crazy concept bass

[Annoying Twit]

This is brilliant. I wish I'd been following this thread from the start!

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1380308943' post='2223728']
That's brilliant Rich!

Where are the 10 dates by the way? Need to see you guys live ASAP!
[/quote]

Cheers bud.

We make the official announcement this week... but it kicks off in the Deen on the 18th then we make our way down to London stopping off on a few venues in between.

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1380359332' post='2224181']
This is brilliant. I wish I'd been following this thread from the start!
[/quote]

You've not missed much. I only started building it last Saturday.

[Ou7shined]

Ok. I found out what was at the cause of the quiet E and A strings. For some strange reason the Status pup simply didn't like being in a series configuration with the Bart - parallel was fine though. So seeing as running the pups in series was a major point of this bass I had to scrap the idea of using these spares pups and break out a whole matched set. By this time I'm really starting to fall for this bass so I'm pretty excited by the idea of putting in some nice pups. I have a few sets to choose from and even tried my lovely Lindy Fralins in it for a moment... then woke up again... even[b] I'm[/b] not mad enough to put custom LF's in a crazy bass like this - also for some reason the shiny exposed pole-pieces didn't suit the concept. In the end I went for....



Excellent choice even if I do say so myself. Powerful and dark enough to suit the bass.

The only thing is that with the Model J's you have split coils with the option for series and parallel in each pup and for a consummate modder like myself this was too much of a temptation to pass up.

So now I had to redesign the 'tronics. I'm still of a mind not to have any volume or tone controls but love the idea of using switching controls only. With the pups being in such close proximity to each other I see no real need (at the moment) to have a pup selector. So go for straight series/parallel options on each pup with the option to select to run both pups in series/parallel with each other. In theory with the different switchable permutations you could go from parallel/parallel (quiet/thin) up to series/series (loud/booming). I had never tried this before and indeed didn't even know if it was doable.

Turns out it was.



The smaller switch is for the LEDs.

So now this obviously means an array of visible switches on the front. I hope I have pulled it off in keeping with the design. (oh aye I gave it a quick lick of paint today too)





As a general rule I don't really do black basses... but I think this one suits it. So much so I may not go for the aged bronze look at all.
As you can see I'm still using the temporary earth wire for now. Once the paint is finished it's copper tape all the way.

[Gust0o]

Crikey! Brilliant bit of work

[neepheid]

Oh well, never mind about the black walnut

Looking badass.

[andydye]

More awesome than an awesome thing! Just brilliant!!

[eude]

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1380409808' post='2225029']
Cheers bud.

We make the official announcement this week... but it kicks off in the Deen on the 18th then we make our way down to London stopping off on a few venues in between.
[/quote]

Will try and catch you in London if I can!

[andydye]

[quote name='eude' timestamp='1380438810' post='2225123']
Will try and catch you in London if I can!
[/quote]

Are there any links to youtube vids of them? I'm v curious!!

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1380418580' post='2225082']
Oh well, never mind about the black walnut

Looking badass.
[/quote]

Haha. Its still there Matt, only its just visilbe as a texture through the black now.

[lojo]

Amazingly executed project

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='eude' timestamp='1380438810' post='2225123']
Will try and catch you in London if I can!
[/quote]

Were playing in Nambucca. Don't know the place myself. Would be braw to catch up min.

[discreet]

Do the bronze thing. Then it would definitely be good for metal.

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1380438979' post='2225124']
Are there any links to youtube vids of them? I'm v curious!!
[/quote]

We're in the middle of shooting our first proper vid right now but there are a few live ones and a couple of pic compilations on yt. Search for Deadfire.

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1380445008' post='2225192']
Do the bronze thing. Then it would definitely be good for metal.
[/quote]

Haha. I hear ya.

[discreet]

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1380444879' post='2225189']
Were playing in Nambucca. Don't know the place myself.
[/quote]

It's in Holloway Road, N7. A good gig.
[url="http://nambuccalondon.com/"]http://nambuccalondon.com/[/url]

[eude]

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1380444879' post='2225189']
Were playing in Nambucca. Don't know the place myself. Would be braw to catch up min.
[/quote]

Will try my bestos dude!

[Ou7shined]

Something I forgot to mention a couple of days ago when I got it on the strap. The rear horn is an amazingly comfy place to rest your forearm when the strap is a couple of inches higher than I normally have it. Your arm falls into a fixed position reminiscent of Entwistle with his Explorer basses. I will be visiting this exact shape/angle in future builds fo shizzle.

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1380445706' post='2225207']
It's in Holloway Road, N7. A good gig.
[url="http://nambuccalondon.com/"]http://nambuccalondon.com/[/url]
[/quote]

Ah. Cheers. Should be a good one.

[andydye]

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1380445203' post='2225199']
We're in the middle of shooting our first proper vid right now but there are a few live ones and a couple of pic compilations on yt. Search for Deadfire.
[/quote]

Awesome! Will do

[andydye]

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1380446083' post='2225219']
Something I forgot to mention a couple of days ago when I got it on the strap. The rear horn is an amazingly comfy place to rest your forearm when the strap is a couple of inches higher than I normally have it. Your arm falls into a fixed position reminiscent of Entwistle with his Explorer basses. I will be visiting this exact shape/angle in future builds fo shizzle.
[/quote]
Necessity & invention and all that...

[woodyratm]

Bloody hell. Get a website!

[Groove Harder]

Wow... outstanding!

[lee4]

Mad as a box of frogs.
Scary as a dental check-up.
Love it.
Just don't use it for your lounge jazz project!

[Ou7shined]

Minor disaster yesterday.

I decided to take the demon (still not finished) to band practice later in the evening and wanted the setup to be 100%. So I finally got around to doing the job of shaving off some wood from under the bridge to bring the action in line with the newly formed (and slightly shallower) neck heel.

I was stringing it up after completing the task when... snap, crackle, pop!





The nut simply folded under the strings !!!

I took the strings off and out fell 6 pieces of crumbly hollow plastic nut. Some remnants remained glued firmly to the neck with what looks like superglue. Ok, I hear you say, not a problem for a man of my means to make a new one.... Only I don't have any bone blanks wide enough for this type of nut... and I really want to take it to rehearsal in a few hours time. So I had to improvise.

Using the smashed nut all glued back together as a template I made a replica from ebony. Major pain as I'm allergic to ebony dust.



Looks like it's been hewn from dark chocolate... and if the epoxy I drenched it in (after I took this pic) doesn't set it rock hard then it might as well be. Actually I've done this before and I know it works.

After I removed all the glue and crap from the nut groove, here it is in situ... (I take the sheen off later with some fine sandpaper)



Looking at it philosophically the disintegrating nut was a blessing in disguise as now I have a new nut specifically setup and tailored for the job. I wouldn't have bothered otherwise.

Cue one awesome setup with criminally low action. (revealing that the 22nd fret needs levelling)

It works a treat. And the guys were suitably blown away at practice... so much so our guitarist wants me to build a guitar version for him.

This is the first chance I've had to play it at volume.

With everything switched to series (each individual pup in series then both pups in series with each other) this thing is full on bassy (perfect for my stoner/doom/sludge side project) and fecking LOUD!!! Bringing the pups back to parallel (individually) but keeping them in series with each other gives more clarity and bite to the tone but with a drop in output. Parallel/parallel/parallel is quieter again and has more clank - a polite clank. I'd bunged on some old used strings from my spares box so I hope new strings will bring the bite to the series/series/series selection.

I've ordered up some suitably evil looking black coated Rotosounds for him.

If I get more painting done this week, the demon will be getting his first public airing on Saturday night when we do a support slot for Swedish metallers Sister Sin.