Bass Culture Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 I thought I'd leave starting this thread until there was some reasonable progress to show. When Rautia, who'd supplied the pickups for my my first Wal-a-like, closed down, Mike and I spoke about him developing his own multi-coil pickups and I decided to commission a new bass which would be the guinea pig for these in-house designs. The first bass had been paired with a Lusithand filter pre, but I decided I wanted this one to be different and that we'd go passive - Wal passive models still have their own distinctive Wal tone, after all. At around the same time I returned the first bass to Mike to swap out the rather cheap monorail bridge units I'd supplied to him when it was built for some more substantial Hipshot items. During the course of this work it became apparent that one of the original Rautia pickups had developed a problem and that they would need to be changed, so he was now making two pairs of pickups for me. This was to be the start of an extensive period of research which involved Mike investigating all aspects of the design, specification and topography of the Wal originals, which has only now culminated in him finally being able to start winding his own pickups - with the help of a new coil winder he's just invested in. Specs for the new bass are: Zoot Boudica body shape Paulownia body with wenge top and back - wax & oil finish Multi-laminate neck of roasted maple and mahogany with maple and wenge stringers. Soft V profile 32" scale with 38mm nut. 18mm string spacing at bridge 2 x new Zoot multicoil pickups V/T and series/parallel switch per pickup Zoot solid brass bridge Hipshot ultralite tuners and string retainer Here's some progress pictures: 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmicrain Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 Looking good Mark, and thanks for the mention. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloke_zero Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 Looks amazing! Soft V? Is that like \_/ with a kind of flat section? It's hard to see from the pictures. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass Culture Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 51 minutes ago, bloke_zero said: Looks amazing! Soft V? Is that like \_/ with a kind of flat section? It's hard to see from the pictures. More like a V where the pointy bit is less pointy, with a softer/gentler curve, but still provides a definite reference point for your thumb. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass Culture Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Couple more photos which show the body after three (I think) coats of Mike's wax and oil mix. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rim Custom Guitars Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 Looking great Mike 👊 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmicrain Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 16 hours ago, Rim Custom Guitars said: Looking great Mike 👊 Cheers Robbie, good to hear from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 That is, indeed, a thing of beauty. Lovely lines, great timber choices and impressive building 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 Looks incredible. That body shape is fab 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmicrain Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 (edited) 18 hours ago, benh said: Looks incredible. That body shape is fab Yes, the new Zoot Boudica shape seems to be a favourite for my "Wal-a-like" builds. Here's another one going through the workshop, and the customer asked for blue over Bird's-eye with a 34" scale, similar to the one Justin Chancellor has in the band Tool. Edited February 21 by Cosmicrain 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftyJ Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Saw this one on Reddit. Beautiful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmicrain Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 More work on the Multi-coil "Wal" style pickups for Mark's custom build. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass Culture Posted March 1 Author Share Posted March 1 (edited) Latest batch of update photos from Mike, and time to start getting proper excited now, I think! 😊 Scheduled to pick up next weekend at present. Mike's been testing the various pickup connections at each stage of assembly, but has not so far been able to sound test them. I can't wait to hear them. He's a true artist and I've no doubt at all they'll sound every bit as good as they and the bass looks. Edited March 1 by Bass Culture 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmicrain Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Pickups are wired the "Old Way" to allow the coils to be either series/parallel. The switching is done on the tone controls via push/pull switches on the pots. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmicrain Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 The finished Bass. Mark is due to visit the workshop this Friday to take delivery, and we may make a short video/sound check. 26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass Culture Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 Welll this has been the very pleasantist of surprises, and quite made my day! Absolutely stunning work, @Cosmicrain - thank you! Bring on Friday! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelDean Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 That is gorgeous! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftyJ Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 I love it! Some lovely attention to detail there, and I love how the Boudica shape has evolved. The contouring on the front and back is beautiful! I like the bridge design too, with the varying saddle lengths. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 Beautiful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 Oof 😍 what a beauty! Looking forward to hearing some sound clips 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass Culture Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 15 hours ago, JPJ said: Oof 😍 what a beauty! Looking forward to hearing some sound clips I think Mike wants to record some vid and sound samples when I collect it, so I'll post a link if we get that sorted. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueMoon Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 That is absolutely stunning!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Top drawer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmicrain Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Video of mark collecting the bass 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor J Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 That sounds fantastic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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