Hey Guys, my name is Mykk. I'd like to share with you pics of my most recent project bass (all of my basses are project basses). I just put this one together with the sole intention of using it for my progressive, space metal band.
I started with a really inexpensive EBay find. Ktone (made by SunSmile chinese) 6-string Les Paul style bass. We tune A-E-A-D-G-C in A=432hz and I find myself making synth/well type sounds with a volume pedal and a delay where the high string could be handy.
Mind you, I am no luthier nor a professional, and it shows in my work. I am just a working bass player that enjoys tinkering on my basses. This bass was so cheap with zero quality control I suppose I couldn't have made it any worse then how it shipped.
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I was attracted to this peticular bass as the base of my build just for the uniqueness to it and I could see it would clean up nicely.
The original electronics were a total joke, the bridge pup had no output and the neck pickup only amplified the top three strings and with a very low signal. Gutted to electro's:
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My replacement electronics of choice for this build; Lace Alumitone bassbars and a BassMods 3eq pre.
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Cut, painted and added my insignia to the pickguard
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Also painted the neck, my preference. I like finished necks, some players prefer them bare. I am really impressed how flat the acrylic laquer layed down after flashing.
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On the frontside I added faux inlays including my favorite design, the Gibson Flowerpot.
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I knew I needed to address that bridge, if not for any other reason then to be able to intonate. As it was the bass has a tight 14.5mm string spacing but was comfortable and natural to play. I found a couple inexpensive bridges that had 16.5 spacing and that just barely kept the strings on the fretboard. But it was doable and playable.
As an experiment I wanted to float the bridge using the original poles. To my suprise, it worked really well with minor modification.
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I had problems getting long scale strings that would clear the nut, despite the bass being 33" scale that string through and post bridge length presented a problem. Instead of finding special strings I opted to sink the pocket that seated the string ball ends:
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To cure the drastic, allmost unplayable neck dive issue I filled my newly aquired cavity with sticky weights used to balance wheels & tires.
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Just a couple more weights in the control cavity and under the bridge and it balances nicely and weights in at 5.26kg. A bit heavy, but not extreme.
[URL=http://s1230.photobucket.com/user/BassPlayerMykk/media/20140524_152039.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee488/BassPlayerMykk/20140524_152039.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Set it up, file some frets, intonate and it's actually a really decent and fun bass to play with a crazy modern & bright sound. The recording below isn't meant to be a direct tone test due to EQ and FX. But really I'm happy with it. Since the recording I replaced the rotosounds with some markley blue steels and it really woke up the mids.
As you can hear in the jingle, I am having a problem with the pickups wanting to pull the low string out of tune. I am working on the compromise between pickup height sweet spot and magnet grab.
[url="https://soundcloud.com/mykk-hannan/new-bass-test"]https://soundcloud.c...n/new-bass-test[/url]
Thanks for reading my story, if you have any ideas. Input. or anything at all, let's hear it!
-Mykk