Rexel Matador

Me too!

The loud end is all hooked up. One volume and a series/parallel switch for the pickups. I was originally just going to wire them in series like one big humbucker, but I decided this was a neater way to do it and also gives me another tone to play with - which can't be bad as I have no idea what it's going to sound like as yet. I plugged it in just to make sure it actually makes noise and it does, so that's something! Edit: I've only just noticed that the grain on the back follows the curve of the lower bout. I'd love to say that was deliberate, but it's a happy accident!

Finally got that second pickup wound and couldn't resist a test fitting. We're getting there! A bit more finish on the neck, fret job (yawn), nut, wiring, strap buttons, set up, play!

And everything else this guy plays

Good lord that is an expensive blob of plastic!

I use the TU3 in the first position on my pedal board and have no issues with it, even tuning as low as Bb - so it sounds to me like yours is faulty. Do you know anyone else who has one that you could try to see if you get the same result?

Ah I see - that all makes sense - it didn't occur to me that the original question predated the release.

The Ibanez EHB range seems to fit the bill with regard to the original post - a range of full body headless basses around the £1000 mark. I was surprised no-one had mentioned it so apologies if a) someone already has and I didn't spot it or b) I have misunderstood what the OP is after 😆

Although I now realise that's immaterial because were talking about coherence within a given instrument

Perhaps, although the next one I have planned is completely different 😆

Thank you! Yeah, I really wish I'd thought that through and made them match a bit better - ie made the sound holes a bit more rounded (or the headstock holes a bit sharper, for that matter). Next time perhaps

Starting to oil the body and neck. The walnut is coming alive!

I'm glad to hear it - I discovered it by accident a long time ago. The opening track is one of my favourite songs of all time, jazz or otherwise. My girlfriend used to have it set as the alarm on her phone, and despite having been wrenched awake to those opening notes every weekday for about three months, I'm still not tired of it. That slide Carter does in the opening bar is just perfect.

I always loved Pithecanthropus Erectus by Charles Mingus. I'm no Jazz expert but it always seemed to me that you could really feel the effect of the bass player being the band leader - it has a certain stomp to it. Not a bass player led album, but Ron Carter's bass playing on Jim Hall's Concierto is a delight.

Neck is sanded and fretted. The first attempt at fretting was a bit of a disaster and led to me having to plane down the fretboard (necessitating a redo of the inlays as well) and start again. It all seems ok now and has left me with a slightly shallower neck profile which is a bonus. I usually do the logo with a branding iron but as this wood will finish up quite dark it's not ideal, so instead, I forced the branding iron into the wood with a vice, making an indent, and put silver leaf in it. It's not perfect but I'm pretty happy with it for an experiment. I'm now using epoxy putty to try and make an accurate neck pocket template. I've attempted this once before and it worked pretty well, so it should be fine. I still need to wind that second pickup, but it's getting there!

The build is plodding along, life permitting - here is a mock up of sorts - the woodwork is basically done except the neck pocket and lots and lots of sanding. The pickup covers and knob have finish on them already, so hopefully the fretboard will pretty much match them in the end. The neck is only very roughly carved, but I'll probably get it done this weekend Same goes for the headstock I only had white side dot sticks. I could have bought black ones, but I still had a bunch of walnut plugs so... I'd hoped they'd match the neck a bit better, but it remains to be seen how it looks once it's sanded and finished. I'm sure it'll look cool, colour match or otherwise. All in all, it's coming together. I just have to wind the second pickup and wait for payday so I can buy all the remaining hardware (tuners, strap locks, neck ferrules and of course, strings)

Absolutely interested, depending on the price of course 😀

Real updates coming soon I promise, but I just need to offload my pickup winding woes for a second 😔 After a couple of failed attempts, I sat down to finally wind the second pickup. 2,000 turns in and the spool of wire suddenly developed a tangle of sorts. It somehow has three ends, and a considerable amount of unwinding hasn't unearthed the one which must, surely lead to nowhere. I now have to buy another spool despite the fact that I can absolutely guarantee I will never wind another pickup again as long as I live! 😂😤

Home made fret bender seems to do the job 😀

I'm a bit scared of inlaying, but I've kept it super simple and it's come out ok. The dots are just 6mm walnut plugs and the big one is a 6mm maple plug in a 10mm walnut one. The maple one was a bit undersized, it seems, and I managed to misalign the grain. I haven't decided if it's going to drive me mad yet. I can always drill it out and redo it if necessary. The problem is that I don't have a drill press. The walnut ones I just ended up buying from someone who happened to be selling some on ebay, but the maple one I made myself, using a plug cutter in a hand drill with a little jig to hold it in place - not ideal - and I'm probably not going to do it any better than this using that technique. Am I going into too much detail here? Short version: dots!

Work in progress on the headstock: When this is done I'm going to find a decent camera to take pictures of it with. I can only apologise for the photo-butcher that is my phone. I mean really, since when was walnut grey?!

Fernanda Lira from Nervosa 🤘

Go on then, I'll play: Dillinger Escape Plan, who I'd never heard of, supporting an incredibly lacklustre System Of A Down circa 2001.

Routed the truss rod cavity today. Not much to see there though so let's talk headstocks... The open style headstock from my last build got such a good response that I think I pretty much have to make that my signature now. I was worried it wouldn't be strong enough but as the tuners are mounted on the side, it's much thicker than a normal headstock and seems rock solid so far. I didn't want to just copy the last one so I've been having a good old doodle: But then I thought: Rather by accident, it echoes both the split-into-three design of the F-holes and the "softly triangular" design of the volume knob - I am a sucker for design aspects that tie things together. This version adds a bit more stock so will add strength, but also adds a challenge as the bits between the holes will have to be carved down to a lower level to allow the longer strings to pass. I particularly enjoy the bits of a build where I can just carve away and see what happens, rather than having to be super accurate to the nanometre, so I'll probably give it a bash. Potentially, if version B doesn't work, I can just cut those bits out, leaving version A in its place. This build is getting a bit baroque. I swear, my next one is going to be the simplest bass imaginable. Except that it'll probably have fanned frets 😆