(Not-so) New Bass Build

[Bryan Harris]

Finished this one almost a year ago, but never quite got around to posting pics, so here goes:

This is my 4th build (1 guitar, 1 lap steel, 2 basses), but I feel like I really turned a personal corner with this one. It's become my go-to performing bass (I have a weekly church gig, plus a semi-regular cover band and frequent musical theater gigs), so that alone is worth celebrating, but I also think I'm starting to learn how to let the project speak to me as it goes. This thing took me 3 years of off-and-on work to finally finish, and the design went through several changes along the way, but for the first time I feel like those changes were the result of letting the work develop itself over time, rather than the result of, "Oh, I messed that up, what can I do to salvage this?"

Big thanks to the many folks on the MIMF who have answered my questions on this and other projects. After playing with this beast for the past year, the wheels in my head have begun to turn again, so I suspect a new build project is not too far in the future. Perhaps it's time to start working on that doubleneck I've always wanted. 8^)

Anyway, I tried to imagine what would happen if a Tele and a Jazz bass had a kid, then tweaked some of the details (like the treble side horn) and came up with this.

5-string multi-scale bass (33 5/8" treble side, 35 1/8" bass side)
Walnut body, with mahogany/jatoba/mahogany laminate accent down the middle
Neck is cherry, fretboard is wenge (as are the pickup covers--cut from the same boards)
Fretboard inlays are brass rods of varying diameters

After producing 3(!) other, more exotic necks I wasn't quite happy with for one reason or another, I was wondering how much more I was willing to spend on wood when I spotted this piece of cherry that had been sitting on my shop shelf for nearly 6 years, waiting for something to be turned into. Lesson learned. (Don't worry, the other necks will be used for something.)

I was going to learn how to turn my own knobs and make matching wenge knobs for this, but the pearl-topped bell knobs have begun to grow on me. We'll see.
Bartolini 59J pickups, 3-band BassMods preamp with push-pull active/passive master volume and blend knobs. I hadn't planned on making wooden pickup covers, but I wasn't happy with the original pickup cavity placement (looked weird with the angled frets), so when I enlarged the cavities, I needed to cover the gaps. Fortunately, I had just enough left in offcuts from the neck and fretboard that I was able to make covers that, close up and in the right light, seem to be a continuation of the neck--very cool effect. For the player, at least.
I've found I don't care for the preamp all that much--the Barts sound just fine on their own. Another lesson learned.

There she is, folks. Comments, questions, and advice welcome. Thanks for looking!

[Mark Swanson]

It looks pretty! With a short upper horn, many times that makes the bass hang on your body in a neck-heavy way.
It looks like the knobs are bunched a bit close together for me...but it looks like a nice bass. I like that kind of peghead.

[Leonardo Silva]

looks amazing, I might want to do a similar bass on the future (like a lot the headstock and the inlays of the fretboard)

just a little comment about the "letting the work develop itself over time" I'm personally the guy that designs everything before actually starting to work on the wood, the most time you spend pre-designing your work, the less you will have to struggle once working in the wood, I'm learning that the hard way too, since most of the time I can't achieve exactly what I have in my original design.

[John Kingma]

That looks great. Nice job.

I agree with Mark that the knobs look a bit bunched up.

[Bryan Harris]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

Yeah, I agree the knobs are a bit close together--I had smaller, non-skirted knobs in mind when I set up the control layout. My wife gave me a turning class for Christmas, so hopefully soon I'll be able to make my own.

Leonardo, I'm pretty pleased with the fretboard inlay design, but if I use it again I probably won't use brass--I have trouble making out the dots in low light. The side dots especially are hard to see--definitely something lighter next time. But when the light hits the board just right, it is gorgeous. For 3.7 fleeting nanoseconds. 8^)

[Jedi Clampett]

I would love to know what mfg of the tuning keys? I have become to do slotted headstocks with my guitars, would do it with bass but even doing a web search has not turned up any slotted headstock bass tuners.

[Mark Swanson]

Any "mini" bass tuner will work. There are no slotted bass peghead tuners, just small ones turned sideways.

[Jim Bonnell]

Nice job Bryan. I like the body shape. It all really works together well.

[Bryan Harris]

+1 to what Mark said about the tuners. These particular tuners are just generic tuners I got on eBay several years ago. As long as the headstock is thick enough for the gear housing to fit and the pegs don't run into each other, you're good.

And thank you, Jim. 8^)