durhamboy

OK, all jokes aside, I have to own up to liking brown basses, but only if they're brown due to being the natural color of the wood, can't stand brown paint jobs and unnatural looking brown stains. But what's not to like about these brown beauties?

It's more or less the color of a Hazel nut, so that might do, if the word brown needs to be avoided, but Hazel nuts are brown so... Having been an art student once upon a time, Burnt Sienna is a shade of brown that I'd say could also fit this bass and that sounds even more pretentious than Hazel.

Nice veneer and that birdseye maple board looks nice, can't wait to see it lacquered, that should really bring it to life.

Looks lovely, glad to hear that it sounds good too at it's first try out.

Rick Danko of The Band was a prominent player of the Ampeg Scroll Bass, regularly seen with a fretless model. Geddy Lee apparently has a collection of them. (The pic here is of Geddy with Bruce Johnson in his workshop.)

What a clever and beautiful solution and the shape you chose fits the bass perfectly. Very well done sir.

It certainly looks like an Ampeg Scroll Bass and yes, there weren't many of them made, but.... a gentleman in the USA, Bruce Johnson, makes replicas. Bruce is a regular poster on the USA bass forum talkbass.com, is a commercial luthier and has a website. http://www.xstrange.com (apologies if I shouldn't have posted a commercial address) I have no affiliation with Bruce and don't own one of his instruments, but he is a regular poster on talkbass and is very helpful to other builders.

Even if it won't be perfect, or turn out exactly as you pictured it, if it still plays and sounds OK, then at worst you've burnt up some hours on it and learned from the experience. Stick with it and good luck with the body shaping.

Glad the problem is sorted, especially as it's also improved how you feel about the sound. Looking forward to hear how it sounds when you get the chance to record something.

I really like the finished look, it is a beauty. If the "tremolo" effect lessened after you lowered the pickup, hopefully taking it a little lower again (if possible) will fix things. Probably worth discussing this with the builder, if you haven't already. With the effect only being on the one string, the problem may not be pickup height?

Yes, interesting that you found them listed as being 51 grams, that sounds more like it. As I said, the figures on the site mentioned might have got it wrong or it 's a typo. Research nearly always pays of...

I just had a look at those tuners as they sounded pretty good and I've never been a fan of the big old Fender type tuners. Unless I misread the weight given on the site, (or the given weight is wrong or a typo) they didn't seem that light at 95g each, so I checked the weight of a Gotoh GB707 and it came out at 66g. So 264 grams for a set of 4 which is pretty light. (Old style Fender tuners are a tad over 100 grams each) Gotohs are generaly relatively inexpensive, at least compared to the likes of Hipshot, Schaller etc.

I notice from the pictures of your build in the gluing up stage that the body wings extend quite a way forward, so you have enough wood there for a longer upper bout. If you want to have a single cut look, rather than an upper horn type look, perhaps check out some versions of single cut body shapes? Neck dive is can be a real pain, some people don't seem to be bothered, but others find it an unbearable problem. Just consider, once you cut the wood away you're pretty much committed. As you're working on a neck through build you don't have a neck pocket or traditional heel to be concerned about, you can shape the neck/body transition in a variety of ways including deep cutaways on both sides of the neck, or just on the treble side if you want to extend the upper bout to reduce neck dive. You can get pretty inventive with a neck through build. It might be worth checking out how different builders and manufacturers approach their builds.

Si600's recommendation for Schaller is a good one, I've been using there stuff since the 70's and it is top class. If you want quality at a cheaper price, Gotoh hardware would be my pick.

Great to hear you got the Mustang sorted and top find on the Musicmaster!

The outfit you are dealing with sounds just terrible. If this sort of customer service is relatively common, how in the world do they stay in business? Being in Australia, I've had to buy parts from overseas regularly, as while there are reliable suppliers down here, a relatively small market means range is often limited, or agencies for certain manufacturers don't exist. But I've never had the sort delays you've experienced in over 30 years, regardless of where in the world parts have been coming from. (Any unforeseen, or lengthy delays I've ever experienced over the years have seen regular contact, apologies and offers of refunds as the norm.) I hope this business(?) you're dealing with gets their act together soon and your build can progress. Good luck.

Top job. That is really stunningly good. I love so many things about your builds, not just the precision and attention to detail,or the inventive design elements, but the fact that they look like they'd be worth paying for just to feel them! (Not to weird I hope?) You sir are an artist, hats off to you.

Fair enough too. You're probably smarter than many of us (well, me anyway) who've been doing this for decades and rely on the "having done so many glue joints I've sort of gotten used to it" method....😉

If having dowels or biscuits in the joints makes you feel more comfortable use them, though thousands of solid body guitars and basses have been built using the lamination method you're using with out them and it system has worked pretty well for decades. Remember, virtually all Fender bodies (as well as most copies and the bodies of many other makers) are made from two or more pieces glued together side by side and they don't have dowels or biscuits in them. Modern glues make joints that are stronger than the wood, as long as the joint faces are a good fit right along their length. Even if you went all "Pete Townshend" on a laminated instrument it would be more likely to split along a grain line than a glue joint... Whichever way you decide to go, I'm sure this is going to be a great build.

Thanks for that info.

Very nice, lovely warm colours. Out of interest how short is it?

The body looks to be a fair approximation of a P bass body. If the body sent is made from the same wood as that in the photo, it isn't Maple as listed in the description, (a solid maple body would be unlikely to weigh only less than 3lbs. as listed) it looks like paulownia, also called 'Empress Wood', a light fast growing wood with a tone described by some as similar to ash. G&L make some of the bodies for their Tribute models from it. The listed measurements of 50cm (20") - 33cm (13.2") - 4cm (1.6") are pretty close to the dimensions of a USA Fender body, usually 52.5cm (21") - 32.5cm (13") - 4.3cm (1.75"). The body being a bit short might be a problem, though the numbers quoted in offers like this aren't always correct. Often neck pockets on replacement bodies are a bit tight or loose, but that can apply to better quality ones at many times the price, as well as cheap Asian ones.... Unless someone posts with actual experience of having used one of these bodies, it's a bit of a gamble, though they're cheap may well be quite serviceable. Good luck if you decide to give one a go.

Lovely work, that body is stunning with the french polish finish, real depth.

For many years I've regularly used blonde shellac (or ordinary amber shellac if preparing for a color coat) as a sealer coat, as it will take just about any final finish, nitro, poly, acrylic for cars etcetera. A couple of coats of shellac wiped on is super thin and shouldn't affect your planned textural finish. Might just solve your problem.

Your build sounds interesting, it's always good to follow a build where a fair level of creativity (creativity in a good way) seems to be involved. Have to say I like your little plague doctor, the bocote looks lovely. Your "half a box room" workshop sounds pretty cramped, but luckily building guitars doesn't require to much space. My first few guitars were built in a "workshop" that was a partly open air 6ft x 4ft section of veranda, with the finishing work done on the kitchen table, when allowed... Necessity being the mother of invention and all. 😉