Spoombung

[quote name='yorks5stringer' post='406045' date='Feb 11 2009, 10:06 AM']In It to Win It These are the updated 30.4 names who have asked for stickers: born2bmild yorks5stringer adrenochrome Dr Dave jake10floors timloudon William James Easton Kirky Toasted Jim Fleeting niceguyhomer Argh 7string Prosebass Skelf Funkmaster davidlperry greeneking MikeyR Casapete Josn3184 Steve Rhino artisan Monz Al Heeley AlphaDave MrBassman EntropicLqd noisedude (90%) wot (50%) These are names who said they were interested: it would be helpful if you could please confirm if you are still coming! MikeB RayFW Ant[/quote] You forgot spoombung Coming from Wales on the day....

looks great!

I'll have a sticker, please!

Okay, I bring you another alluring picture of loads of clamps and bits of wood! This is the maple top, black veneer and ash being glued together: It's nice to know they're pleasuring themselves with an aural dollop of propulsive, bass rhythms and Cage-like preparations as they work (my 1998 [i]Spoombung[/i] album).

[quote name='Prosebass' post='404933' date='Feb 9 2009, 11:49 PM']Thats a nice piece of ash I hope you are not going to spoil it with a maple top...?[/quote] Don't be cheeky!

Well, it all went a bit quiet over the last week and a half and I was beginning to wonder whether Mike and Steve had got lost in the snow drifts of Essex... swept away among the [i]bare ruined choirs[/i]. It turns out Mike's been busy glueing bits of wood together. First of all here is the ash: And then the maple bookmatched join: Tomorrow he's glueing the maple and ash together.

Yeah, looks like I'll be there. I'll bring a load of CDs - all Free, of course! I look forward to meeting everyone and maybe having a look at a couple of basses.

[quote name='crez5150' post='401303' date='Feb 5 2009, 05:35 PM']I've had several instruments from Mike Walsh..... all absolutely outstanding..... Shame you had a bad experience GP![/quote] What worries me about GP's story, more than anything else, is the implication that the luthier completely waved his hands of the whole affair and left his client out of pocket.

[quote name='greyparrot' post='401297' date='Feb 5 2009, 05:27 PM']????? to do wth Zoot?? regards, Parrot.[/quote] Well, Mike's building it.

[quote name='greyparrot' post='401276' date='Feb 5 2009, 05:14 PM']Why?[/quote] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=38531"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=38531[/url]

[quote name='greyparrot' post='401237' date='Feb 5 2009, 04:46 PM']I did have a Zoot (boudica) made once. Cost £1250 - It was a compleate joke. Looked great, sounded great then about 2 months later, the frets started to poke out of the profile of the neck,(both sides) cut my hand!, then the electronice went wrong. And then the neck twisted. On many occations i tried to have it repaired by Mike only to get excuses back. In the end he offered me £400 for a bass that was unplayable. I being fed up, took it, and part exed it for a six string indi which i had for a long while, fantastic bass. Half the price but 10 times better. Not sure if the bass (boudica) i had was a bad un or not, but sorry Mike, your a nice chap, but that bass he made for me was a right f..k up. would not touch one again. Was about 5 years ago now. Bad exp.[/quote] That story worries me, somewhat.

The only reason I'd go to a luthier was is if I couldn't see what I wanted in the guitar shop. My experience of them is minimal: never played an Overwater, never played a Shuker, never played an ACG, never played a RIM, never played a GB. So I wouldn't know who's best. I just picked the nearest one location-wise for my custom build. What I don't really understand is when people spend a lot of money on hand-made jazz basses, for instance - when numerous examples of high quality are easily obtainable for much cheaper prices in the shops.

[quote name='mathewsanchez' post='400384' date='Feb 4 2009, 08:20 PM']Don't know if you heard but Prince's purple lower horn is bigger than yours. [/quote] There's always someone with a bigger LH than yours...

Looks terrific, Paul...great minds think alike! I'm quite envious that you can build things out of wood and don't have to resort to hardboard like me! I look forward to seeing how it develops - I suspect progress will be a little faster than my build. I think you should call the bass 'The Gazzumper' -Kev

That bass looks terrific already. Very fast work. Have you thought about doing it for a living? You deserve a workshop!

[quote name='steve-soar' post='397340' date='Feb 1 2009, 10:36 PM']Are you definitely going for fretted?[/quote] Yes. It's a bit of a change because I've obviously based my style around fretless - but if i think about it I've been playing more [i]guitar[/i] than bass over the past 6 years or so and I tend to write from the melody down rather from the bottom up (as I did years ago) and then fashion chords and various tonal colours around the melody. I still like fretless immensely but I think if i want to play all these tunes I've written live (that's my main interest - [i]not[/i] recording) in all honesty a fretted bass is more useful. I can still play my little triplets and harmonics and all that stuff - I just won't be stretching them quite as much. And I find it easier to play chords on a fretted. Also the scale length gives me an opportunity to go for a higher pitched tuning if i want. I might try tuning in 5ths, for instance, as I love playing tenor guitar.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='397175' date='Feb 1 2009, 08:07 PM']The "Arouser" is looking fantastic, can't wait to hear it. [/quote] Yes, I'm getting quite '[i]excited[/i]' about it.

[quote name='walbassist' post='396824' date='Feb 1 2009, 02:09 PM']Great looker Spoombung, but that body looks non-standard ?[/quote] Yep, that's right. The bass was modified from the original Wal standard fretless. I requested a Fender shaped body and Pete also trimmed down the neck to narrower than jazz width. Used to look like this:

[quote name='BigRedX' post='396781' date='Feb 1 2009, 01:37 PM']mmmm quilted maple...[/quote] Mmmm indeed. I'm not sure how I felt when I learned Steve and Mike have nicknamed the bass 'The Lady-Pleasurer'.

[b]OH FECK the FECKING JOURNEY BACK DOWN TO SOUTH LONDON ON THE FECKING A12 THROUGH THE FECKING TUNNEL![/b]

[quote name='budget bassist' post='396454' date='Jan 31 2009, 09:21 PM']Glad to see it actually becoming a real bass, this must be really cool for you![/quote] Yes, it's very gratifying.

Then it was time to move on to the maple and see what I fancied from his collection. Here's Mike sawing the selection in half (the two pieces will be opened up like a pair of hands and [i]bookmatched [/i] as they call it in the trade - as I'm sure you know) And here it is (complete with scorch marks from the bandsaw) with a rough outline of the body drawn on: Wow, it looks quite psychodelic - with a lighter coloured band running through the centre. Quilted maple, is it's official name. Here's another view of it. It looks very 3-D when turned to the light.

Now it was time pick some wood starting with Mike's collection of swamp ash boards (that I was happy to pose against). This'll form the main body of the bass with a maple face. Here's Mike tidying up the selected piece (complete with bark - no we're [i]not [/i]going to use that) on the saw:

On Friday I travelled up to Witham to see Mike and fix the final positions of the the neck, pickups and knobs and refine the headstock and tuners on the [i]Rhino [/i]cad program. The majority of the design has already been established with the analogue drawing so it was a simple matter to move stuff around on the screen. [attachment=19495:Captureprog4.jpg] [attachment=19496:Capturewhole1.jpg] [attachment=19497:Capturebody2.jpg] You'll notice the new,slimmer headstock shape: [attachment=19499:Capturehead3.jpg]