Ten-string Multi-scale bass

[Basvarken]

Get out your spandex. Tease your hair. 😉
Here's the Brooks EXB-MS-10
A multi-scale ten-string bass.

 

SPECIFICATIONS:
- Mahogany Khaya body
- Laminated Mahogany Khaya set neck. Glued in
- Black with Lake Placid Blue graphic finish
- Pearloid binding
- Ebony fretboard
- Pearloid position markers
- Jumbo nickel silver frets
- 35-32" scale
- Buffalo horn nut
- Custom Brooks bass bridge set. Black
   Bridge base plates by [URL="http://www.paulinevandenbroek.nl"]www.paulinevandenbroek.nl[/URL]
- Two double action trussrods
- Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck
- Lace Alumitone Bass Bar pickup combination
- Pure Tone output. Black
- Stacked Volume / tone knobs. Black
- Three way pickup selector switch. Black 
- Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners. Black
- Schaller GrandTune octave tuners. Black
- Custom set d'Addario strings 

 

 

 

 

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

Edited 3 hours ago by Basvarken

[Basvarken]

As always the build started with buying some blanks for the body and neck.
I managed to sore some nice khaya mahogany pieces.

Routed the neck for a carbon reïnforcement strip in the middle.

 

 

 

 

Then routed two slots for the truss rods. Since it was going to be a multi scale bass I chose two different lenghts:

 

 

 

Cut out the headstock angle with the band saw:

 

 

 

You have to think in 3D when you cut the angle!

 

 

[Basvarken]

Drilled holes for the position markers.

 

 

(I used FindFret2D to calculate the fret angles). The bass has a 35" to 32" scale.

And when the position dots were in place prepared the fretboard for the frets.

 

 

Pressed the frets in:

 

 

And when that was one I glued the fretted fretboard onto the neck.

 

 

Left to dry overnight
And then started shaping the neck with a shinto rasp:

 

 

[Basvarken]

After lots of rasping , scraping and sanding it started to look like a proper neck:

 

Made the side position markers:

 

 

And filled the gaps under the fret tangs with a mix of ebony saw dust and wood glue:

 

 

Shaped the outline of the headstock. And sanded it to the desired thickness:

 

 

 

Drilled ten holes for the tuners:

 

 

[Basvarken]

With the neck almost in its final shape I switched to the body.

I drilled some holes for weight relief.

 

 

Plus some more holes for the controls cavity:

 

 

Sawed the rough outline shape prior to glueing up the matching khaya top:

 

Glued the top on:

 

Routed the controls cavity to its proper shape:

 

And then routed the outline of the body along the MDF template:

 

[Basvarken]

Body outline shape lookiing nice and crisp:

 

Routed the channel for the binding:

 

 

Glued in the pearloid binding. Using acetone to soften it and make it stick to the wood.
I always use an old hair dryer to make it easier to do sharp bends.

 

 

Routed the pickup cavities:

 

And the neck pocket:

 

[Basvarken]

And the profile for the truss rod cover:

 

Test fitting. All looks fine:

 

 

Then glued the neck in:

 

After the neck was glued in I filled the pores and sprayed the primer.
No pics of that sorry.

 

Here's a pic of the Lake Placid Blue layer:

 

 

[Basvarken]

The bridge rails use saddles of a Gotoh 12-string guitar bridge.
Plus custom made base plates.

My sister Pauline is a certified gold-smith. And she made the bridge plates from a brass profile:

 

I sprayed them black with a 2K spray can to match the rest of the black hardware.

 

The crazy graphics were done by cutting the pattern in a low tac film.
Then spayed the black over the Lake Placid Blue layer.
After it dried I peeled off the low-tac film.

[Basvarken]

Plus I made a (short) video this afternoon

 

 

[Richard R]

37 minutes ago, Basvarken said:

 

Wow! Definitely not for the shy and retiring types.

 

[LowB_FTW]

I saw this one pop up on my Fb feed, I've been waiting for this thread to appear since then.

 

Mark

[Hellzero]

I really love your work! Always a delight!

[LowB_FTW]

1 hour ago, Basvarken said:

 

These baseplates are things of beauty.

 

Mark

[MichaelDean]

Yet another beautiful build! You've been knocking it out of the park recently! So many great instruments!