Paul Gransee's 7th Bass

[Paul Gransee]

Hi all first time on the new forum hope this works. This is my seventh bass a 5 string with a myrtle front and back. I used ebony for the fret board and simplified the inlay.

[Paul Gransee]

Front view

[Jim Bonnell]

Great job Paul. Anymore pictures. I'm working on my first bass along with several other projects. I can't seem to keep it at one at time.

[Paul Gransee]

Thanks Jim I'm trying to add photos but it wont let me, I will keep trying.

[Jim McConkey]

There is a temporary Forum-wide problem preventing anyone from uploading images. Please be patient. It should be fixed soon.

[Paul Gransee]

The back view both the front and the back are myrtle.

[Paul Gransee]

A close up of the head stock which is faced with chechen.

[Paul Gransee]

And a closer view of the inlay which was done in honduran rosewood, baked maple and balayoung.

[Paul Gransee]

Here's a different view showing the fiber optic lights for the fret markers. I thought this was a bit showy but after playing on a dark stage they're really handy.

[Paul Gransee]

I started using shielding paint instead of the copper shielding. Its application was easy and looks good and east to touch up if necessary.

[Paul Gransee]

I also switched bridges to a KSM bridge the sound is a lot cleaner. After comparing this bass to an alembic the sounds of the two where almost identical tonally with my bass being a little more powerful (louder).

[Paul Gransee]

This picture shows the neck through construction. The neck woods are zebra wood, chechen, baked maple and strips of ebony veneer in between for a total of 9 layers. Also the center of the wings is mahogany.

[Paul Gransee]

The fretboard is ebony lined with maple and chechen, this was my first time doing that. I really like the subtle effect it offers and proved to be fairly easy. I do have to change the point by the G string and round that off a bit as it catches your finger when slapping, whoops.

[Jim Bonnell]

Excellent work. I'm feeling inspired. Is that a brass nut and if so why do you prefer brass?

[Paul Gransee]

Thanks Jim yes it is a brass nut I make them myself, it is adjustable (height wise) and I think it brightens the tone a bit. I also used a brass plate inlaid into the back for the string thru, I also think this helps in the sustain. When I play this bass the only effect I use is a volume pedal to cut it off at the end of a song. (it will ring a note forever)

[Paul Gransee]

A close look of the back side of the head stock which I covered with the same ebony veneer in the neck laminations.

[Paul Gransee]

I rotated the front view and hopefully a little better view of the whole front. I also want to thank Jim for letting me know that the picture problem was not me (as I assumed LOL). A couple of other things the pickups are EMG's, tuners are sperzal and I inlaid the strap locks for a cleaner look. In the future I hope to get a sound clip of this bass as this thing sounds better than it looks. The first time I played it my band mates where amazed that a different bass could be so unique in its sound. I also had to adjust the volume and gain to about half of what my other bass is played at.

[Dan Hehnke]

Nice I love it! Myrtle is awesome stuff too. How does the raising and lowering of the nut work? I'm a fan of aluminum nuts on some of my (non-bass) guitars, wonder how brass would sound on those....could be fun to try.

[david frassetto]

Great job! I love the way the knots and the string retainer on the back look like a face<G>. The inlay on the neck is well executed and looks great. Nice touch.

[Paul Gransee]

Dan i use 2 set screws from above to adjust the height. the center screw is adjusted from the under side.