Basvarken

Up close and personal with a Gibson AB Super 400 from 1999.
This tribute to the legendary Super 400 guitar from 1934 is a true masterpiece.

Woah! How did I miss this thread?

Here's an old pic of me with my beloved 1969 Gibson Les Paul Bass. Still my No.1 bass!

I've got plenty of Gibson Porn to share by the way. Some pics are from the book that I made. And I also have lot of pics that didn't make it into the book.

https://www.thegibsonbassbook.com/gallery/

I can post some of the pics here If you like. Just let me know.

Here's a couple of black ones that I've built:

Brooks EB-PL-Noir. Inspired by the Gibson EB-0, Fender 51 P and Rickenbacker Noir series
34 inch scale



 

Brooks EB-RBL-Q. Transparant black on the quilted maple top. No volume, no tone pot. But ist does have a three way coil selector (single - series - parallel). 34 inch scale

 

Brooks EB-RBL-Q-II. A sister of the bass above. Only difference is the Volume and Tone pot. (and it doesn't have a zero fret)

Brooks EXB-12-Q. 34 inch scale twelve string bass. Quilted maple top. Mahogany body and neck. Built for Rob van der Loo of the band Epica

Here's a few Brooks headstocks:

20 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

Awesome, and with an EB-2 on the front, too!

Well, almost!

It's actually a BaCH short scale semi acoustic bass (EB-2 copy).
I was a dealer for BaCH for about 8 years or so.
About ten years ago I initiated the Non Reverse Thunderbird project. And that's how I got to be a dealer for them eventually. The EB-2 project was also initiated by me.  It almost didn't happen because they accidentally made the first prototype long scale. But I actually like that. Back then there weren't too many semi acoustic long scale bass guitars around. So BaCH ended up making both a long scale series and a short scale series.

I've got a transparent red long scale one (actually the prototype, which I put the bridge on myself)

And I got a short scale blonde. I took the mudbucker out and installed two lo-z Gibson Les Paul bass humbuckers.
It's the one in the middle of my lo-z family.

No it's been down for quite a while. I think it was getting too costly for Odge to keep it running.
There is a Facebook group for COL fans though:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cryofloveappreciationsociety/

Robert P Kearns is so underrated / overlooked in my opinion.  His bass lines are right up there with Andy Fraser, Tim Bogert and Jack Bruce if you ask me.

I don't post an awful lot here. But I do nose around quite frequently 😉

29 minutes ago, fleabag said:

@Basvarken

Hey Bas, are you the Dutch guy that had a website dedicated to Rob Kearns ?   I seem to remember many years ago talking about Rob to someone with a name just like yours,  discussing his music with C.O.L.  and his Gibson Triumph  ( or Les Paul ) bass.

I think that has to be me. 😉

But I never ran a website about Robert Kearns. But I really am a big fan of Robert and Cry Of Love. I used to frequent the COL website run by Oliver Woodall a lot. And the Gibson Triumph that Robert used to play during his COL days  was really the start of my love for Gibson bass guitars. I remember vividly seeing them live In Hengelo (NL) and thinking Robert P Kearns had the best bass sound I had ever heard in my life.
Took me years to find a Gibson Les Paul Bass myself.

My name is Rob by the way (Basvarken means Bass Pig)

35 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

That bass looks like a lot of fun!

I'm intrigued by all the headstocks to the side in the video. You seem to have a lot of Gibson-esque stuff there. 

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.

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.