TheAndelorian

It’s the tight string spacing that particularly draws me, within the whole Overwater package. Deep regret for selling my PJ! Only after 4 string. 

Anyone thinking about parting with theirs? Narrowly missed on one and now have the hunger! 

Here’s how it sounds through the Headway into a Focusrite

Back from the gig. Noisy. Bad venue layout with poor PA and no monitors. Classic battle between chatty punters (restaurant/bar) and band trying to hear ourselves. BUT, by the second set I was VERY happy with the sound through my amp. The Headway was incredibly helpful - there were a few tunes where the pickup needed to be more present in the mix, but some where the mic was sufficient alone. More trial and error needed, but I won't be getting rid of this mic and am looking forward to a series of gigs with a quieter swing band in August. 

This doesn’t appear to ever become much of a hot topic! For what it’s worth (5 and a half years since the last post unless there’re other threads), and I can’t offer much of a technical perspective, it’s a bloody lovely mic. For recording. I have a gig in a few days at a notoriously bad sound venue with a jazz quintet including loud drums. I’m going to blend it with a Fishman Full Circle using a Headway EDB 2 HE. Acoustic image Clarus SL and GK can. I’m hoping to get away using the piezo minimally. I’ll report back. 

Working on that upright sound. 

Continuing to work on getting that upright sound. 

Finding it hard to maintain practice discipline on the double bass 

It has arriveth!!! 

Here's how it sounds 

31 minutes ago, eude said:

Stunning!

How long till it's in your grubby mitts?

I’m HOPING within a couple of weeks! 

These strings are gold - old ones Jon is using to set the saddle. I’m going for blacks. Custom ‘S’ knobs look pretty cool I reckon. 

A wee note on string height. As an upright player (with a medium string height set up on my acoustic), I tend to find bass guitar setups a little low. In fact my previous Shuker was definitely low, with less responsiveness than I’d like, and bit of a clacky sound. I raised things a bit with the truss rod, but the piezo bridge on the Artist models isn’t adjustable. I remember someone describing something similar So, my last request to Jon prior to assembly was to put in a couple of “feet” under the bridge. I cannot wait to hear how this bass sounds. 

So… close.. now…

On 16/02/2023 at 23:02, Lowhead said:

Just came across this thread.

It stopped before the end of the build so I thought I'd add my bit because I'd love to see the end result.

Back in 2016 I spent a great week on a course with Jon Shuker building a custom bass. It's what I use as my avatar. Great week with a great man. And a great result.

After a year I went back to fine tune the bass, and came a way with an Artist as well, which had been returned, so special price. It is a superb piece of work, and everyone who hears it loves the tone.

So is there any more news of your build?

 

On 16/02/2023 at 23:02, Lowhead said:

Just came across this thread.

It stopped before the end of the build so I thought I'd add my bit because I'd love to see the end result.

Back in 2016 I spent a great week on a course with Jon Shuker building a custom bass. It's what I use as my avatar. Great week with a great man. And a great result.

After a year I went back to fine tune the bass, and came a way with an Artist as well, which had been returned, so special price. It is a superb piece of work, and everyone who hears it loves the tone.

So is there any more news of your build?

 

Yes! I’ve finally updated the thread, it’s sounding like Jon has been crazy busy. I’ve never been in a hurry for this though and it’s great that Jon’s getting so much work. 

Almost complete! Body being lacquered and hopefully only a few weeks away from completion. 

53 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

Shuker and Rob Allen owner here, so following this 🙂

Nice! Do you have a Deep 4/5 or Mouse? 

A liiiiitle hiatus, but activity is about to resume. Unfortunately the Schertler won’t fit in the planned recess, so it’ll be the traditional Headway pickup. However, Jon is experimenting with a new Artist structure which will broaden the chamber - all the better for a deep cut! In the meantime, here’s my present happy corner. 

Slow progress. Jon’s been busy finishing off a few basses and I’ve been sitting on options for woods. I’m not in any hurry so all good! 
Sooo many beautiful woods to choose from! Also a bit of a guess as although Jon sends a photo of ‘wetted’ wood, the finished look can be much darker, as was my previous experience. There were some stunning burrs - maple and poplar. Just not for me though, I’m more into flamed. Some highly figured sycamore and myrtlewood. But I’ve kept coming back to the same one, which is a flamed maple. 
Electronics-wise, my plan was to go for piezo only, keeping the top as whole as possible. Jon’s given me a new option though, which he used in the past on his Artists until supply issues - the Schertler Bluestik, which is actually an under saddle mic with dedicated preamp. Given the aim of making this a more chambered and therefore (I hope) acoustically resonant build, this seems like a great option. Single thumbwheel volume control near the output jack will keep the whole top ‘clean’. 
Finally, 2.5’ mahogany has been sourced! Cuttin’ time soon hopefully. 

32 minutes ago, andyaber said:

Very interested in this thread.  It seems to tick lots of the boxes that I've been thinking about for a retirement bass to play at home, mostly unplugged.

 

Looking forward to seeing it as it progresses.

 

 Good luck,  Andy.

Cheers Andy! 

Friday update! 15/4/22

The speculative conversation has developed into a comprehensive plan. We’ve agreed on specs - I won’t list them all here but please ask if there’s anything you’re curious about. A few highlights though:

Since we’re going for a ‘deep’ version of the Artist, I looked at Rob Allen’s site where he states that the body starts as 3” thick alder before cutting down to 2&1/8”. Jon’s happy to work towards that and feels that 2.5” of mahogany will be a sufficient starting point. 
The routed recesses will be slightly larger than Jon normally makes, taken down to 1&3/4”, making the whole thing lighter and possibly enhancing the acoustic properties (of which I know and understand very little about). 
Going for 34” scale (I believe the RAs are shorter), 17.5mm spacing.  
The top will be a later decision but Jon currently has some beautiful woods which I’ll share some pics of (he’s happy for me to share this build diary btw!). I’m not so into the burr look, I think from a distance it looks smudgey! Possibly going for a flamed sycamore, which Jon says is maybe the most highly figured he’s seen. Looking forward to seeing pics, but of course won’t see the full look until it’s treated. 

12 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

You realise your advert has little info about your bass?! 

Haha thanks for pointing that out! I thought the pics speak for themselves, but it’s an Orange Pbass made by the excellent Carlisle based luthiers, Overwater. Active Overwater pups, hipshot tuners and bridge. Tiny dent near bridge. Bought it off a nice guy called Rob who had it custom built, so not much more I can say about the specs. La bella strings which are well broken in and gives warm and muted tone. I believe these are over £3000 new. Happy to answer any questions/post more pics. 

Just to note, there is an exceptionally stunning 4 string Artist soon to appear on the Shuker stock page! It’s not the droid I’m looking for, but some lucky bleeder is going to get hold of a dream bass. 

6 minutes ago, Dood said:

I’m following this build for sure! Jon Shuker is a very talented luthier with an incredible attention to detail. He’ll be able to build what you want. I should know too, I’ve been very picky and incredibly detailed with all my builds (and the next one I have planned) and he has delivered every time exceeding expectations!

 

 

Thanks! Have you picked up any of the recent Artist builds? 

Welcome to my narcissistic documentation journey of the creation of a new and unique bass! 
About me and what I’m looking for: 

Not a talented enough and have too many other responsibilities to be a pro bassist, but just about good enough to get the odd dep call with other pro players. So, serious hobby which I occasionally spend (edit - not waste as previous written!) money on. Upright player mainly, big fan of NHOP and G Mraz, so fast low action. Ageing back and joints. Thus wanting a very comfortable and beautiful bass guitar which sounds like an upright. 
Rob Allen, you say? Too coveted/rare/expensive. 
Jon Shuker? Now you’re talking. I’ve owned one before. It was a commission build, and although it was exquisitely sumptuous in terms of sound and quality, I just didn’t LOVE it, and in a tough financial moment let it go. 

Happier finances now and I’m up for a new Shuker/Rob Allen. Or…. A Shuker Artist with a deeper body, closely akin to a Rob Allen Deep 4/5. 

And Jon, being the throughly talented, pleasant and accommodating individual that he is, is helping me entertain this thought further. 
 

Open to offers here so try your luck! I’m embarking upon a build project and having discussions with Jon Shuker about a ‘Deep Artist’, a la Rob Allen Deep 5. Aiming to make a build diary so watch this space (if of any interest to you!).