bridge on. And strung her up for the first time.

    brooks-qb-with-strings_orig.jpeg


    brooks-qb-with-strings2_orig.jpeg


    brooks-qb-with-strings3_orig.jpeg

     

    • Like 6
  12. I made some cover for the effects panel and control panel of left over pieces of Khaya.

    brooks-qb-making-wooden-covers_orig.jpeg


    brooks-qb-wooden-covers_orig.jpeg


    brooks-qb-battery-holder-in-wooden-cover


    brooks-qb-battery-holder-in-wooden-cover


    brooks-qb-battery-holder-in-wooden-cover


    brooks-qb-battery-holder-in-wooden-cover


    brooks-qb-battery-holder-in-wooden-cover

     


    But also made them out of plastic. Because I wasn't 100% sure about the wooden ones...

    brooks-qb-battery-holder-in-plastic-cove


    brooks-qb-plastic-covers_orig.jpeg


    brooks-qb-plastic-controls-cover_orig.jp


    brooks-qb-battery-holder-in-plastic-cove


    brooks-qb-battery-holder-in-plastic-cove

     

    • Like 4
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