Bastav

Maybe buy two of the four string versions and make use of the tuners and saddles? Making the rest out of wood might add a touch of class

... father in law. He mostly plays guitar but he wanted me to build him one anyway. And I'll take any excuse to start a new project

So I started this a while back and here's what I've got so far. It'll be a four string, fretted long scale affair. I sent him two sketches, one of them played it pretty safe while the other was slightly more adventureus. He went for the latter. Here's the sketch (held down by various objects to keep it from rolling up).

And here's the wings today

The neck is three pieces of maple with mahogany veneers in between.

Here I was working on a scarf joint

Looks great! Love the curved back!

On 2018-03-19 at 15:06, Jus Lukin said:

Beautifully made! Oh, the things I'd build if I had this kind of talent.

Do you need custom made strings for an instrument of this scale?

Thanks! Just regular long scale strings. Ball end goes in the tuner, pull the other end through the headpiece/drill stop, tighten screw and cut the string

Thanks everyone! Yes, I'm well pleased, a very decent sofa-noodler indeed

And I recorded a track with it this morning. Just a bit of a jam with myself. Main bass line is recorded via an octave pedal and my roland microcube (mic'd) to give an idea of the sound this travel-sized rig makes. Then I lined the bass au naturel for the solo.

And as promised, some fancy pics

20 hours ago, BassTool said:

.....and....back on topic 

 

That looks absolutely amazing. Well done that man, stunning work 

Hehe, thanks!

Thanks all! Yes 17 inch scale with 12 frets. Half of a true bass

Will post some fancier pics later but here´s proof it´s now actually strung up!

52 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

There are a number of builders on this forum, @Bastav , who are my inspiration and act as my aspiration to improve certain aspects of my own building.  

To do carves like this without a single lump or bump evident is what I presently strive for.  I haven't got there yet and will look at these photos as a reminder of how close I'm getting - or, looking at them here, how far I am away.   

Thanks I really appreciate it very true what you said about other builders in the forum, yourself for one, being an inspiration. 

I love the carving part of building, working with a shinto and a random orbital sander to bring the shape to life.

3 to 5 coats in and things are looking satiny

3 hours ago, ped said:

Sweet. I thought I'd use mine with an octave a lot but actually without it it sounds so much 'fatter' than I was expecting, it has a brilliant sound of it's own. But yes with an octave it sounds really really cool 

Nice, I'm really starting to look forward to playing this thing!

I've got a bartolini jazz bridge pickup and it will be passive. I've got an octave pedal (ehx multiplexer) that I'm hoping will pair up nicely, hopfully making it sound kind of synth-bassy

Yeah, I used the same drill stops in my last build and they are working fine. I'll look for some torx key replacements, thanks for the tip!

Here's my headpiece solution. Drill stops with some longer screws.

And a little something walnut to pretty up the output jack

And after a day of sanding, finishing has begun. First coat of oil is on

Thanks Andy

Started working on the headpiece/nut

And did the last bit of routing plus drilled for two strap buttons. Will need to add one at the top aswell

And I think  it's time for a mockup with (almost) all the bits in place.

1 hour ago, SpondonBassed said:

I've never seen one of these before so not only am I blown away by the craftsmanship, I am intrigued by the Wingbass idea itself.  Not too much different to a uBass, I suppose?

Here's a photo of my Ubass next to this thing. The wing is also tuned one octave above the ubass (which is tuned like a regular bass).

Nice! Where do you get your wenge veneer? Never can seem to find nothing but the 0.6mm stuff...

7 hours ago, Skol303 said:

PS: something has gone awry with the SoundCloud player on Bastav's track... but the link is working ok in the list above, so please use that instead.

No idea what thew problem is, but it appears to be an issue on SoundCloud and not Basschat. Of course  

Yeah, weird. I deleted and reuploaded after a change of mix and it stopped working for a while. Seems to be working now though!

52 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

Can't wait to see the grain come to life when it receives a polish..

You and me both

4 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Love the light demarcation stripes, @Bastav. Very classy.

Thanks, I was expecting them to look more red actually, maybe after finishing :) 

4 hours ago, RichardH said:

How do you fix the knobs to the pots? Do you just rely on pushing them on to the spline, or have you managed to source some inserts?

I'm just going to drill for a set screw to keep it in place.