Basvarken

When the neck profile was done I drilled the holes for the tuners And did the final shaping of the headstock Routed the neck pocket Shaped the heel to make it a perfect fit Used a an aluminum profile as a straight egde to check the angle of the neck Starting to look like a bass... (Neck not glued in yet) Drilled the output holes And some more holes

Then made the mounting plate for the effects panel. I chose a thin plate of steel. To save weight and to make sure it would take up too much height in the effects panel (as it would get pretty crowded in there later on) Made the holes for all the pots The glued on the laser cut flamed maple panel. It had sanded it much thinner, in order to get the right height for the knobs. I didn't want them to protrude above the top of the body. The drilled the holes for the potentiometers.

Back to the neck. The fretboard was glued on and I left it alone for while. Now I could start shaping the neck And when the neck profile was almost ready I did the side dots Routed the profile for the binding around the top of the body Glued the pearloid binding in. I use acetone because the bass will be stained. And stained does not work on spots where glue was spilled. Acetone leaves no residue. Attention shifted to the back side of the body: Routing the profile for the controls cover. And the wider cavity for the effects So far so good

Then back to the body Routing the channels for the wiring first And glued in a piece of mahogany because that is where the channel later meets the effects cavity Then routed the controls cavity Roughly cut out the outline for the flamed maple top. And glued it onto the body. And then routed along the template Up next was routing the pickup cavities And squaring the corners with a chisel Routed the effects panel cavity Test fitted the panel itself. Of course it fits. It was laser cut. But I just had to do it 😉

With all that sorted, I started working on the neck. Routing for the stiffening rod first. And then the two slots for the truss rods. The controls panel in the bookmatched set was laser cut. This way the grain would continue perfectly with the rest of the top It took me a while to find the right knobs for this panel. Especially the size was rather difficult. Most knobs are too big. And they would be too close to each other as a result Up next was the fretboard. This one did not get inlays on top. I cut out the truss rod access slot at the end of the fretboard And make a cover for it from the same piece of ebony In the meanwhile I had roughly shaped the neck. So that I could glue the fretboard on. I always use strips of inner bicycle tubes as a clamp for very ven pressure all around.

Each build start with selecting the right wood. My supplier made this body blank out of two pieces of Khaya Mahogany And from the same batch of (lightweight) Khaya I selected a piece for the neck blank. It was sawed in three pieces and laminated with pieces of Maple in between. Already pretty sturdy and stiff. Ideal for a bass neck that has to withstand a lot of tension From master carpenter Frank Hoffmeyer (Holz Faszination) I scored a beautiful set of flamed maple and a very nice piece of ebony for the fretboard. A while ago I bought a few bridge sets from a German company that makes hardware for Ritter and Marleaux. This is the last one I had. Im not sure if I'll ever buy from them again. But that has nothing to do with the quality. Which is outstanding... The neck features two spokewheel truss rods and one carbon stiffening rod To make sure this bass does not suffer neck dive I used lightweight tuners by Gotoh. Res-o-lite for the bas strings. And Stealth for the octave strings After the design was ready I made templates for the routing. I laser cut these at a FabLab which is in-house at my employer. Making these templates always requires some good thinking ahead. But it all worked out according to plan 😉 Same goes for the QuadBucker. It consists of two Nordstrand NM4 pickups that are meant to be mounted on a Mustang bass. I used them parallel to the strings instead of perpendicular to the strings. Because of the staggered pole pieces they can pick up the amplitude of the three strings per triplet better than the original pickups that Hamer used (three in a row, under the middle of each triplet). I designed base plates and a frame for the QuadBucker. And also a matching frame for the Lace Alumitone. And I laser cut them too. Initially I tried to use the NM4 with the casings over the pickups. But eventually I chose not to use the casings, because I think this looks better without. 😉

A while ago I finished the build a a rather challenging bass build. The Brooks QB. This 34" scale twelve-string bass is a tribute to the Quad Bass that Jol Dantzig from Hamer built for Tom Petersson in 1978. Except I didn't put a mixer in the built-in panel, but two effects! A big thank you to Bas Becu from BQ Music for building the SansAmp type overdrive and the Aguilar TLC Compressor. - Mahogany body. Les Paul Junior Double Cut shape - Flamed Maple top. Sun burst high gloss - Body back, sides and neck: Mahogany gloss - Pearloid Binding - Glued neck, mahogany/maple five piece laminate. - Two spoke wheel type double action truss rods. - One carbon stiffening rod. - Ebony Fretboard. White side dot inlays - Sintoms Jumbo frets. Nickel-silver - 34” Scale - Buffalo horn nut/ string guide - Custom made 12 string bridge and tailpiece. Black - 4 x Gotoh GB 350 bass tuners. Lightweight. Black - 8 x Gotoh ST-31 Octave string tuners. Lightweight. Black - D’Addario EXL 170-12 strings - Gotoh large black strapnuts - Pickup 1: Lace Alumitone. Black - Pickup 2: 2x Nordstrand NM4 - 2 x Switchcraft output. - 2 x Volume. On/off switch with led light for each effect - Weight: 4,5 kg I'm pretty sure the new owner is Gonna Raise Hell on this monster! I'll post pics of the entire build process in separate posts below...

No, it's 34" scale. I enlarged the EB-0 (LP Jr DC) body a bit to make the proportions fit the scale length. And to prevent neck dive. You see the entire build proces here: https://www.brooksbassguitars.com/brooks-eb-tb.html

Thank you Roger. Nice to meet you here too. And thank you Michael. I do realise I've been a bit lazy with my posts over here. Haven't shared my latest builds... Let me know if you think I should.

Not exactly a Fenderbird like Peter Cook made them. Part II It's my take on the theme of a hybrid between a classic Gibson and a classic 7ender I call it a Thinline Telebird:

You probably don't realise it is played as regular 4 string. Except it has four triplets of strings. You hit the bass string plus two octave strings in one stroke.

Routed the neck pocket. Using the laser cut template Shaped the heel to make it a good fit Checked the angle Before I glued the neck in, I drilled holes into the headstock Then glued the neck into the pocket Routed the pickup cavity Checked if it fits. And if it lines up properly Drilled the string through body holes on the back side of the body Taped of the fretboard. Getting ready to stain the body Stained the back and sides a dark brown with a hint of red Then stained the top a wine red / blood red Scraped the binding clean. And sprayed the first layer of clear Sprayed the headstock face black. After many layers of clear and lots of sanding in between I put the decals in place Made the custom pick guard per special request. The guy who ordered the guitar is a massive fan of the band Rush. Used the laser cutter to engrave the Starman logo. Then filled it with white acrylic paint.

Glued in the strips of checkerboard binding. Using acetone instead of glue, in order to prevent glue spilling on the top or side. Then routed the black strip off on the outside of the binding. Leaving just the clean black and white block pattern Glued the outer (white) binding in place. Again using acetone Scraped it clean Back to the neck; Drilled holes for the side dots Glued the side markers in For the 12th position I used the same method as the one on the fretboard

Fast forward to the neck. Got no pics of routing the truss rod channel. And no pics of cutting the headstock angle. Nor trimming the neck to the right width. Glued the fretboard onto the rough shaped neck Left enough wood beyond the heel to allow for decent clamping onto the workbench. Shaped the neck profile. Using a spoke shave and a coarse file. I should try a shinto rasp some day. At my day job I have access to a laser cutter. I made vector files and cut out the templates for the body. Prepared the slab for the body. Drilled a few holes with a forstner bit, to make it easier for the handheld router. Routed the control cavity and the slot for the pickup wires Glued the beautiful quilted maple top -that I scored at Holz Faszination- onto the body. You can never have too many clamps, right? Routed the body shape along the laser cut template Body outline ready Routed the profile for the controls cover on the back On the front side I routed the channel for the binding

I started with two nice slabs of Mahogany or actually it's called Khaya. It has a nice and even grain and it is very light weight. I asked the timber supplier to make the neck blank a three piece for me. It saves me a lot of time. For the 12th position inlay I use a tube of aluminium and cut off a ring. Bought a pre-slotted ebony fretboard at Holz Faszination in Germany. Drilled holes. And glued then inlays in The inside ring of the 12th inlay is exactly the size of a regular black inlay. So I just glued that dot in. I mixed the superglue with ebony sawdust, just in case there would be a gap Then sanded the inlays level with a radius block. Sorry no pics. (forgot) Taped off the fretboard to get ready for hammering the frets in. I fill each fret slot with a few drops of super glue./ The tape makes sure it doesn't splatter onto the fretboard Cut off the excess on both sides

This week I completed the build of a guitar (yes, six string). It is a hybrid of a Les Paul Junior Double Cut and a Tele (or actually Esquire). The Brooks LP-TC Amalgamation - Mahogany body - Bookmatched Quilted Maple top - Mahogany 3-piece set neck. Glued in - Wine Red stain - Ebony fretboard with abalone inlays - Jumbo frets - Checkerboard binding - 24 3/4" scale - Buffalo horn nut - Telecaster style bridge. With compensated saddles. Black - Double action spoke wheel truss rod - DiMarzio The Chopper T (DP-384) humbucker - Gotoh SG-381 locking tuners. Black - Push-pull Volume knob for parallel-series switching - 250k Tone knob - Black knurled barrel knobs - Mallory Mustard Tone capacitor - Weight 3.25 kg Serial number: 2022006 With a special Amalgamation logo on the headstock and Starman logo on the custom pick guard. How does it sound? Like this! I'll post pics of the build process in separate posts below.

More like £2750 - 3250. Depends on the specs really. If you don't want a fancy flamed or quilted top and no weird finish you could stay on the lower side.

Bad idea. Most five string necks have only one truss rod. You really need two truss rods to withstand the gigantic string pull of the twelve strings. I even add a carbon strip in between the two truss rods.

A little late to the party. Sorry guys. I really should check in more often. As far as I'm concerned there are two major bottle necks in building a twelve string bass. First one is the bridge. Very hard to find. The ones that I use are custom built by ETS Hardware in Germany, But they are completely overbooked. Some customers have been waiting on their hardware for more than a year... I don't know of any other manufacturer that sells them commercially. I scored one off Dean a few years ago. But that was a demo model. They don't have them for sale. Second problem is the machine heads. Twelve is an enormous amount of metal on your headstock. You want to have them as light as possible to avoid neck dive. I've been using Gotoh Res-o-lite bass tuners. Those are still available. But the Gotoh Stealth ST-31 that I've been using for the octave strings have been taken out of production. These are/were really light. All the other "lightweight" tuners are twice the weight of the ST-31... The twelve string basses that I've built are all 34" scale.

On my birthday I completed the build of a new bass: The Brooks EXB-MS-5 - Mahogany Khaya body - Quilted Maple top and headstock face - Three piece Mahogany Khaya set neck. Glued in - Blue burst gloss finish on top and headstock - Pearloid binding - Ebony fretboard - Luminlay Blue position markers - Jumbo nickel silver frets - 37-34" scale - Buffalo horn nut - Babicz Solo Rail bridge. Black - Double action trussrod - Two carbon reinforcement strips in the neck - Lace Alumitone Bass Bar pickup combination - Pure Tone output. Black - Volume and tone knob. Black - Rotary pickup selector switch. Black chickenhead - Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners. Black - Dunlop flush mount strapnuts. Black - Dingwall strings - Weight: 4.25 kg Rotary switch options: 1. Both pickups in series 2. Neck side pickup 3. Bridge side pickup 4. both pickups in parallel 5. Both pickups. Out of phase with a capacitor to maintain the low frequencies. Circuit and wiring by BQ Music. Pics of the build process can be viewed here https://www.enkoo.nl/brooks-exb-ms-5.html And I made a quick video as well. Being a life long 4-string player I have no idea what to do with that fifth string! But you get an idea of how she sounds. (I'm quite sure the guy I built it for will put it to good use!)

This is a five string Gibson Thunderbird Studio from 2005. Gibson hasn't offered many five string bass models over the years. This is one of the very few official releases. The traditional Thunderbird design was changed on the Studio version (both four-string and five -string): the body shape is slightly smaller and the edges are rounded off. A major change in the construction is the use of a glued in neck rather than the traditional Thunderbird neck through construction. And the use of the 3D bridge is also a deviation to the previously used bridges on Thunderbirds. The Thunderbird Studio is featured on page 138-139 in The Gibson Bass Book by the way.

Headstock on my latest creation, the ThinLine Telebird. Colour is Seafoam Green, same as the top of the body.

Not all my bass guitars. But a family shot of the Les Paul Bass with all its siblings and other relatives. From left to right: - Pearl Export Bass. Modified with Gibson lo-z bass humbucker in the middle position and Gibson lo-z guitar humbucker at the bridge - Revelation RLB. Les Paul Bass copy - Gibson Les Paul Bass prototype. Modified with Badass bridge and Gotoh Res-o-lite tuners - BaCH short scale semi-acoustic. Modified with Gibson lo-z bass humbuckers - Epiphone Jack Casady Signature bass. Modified with Gibson lo-z bass humbucker - Fake Gibson Les Paul Bass. Built by myself. With Gibson lo-z guitar humbuckers and original wiring - Gibson Les Paul Bass aka Triumph. limited edition - Gibson Les Paul Bass

A new bass is born! I proudly present the Brooks Thinline Telebird. - Two piece Swamp Ash body. Half hollow - Two piece Swamp Ash top. With f-hole - 7ender P-bass neck with Pau Ferro fingerboard - Sea Foam Green top. - Artec Mudbuckers - 34" scale - Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop. Chrome - Pearloid pickguard - Tortoise binding - Hipshot Ultralite tuners. Chrome - CTS Volume pot - CTS Tone pot - 5 way super switch - Chrome flat top barrel knobs - Telecaster jack cup. Chrome - Rotosound 66 Swing bass strings 45-105 - Weight 4.1 kg Wiring by BQ Music: • Neck humbucker in series • Outer coils as humbucker in series • Both humbuckers in series • Inner coils as humbucker in series • Bridge humbucker in series Pics of the entire build process can be viewed here: https://www.enkoo.nl/brooks-thinline-telebird.html #brooksbass #thinline #TeleBird I also made a demonstration video of the Brooks Thinline Telebird. This bass really sounds amazing. Very responsive. Hard to catch the real sound with my limited recording devices...

The company that makes the bridge sets for the 12-string basses that I build, is ETS Hardware from Germany. They made a bridge set for a 24-string bass. So I guess anything is possible. 🤪 One of the most ridiculous bass guitars I have ever seen in my life, actually...