Basvarken

Sharp eye. Yes, I do have a kind of a Gibson fetish 😉 Hey, I even wrote a book about it! (www.thegibsonbassbook.com) All my builds are related to Gibson in one way or another. I always look for a combination of classic basses. Such as the LP Jr DC shaped Gibson EB-0 with a 51 P. Or - in this case- the Thunderbird with a 51 P.

Here is a quick video that I made to show you how the Brooks Telebird sounds. The bass is plugged into my MarkBass SA 450 with Eden D210XLT cabs. Mic is a DAP PL01. Via my Minidisc recorder into my iMac. Video recorded with Photobooth.

Did some shielding for the pickup cavity and the control cavity. And I stringed the bass to check if everything was in place ;-) Oh yeah, this was the sketch that I drew before I started the build

Laser engraved pick guards. (Eventually I opted for the single ply black) Thin coat of sanding sealer prior to filling the pores Filled the pores with Rustins Grain Filler. Mahogany colour to enhance the contrast (in order to keep the grain visible after the upcoming paint process_ Sanded the grain filled body smooth After several coats of white blonde (nitro) Exactly the opacity I was looking for After a few thin coats of Amber the body looks yellowed with age After several coat of clears the body was ready for assembly

Stained the neck into a vintage colour After the first coat of clear finish Positioning the waterslide decal. Made in Velp! Positioning the Logo and name decal In the meanwhile I did some shopping: Jess Loureiro pickup, Gotoh tuners and a wide travel Thunderbird bridge set Drilled the bridge stud holes and tail stop holes Drilled the neck pocket holes

Routed the body shape Body shape ready Routed the neck pocket and pickup cavity Routed the control cavity Cleaned up the neck pocket

Scored two nice pieces of Swamp Ash, for the body Decided to go the easy way with the neck this time. Allparts maple neck. Squared the pieces. And glued them together Body blank ready for the router Made a mdf template

Here is my latest build. The Brooks Telebird. It is my take on the legendary Fenderbird that was built by Peter Cook for John Entwistle. However I decided to combine the characteristics the Thunderbird body with a 51 P (aka Telecaster bass). The specs are as follows - Two piece Swamp Ash body - Allparts Maple 51 P neck. Bolt on - Vintage blonde finish - Jess Loureiro 51 P split coil pickup - 34" scale - Tusq nut - Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop. Nickel - Matte black single ply pickguard - Gotoh GB528 lightweight tuners. Nickel - Allparts push/pull Volume pot - CTS Tone pot - Silver reflector cap knobs - Telecaster jack cup. Nickel - GHS Brite Flats 49-108 I'll post pics of the build process in several answers below.

Yeah it's nitpickin' They're an awesome Yin Yang pair

The stealth looks great! But the white one needs a bit of fine tuning imho.The cream colored parts look like they are three different colors in that picture?

Gibson EB-3 Slothead Gibson Triumph Plus I got some nice backsides to share Gibson 20/20 (with Sperzel tuners) Gibson Super 400 AcousticBass

The concept was taken from the Stroh violin. Except with Linden's bass the horn is hidden within the sound box / body.

There is a guy from Finland called Olavi Linden who has invented an acoustic bass guitar with a diaphragm and a carbonfiber horn inside the body. This bass is equally as loud as an upright bass! Without amplification. http://www.lindeninstruments.com/instrument.html Here he explains how it works

No, not really. During the making of this bass I've had several moments where I wanted to throw the entire project into the firepit! I shouldn't try to reinvent the wheel.

Well, I did tell some already. But to sum it up: My goal was to build an acoustic bass that would be loud enough to compete with an acoustic guitar without amplifying. So I gave it a very big body (wide and deep). I used a bass bar and a staple, just like a Cello. The sound holes are actually built as bass ports. In this pic you can see the construction. Body sides and back: Maple Top: Spruce Neck: maple-rosewood-maple Fretboard: ebony with mahogany fretlines Bridge: ebony Tailpiece brass and ebony Tuners: Gotoh lightweight Scale: 30" I also gave the bass an inspection hole. Initially meant to be able to (re)position the staple. But it also comes in handy as a sound port, because it reflects to the player while being played. Here's a shot of the back Like I said: The experiment failed. The bass is not loud enough. But it is pretty! ;-)

Thank you for the tip. But I really don't want to amplify this bass. I wonder why you say an archtop would not be able to be loud? What about a Cello then? This bass was built with a bass bar and staple, rather than the bracing you see with acoustic guitars and basses. I think the mistake is in the scale (should have made it 34"). Plus I made the bass bar too thick. It doesn't "sing" enough.

My acoustic short scale fretless bass. My goal was to build an acoustic that was as loud as possible without amplification. I failed. It isn't loud (enough). But I do enjoy playing it once in a while.

Congrats! Those are very good pickups. Can't see any pictures. Broken links. if it's a 1967 Gibson NR Thunderbird pickup, it should be chrome plated. The earlier ones (196301965) were nickel plated. It should have only two screw holes. The ones from the seventies have three screw holes (and the casing is taller).

Beautiful bass. Though that video does cure my gas a bit...

Nice stealth JCS! Maybe you could use shrink wrap foil that car painters use to make the pickup black?

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1510326426' post='3405648'] I'm still holding on to see whether they'll do a 20/20 reissue. [/quote] You're probably going to have to wait a good two more years for that... ;-)

Specs: Series Limited Run Basses Body Body Style: RD Back: Maple Top: N/a Weight relief: None Neck Neck: Maple Neck profile: Rounded Nut width: 1.60” Fingerboard: Rosewood Scale length: 34” Number of frets: 20 Nut: Tektoid Inlay: Acrylic Dots Hardware Bridge: 3-Point Full Contact BABICZ Tailpiece: N/a Knobs: Knurled Black Chrome & Flat Black EQ Knobs Tuners: Grover Shamrocks Plating: Chrome Electronics Neck pickup: Rhythm EB Bass Bridge pickup: Lead EB Bass Controls: Vol / Blend & High/Low/Parametric, w/ Mini Toggle (Active/Passive) Finish/Quantity Finishes available: Antique Natural, Ebony Case: Hardshell Quantity available: N/a Price: € 1700 (probably not the streetprice)

[quote name='Skybone' timestamp='1487798646' post='3243109'] Does anyone know if there's ever been a "wide neck" version of a Thunderbird? [/quote] The Greco Thunderbird has a wide neck. Comparable to a Stingray neck.

Relax, it's just a joke.