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Brooks QB


Basvarken
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A while ago I finished the build a a rather challenging bass build.
The Brooks QB.

This 34" scale twelve-string bass is a tribute to the Quad Bass that Jol Dantzig from Hamer built for Tom Petersson in 1978.
Except I didn't put a mixer in the built-in panel, but two effects!

A big thank you to Bas Becu from BQ Music for building the SansAmp type overdrive and the Aguilar TLC Compressor.

- Mahogany body. Les Paul Junior Double Cut shape
- Flamed Maple top. Sun burst high gloss
- Body back, sides and neck: Mahogany gloss
- Pearloid Binding
- Glued neck, mahogany/maple five piece laminate.
- Two spoke wheel type double action truss rods.
- One carbon stiffening rod.
- Ebony Fretboard. White side dot inlays
- Sintoms Jumbo frets. Nickel-silver
- 34” Scale
- Buffalo horn nut/ string guide
- Custom made 12 string bridge and tailpiece. Black
- 4 x Gotoh GB 350 bass tuners. Lightweight. Black
- 8 x Gotoh ST-31 Octave string tuners. Lightweight. Black
- D’Addario EXL 170-12 strings
- Gotoh large black strapnuts
- Pickup 1: Lace Alumitone. Black
- Pickup 2: 2x Nordstrand NM4
- 2 x Switchcraft output.
- 2 x Volume. On/off switch with led light for each effect
- Weight: 4,5 kg

I'm pretty sure the new owner is Gonna Raise Hell on this monster!
 

brooks-qb-full-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-body-angle-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-head-front2-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-bridge-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-effects-panel-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-outputs-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-full-back-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-head-back2-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-leds-on-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-quadbucker-and-lace-1500_orig.
brooks-qb-volume-to-11-1500_orig.jpg
brooks-qb-effects-panel2-1500_orig.jpg



 




I'll post pics of the entire build process in separate posts below...

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Each build start with selecting the right wood.
My supplier made this body blank out of two pieces of Khaya Mahogany

brooks-qb-body-blank_orig.jpeg

 


And from the same batch of (lightweight) Khaya I selected a piece for the neck blank.
It was sawed in three pieces and laminated with pieces of Maple in between. Already pretty sturdy and stiff. Ideal for a bass neck that has to withstand a lot of tension

brooks-qb-neck-blank_orig.jpeg

 


From master carpenter Frank Hoffmeyer (Holz Faszination) I scored a beautiful set of flamed maple and a very nice piece of ebony  for the fretboard.

brooks-qb-bookmatched-top-set-arrived_or

 


A while ago I bought a few bridge sets from a German company that makes hardware for Ritter and Marleaux.
This is the last one I had. Im not sure if I'll ever buy from them again. But that has nothing to do with the quality. Which is outstanding...

brooks-qb-ets-bridge-set_orig.jpeg

 


The neck features two spokewheel truss rods and one carbon stiffening rod

brooks-qb-trussrods_orig.jpeg

 


To make sure this bass does not suffer neck dive I used lightweight tuners by Gotoh.
Res-o-lite for the bas strings. And Stealth for the octave strings

brooks-qb-gotoh-tuners_orig.jpeg


 

After the design was ready I made templates  for the routing.

I laser cut these at a FabLab which is in-house at my employer.

Making these templates always requires some good thinking ahead. But it all worked out according to plan 😉

brooks-qb-template3_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-template2_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-template1_orig.jpeg

 

Same goes for the QuadBucker.
It consists of two Nordstrand NM4 pickups that are meant to be mounted on a Mustang bass.
I used them parallel to the strings instead of perpendicular to the strings.
Because of the staggered pole pieces they can pick up the amplitude of the three strings per triplet better than the original pickups that Hamer used (three in a row, under the middle of each triplet).


brooks-qb-nordstrand-mn4_orig.jpeg

 


I designed base plates and a frame for the QuadBucker. And also a matching frame for the Lace Alumitone.
And I laser cut them too.

brooks-qb-pickup-frames_orig.jpeg

 


Initially I  tried to use the NM4 with the casings over the pickups.

brooks-qb-mounted-on-baseplate_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-quad-bucker_orig.jpeg

 


But eventually I chose not to use the casings, because I think this looks better without. 😉

brooks-qb-quad-bucker-sans-covers_orig.j


brooks-qb-quad-bucker-with-frame_orig.jp

 

 

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With all that sorted, I started working on the neck.
Routing for the stiffening rod first.

brooks-qb-routing-first-slot_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-reforcement-strip-in-place_ori


brooks-qb-reforcement-strip-close-up_ori

 


And then the two slots for the truss rods.

brooks-qb-routing-trussrod-slot_orig.jpe


brooks-qb-trussrods-in-place_orig.jpeg

 


The controls panel in the bookmatched set was laser cut.
This way the grain would continue perfectly with the rest of the top

brooks-qb-matching-grain_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-laser-cut-effects-controls-cav

 

It took me a while to find the right knobs for this panel. Especially the size was rather difficult. Most knobs are too big. And they would be too close to each other as a result

brooks-qb-knobs_orig.jpeg

 


Up next was the fretboard. This one did not get inlays on top.

brooks-qb-hammering-frets-in_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-hammered-frets-in_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-frets-cut-clean_orig.jpeg

 


I cut out the truss rod access slot at the end of the fretboard

brooks-qb-trussrod-access-slot_orig.jpeg

 


And make a cover for it from the same piece of ebony

brooks-qb-trussrod-cover-ebony_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-trussrod-cover_orig.jpeg

 

In the meanwhile I had roughly shaped the neck. So that I could glue the fretboard on.
I always use strips of inner bicycle tubes as a clamp for very ven pressure all around.

brooks-qb-glued-fretboard-onto-neck_orig

 

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Then back to the body

Routing the channels for the wiring first

brooks-qb-routing-wiring-channels_orig.j


brooks-qb-routed-wiring-channels_orig.jp

 

And glued in a piece of mahogany because that is where the channel later meets the effects cavity

brooks-qb-wiring-channels_orig.jpeg

 


Then routed the controls cavity

brooks-qb-routing-controls-cavity_orig.j


brooks-qb-routed-controls-cavity_orig.jp

 


Roughly cut out the outline for the flamed maple top. And glued it onto the body.

brooks-qb-rough-body-outline_orig.jpeg

 


And then routed along the template

brooks-qb-body-outline_orig.jpeg

 


Up next was routing the pickup cavities

brooks-qb-routing-pickup-cavities_orig.j

 


And squaring the corners with a chisel

brooks-qb-squared-corners_orig.jpeg

 


Routed the effects panel cavity

brooks-qb-routed-effects-panel_orig.jpeg

 


Test fitted the panel itself.
Of course it fits. It was laser cut. But I just had to do it 😉

brooks-qb-effects-panel_orig.jpeg

 

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Back to the neck.
The fretboard was glued on and I left it alone for while.
Now I could start shaping the neck

brooks-qb-shaping-the-neck_orig.jpeg

 

And when the neck profile was almost ready I did the side dots

brooks-qb-driling-side-dots_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-glueing-side-dots_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-side-dots_orig.jpeg

 


Routed the profile for the binding around the top of the body

brooks-qb-routing-binding-profile_orig.j


brooks-qb-routed-binding-profile_orig.jp

 


Glued the pearloid binding in.
I use acetone because the bass will be stained. And stained does not work on spots where glue was spilled.
Acetone leaves no residue.

brooks-qb-glueing-binding_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-glueing-binding-close_orig.jpe

 


Attention shifted to the back side of the body:
Routing the profile for the controls cover.

brooks-qb-routing-controls-cover-profile

 


And the wider cavity for the effects

brooks-qb-routing-effects-cover-profile_

 

 


So far so good

brooks-qb-cover-profiles_orig.jpeg

 

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Then made the mounting plate for the effects panel. I chose a thin plate of steel.
To save weight and to make sure it would take up too much height in the effects panel (as it would get pretty crowded in there later on)

brooks-qb-mounting-plate_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-mounting-plate-in-cavity_orig.

 


Made the holes for all the pots

brooks-qb-holes-pattern_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-drilling-holes-pattern_orig.jp


brooks-qb-steel-plate-holes-pattern_orig


brooks-qb-steel-plate-holes-in-place_ori

 

The glued on the laser cut flamed maple panel. It had sanded it much thinner, in order to get the right height for the knobs. I didn't want them to protrude above the top of the body.
The drilled the holes for the potentiometers.

brooks-qb-drilling-holes-pattern-maple_o

 

brooks-qb-effects-panel-ready_orig.jpeg

 

brooks-qb-effects-panel-inside_orig.jpeg

 

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When the neck profile was done I drilled the holes for the tuners

brooks-qb-drilling-tuner-holes_orig.jpeg

 

And did the final shaping of the headstock

brooks-qb-neck-profile_orig.jpeg

 


Routed the neck pocket

brooks-qb-routing-neck-pocket2_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-routing-neck-pocket_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-neck-pocket_orig.jpeg

 


Shaped the heel to make it a perfect fit

brooks-qb-shaping-the-heel_orig.jpeg

 


Used a an aluminum profile as a straight egde to check the angle of the neck

brooks-qb-checking-the-angle_orig.jpeg

 

 


Starting to look like a bass...
(Neck not glued in yet)

brooks-qb-dry-fit_orig.jpeg

 


Drilled the output holes

brooks-qb-drilled-output-holes_orig.jpeg

 


And some more holes

brooks-qb-drilled-controls-holes_orig.jp

 

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First applied the yellow all over.
The did the red on the outlines while the yellow was still wet.
And feathered them to the inside with a dry brush.

brooks-qb-burst-stain_orig.jpeg

 


After the first few layers of lear it already looked gorgeous

brooks-qb-after-first-layers-of-clear_or

 

and a few layers later...

brooks-qb-after-more-layers-of-clear_ori

 


The effects panel go the same treatment.
And when it had enough layers of lear to be perfectly flat, I applied the lettering for the effects with decals

brooks-qb-applying-decals-effectspanel_o


brooks-qb-typography-effectspanel_orig.j
brooks-qb-decals-headstock_orig.jpeg

 


When the lacquer process was done, and after the polishing I could start mounting the pickups.

brooks-qb-pickuos-mounted_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-pickuos-mounted2_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-pickups-and-panel-mounted_orig


brooks-qb-pickups-and-panel-mounted2_ori

 


Then put the tuners and bridge on. And strung her up for the first time.

brooks-qb-with-strings_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-with-strings2_orig.jpeg


brooks-qb-with-strings3_orig.jpeg

 

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18 hours ago, Richard R said:

That is quite astonishing.  How long did the build take you, including the thinking and planning which must have been considerable?

From the initial idea and sketches to the completed build, I'd say about a year.
The actual build took about four months (in my spare time)
Then I had to wait about two months till the built in effects were ready.

Edited by Basvarken
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