yet another shuker

[RobEvansBass]

S'appnin chaps,

This is kind of the whole build all in one. I didn't keep a diary as the build went on cos i figured i'd forget to keep it up to date.

This is Shuker no.2, the first has been sold to a fellow basschatter for reasons mentioned in previous threads, i wont go over them again...but here's the new one. Was about an 8 month build and i picked it up about 3 weeks ago now.

5 string 33" single cut set neck.
Walnut body, massur birch top, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard.
Strung E-C with D-tuner (or B-tuner) to tune the E to a B
Delano's with shuker EQ.

think thats about it. here's some pics.


Peace,
Rob

[funkypenguin]

lovely bass indeed!

you influenced by matt garrisson by any chance?

[RobEvansBass]

[quote name='funkypenguin' post='563487' date='Aug 8 2009, 02:17 PM']you influenced by matt garrisson by any chance?[/quote]


haha, it does look that way doesn't it. i am influenced by his playing yes, along with all of these melodic and chordal players... gwizdala, feraud etc. but i chose the walnut cos it sounds good and the massur birch cos it looks good. i wanted a ramp cos i had one in the last bass. i guess its coincidence it looks pretty similar! still...he's not got a bad bass to look similar to.

Peace,
Rob

[funkypenguin]

[quote name='RobEvansBass' post='563500' date='Aug 8 2009, 02:42 PM']haha, it does look that way doesn't it. i am influenced by his playing yes, along with all of these melodic and chordal players... gwizdala, feraud etc. but i chose the walnut cos it sounds good and the massur birch cos it looks good. i wanted a ramp cos i had one in the last bass. i guess its coincidence it looks pretty similar! still...he's not got a bad bass to look similar to.

Peace,
Rob[/quote]

very true, he does have a lovely instrument! yeah it was the combination of woods, scale, drop tuner and ramp that got me wondering

gorgeous piece of kit, congrats!

[jmanfunk]

Gorgeous bass and the same spec as my soon to be commissioned ACG. How are you finding the set neck design compared to the usual neck-through or bolt-on?

[RobEvansBass]

[quote name='jmanfunk' post='564103' date='Aug 9 2009, 01:08 PM']How are you finding the set neck design compared to the usual neck-through or bolt-on?[/quote]

slightly alcohol fueled response so excuse any typos, but set neck compared to bolt ons and neck throughs....

when choosing the bass it came down to 3 things for me, firstly playability, then tone, then the sustain of the tone.

for me playability is an easy thing to comment on, i had an ibanez 6 string a while back, it had 24 frets but i couldn't reach 23 and 24 with ease because it was a bolt on, my thumb got stuck on the body and a huge amount of repositioning was neccessary. more frets is great but only if you can reach them. having a set neck or throughneck allows this. jon (shuker) cut away the body of his standard single cut more for me to allow this easy access

sustain is probably the next easiest thing to cover, how long does a note sustain for? i dont mean how long does it make a sound, i mean how long does it contain the same characteristics as the original note you played? the fact of the matter is you may only ever sustain a note for 2 bars, very rarely longer than that without hitting it again, and afetr 1 bar it sounds like a low drone. the best basses in the world all sound the same after being held for some 2 seconds or more and i thin kthat brings me on to the tone of that original note.... is sustain really an issue? i'll leave you decide....

tone....bolt ons have always sounded very percussive to me, very few instruments can cover the range of sounds that an electric bass can so why hide them all with a percussive thud? i like the sweet sound that a bass makes, and the low growl, and the smooth overtones ringing through the wood. if i want it to sound percussive if can re-create that with my fingers. after all it's the player's head, heart and fingers that make the sound.

the neck through seemed like a sensible solution to the things i've rambled on about. more sound of the wood chosen for the body because of less neck wood involved, and great access even to fret 26 in my case. win, win for me, and the bass is lovely.

hope that kind of anwers your question despite possibly boring you with so much to read,

Peace,
Rob

[peted]

That is absolutely gorgeous. I'm 10 months into my Shuker Singlecut build and seeing these pics hasn't made the wait any easier You must be one incredibly happy bassist.

[jmanfunk]

Thanks for the detailed reply Rob. It was a great take on a well covered issue and not any way boring I paricularly like your stance on the sustain issue. I've spoken to a few luthiers about the real benefits of a through-neck vs bolt-on and by extension a set neck. Some think a through-neck really does give the benefits you outlined above while a few have said tha the differences are negligible and a well constructed bolt-on will give you give the same sweet sound that a through-neck gives. Also, everyone I've spoken to has pointed out the whole host of mitigating factors like electronics, woods etc.

I'd tend to lean toward the 'through necks have a distinct impact on sound' view and would agree with your assertion that its pointless to hide a sound behind a percussive thud. Anyway, I think I will specify a set-neck for my own custom. I was just wondering about the set-necks place in things.

Fantastic bass again. Hope you have many happy years of playing it.

Easy,

Jay.

Edited August 10, 2009 by jmanfunk

[jmanfunk]

Pm sent Rob