Basvarken Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 I've completed the build of a new bass. Unlike other Brooks basses that I've built this does not feature a mix of a classic Gibson bass with another non-Gibson classic. The Brooks EB-N is an original design that I came up with in an attempt to give it a bit of a classic vibe without referring to well known designs. BROOKS EB-N - One piece mahogany body - Smoked oak constrasting veneer in between layer - Bookmatched flamed maple top - Five ply quartersawn mahogany/American walnut neck - Ebony fretboard - Mother of Pearl position marker dots. 12th circle inlay - Jumbo frets - 34" scale - Zero fret and buffalo horn nut - Babicz FCH4 bridge - Spokewheel double action trussrod - Lace Alumitone Bass Bar - Gotoh GB 707 bass tuners - Push-pull volume pot for humbucking or single coil - CTS tone pot 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 I'll post some pics of the build process. Starting with a pic of the quarter sawn neck blank that I cut into four pieces on the saw table of a friend of mine. Next is three pieces of that neck blank with two strips of American walnut veneer in between that are going to make a five ply Glueing them together. Lots of clamps Used an old fashioned saw to cut the headstock angle Routed the truss rod channel And chiseled the shape of the spokewheel 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Found a huge blank of beautifully figured mahogany. Can take at least four bass bodies out if this one. And found a nice bookmatched set of flamed maple for the top. Plus a pre slotted ebony fretboard Drilled holes for the position markers and glued them in Cut a short piece off an aluminium tube for the 12th fret position marker Sanded it all flush to the right radius Sawed the fret slots to the right width and depth Filed a tiny angle to the slots to make the frets fit in nicely Cut the frets and hammered them in 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Glued the fret board onto the rough shape of the neck Beginning to look like a proper neck Working on the control cavity And routed the channel for the pickup wires Next I glued a thin veneer of smoked oak as a contrasting layer in between the mahogany and the maple Made a template out of MDF for the body shape Glued the bookmatched set of flamed maple onto the body Routed the shape of the body 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Used a coarse rasp and a file to shape the contouring Routed the pickup cavity Chiseled the corners to make it a clean fit fort the Lace Alumitone Drilled some more holes Routed the back for the control cover 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Drilled holes for the side dot markers Making the 12 position side marker And glueing in the other side dots Side dots sanded flush with the side of the fretboard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Routed the neck pocket Used the smoked oak veneer too for the headstock (completely invisible in the end result...) Test fitting the neck pocket And checking the neck angle Cut the slot for the nut Once the angle was correct, I glued the neck onto the body 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Taped off the body to do some pore filling on the mahogany Next I stained the top a light brown colour to make the flame pop Sanded it back to get a bit of contrast After much deliberation I chose blue (other options were bright red and naturel) Stained the back the same colour. But oddly enough the colour simply disappeared after several layers of clear coat... Looks almost black now. Top after a few coats of clear lacquer 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 And I've made a quick video of the new bass. Just me noodling on the EB-N. But you get an idea of the sounds 😉 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 WOW, that's astonishing, thanks for posting this, I will be going over it a few more times yet! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 That's a great looking bass! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTool Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Great thread, lovely result 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Uncomplicated and to the point. That applies to this topic as well as the subject bass. Well done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baldwinbass Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 I wish all the bass builds we see could include a video like yours, it's great to see what it finally looks and sounds like in use. Fantastic thread that cuts straight to the point - oh, and that's an impressive line up of basses I can see in the video. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si600 Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 23 hours ago, Basvarken said: Drilled holes for the side dot markers Making the 12 position side marker What kind of strong man are you to carry a pillar drill outside? 😳 I can barely lift mine in its component parts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted September 1, 2019 Author Share Posted September 1, 2019 Haha, It's a table model. Not really that heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 That is a very clean looking instrument. Subtle. I love it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 (edited) - Edited March 4, 2022 by Jus Lukin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 Thats a fine looking axe right there, Rob. Great work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted September 1, 2019 Author Share Posted September 1, 2019 54 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said: Excellent stuff, Basvarken. As a Gibson fan, I've love all the basses you make, and one's you've dealt in the past- do you ever do them in short scale these days? Thank you. Haven't built a short scale in years. But it wouldn't be a problem of course. I personally love short scale bass guitars. If anyone would ask me to build a short scale bass for him/her, I'd surely love to. The first three bass guitars that I built were all short scale: Brooks -1 The first one I ever built. 2009 Acoustic Fretless My goal was to build an acoustic bass that would be loud enough to compete with an acoustic guitar without amplifying. So I gave it a very big body (wide and deep). I used a bass bar and a staple, just like a Cello. The experiment failed. The bass is not loud enough. Les Paul Bass This is not a real Gibson bass. I built it myself after my personal favorite: the 1969 Les Paul Bass I tried to stay as close to the real thing as possible. Except it uses guitar pickups and controls 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 great thread, thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown_User Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Beautiful bass and great thread with all the pictures! Appreciate the effort that's gone into the thread. Could I ask a couple of questions? Firstly what clear coat did you use and how did you apply it? Secondly did you do any grain filling on the top? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 (edited) - Edited March 4, 2022 by Jus Lukin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 (edited) Great job & nicely documented Love the Brooks-1 and the Acoustic Fretless above too... Edited September 3, 2019 by Andyjr1515 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basvarken Posted September 3, 2019 Author Share Posted September 3, 2019 7 hours ago, Unknown_User said: Beautiful bass and great thread with all the pictures! Appreciate the effort that's gone into the thread. Could I ask a couple of questions? Firstly what clear coat did you use and how did you apply it? Secondly did you do any grain filling on the top? Thank you. I use acrylic lacquer from spray cans that I buy at Action, which is a super cheap supermarket. Per can only € 2. But I use a lot of them per instrument. I build up a few layers, then I sand it, spray again, sand it, ad nauseum. The final step is sanding it with finer paper 500 > 1000 > 1500 grit. Then polish it with polishing compound and a foam pad on my Makita accu-drill. Last step is a very soft cloth with some carnauba wax. With figured maple you don't need to do any grain filling. The grain is so tight, the paint won't keep sinkin' in, like it does with mahogany. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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