A full custom 4 string

This bass is a full custom of the customers design. We discussed it quite a bit over the phone and via many emails. He sent me a rough pencil drawing of his design concept, which I then did up on the computer. After one or two slight modifications to the design, I'm now ready to cut wood.

Here are the specs:

Neck:
  • 5 Piece neck: Zebrawood, flamed maple and padauk
  • Stabilized Macassar Ebony Fingerboard, fretless, 34" scale, 12" radius
  • Bass Clef inlay in Fingerboard at 12th fret in Camphor Burl
  • Spanish Cedar headstock with Camphor Burl overlay (to match the body)
  • 2 mm side dots, one at each fret position
  • no dots / inlays on fretboard
  • thin zebrawood accent layer between fingerboard and neck


    • Body:
  • Chambered Spanish Cedar body wings and back
  • Bookmatched Camphor Burl Top
  • thin zebrawood accent layer between body wings and top


    • Hardware and Electronics:
  • Gotoh tuners and Hipshot Model "A" style bridge, Gold
  • Matching wood knobs from THG, spanish cedar with camphor burl tops for controls and tuners
  • Kent Armstrong custom wound pickups with Aguilar OBP-3 preamp
  • Wood pickup covers, camphor burl tops with spanish cedar sides
  • matching custom wood knobs in spanish cedar with camphor burl caps with thin zebrawood accent layer from THG Knobs

    • Status and Updates

    21 September 2004 - Here are pics of some of the woods and inlays, and a scan of the original drawing I recieved from Russ and the final approved design drawing I did on the computer for this beauty!

    (click on image to view larger version)

    Russ' original drawing
    Here's a scan of the original drawing that Russ sent me of his design for this bass    		 My computer drawing of the design
    And here is the computer drawing of the design I did for Russ based on his drawing.    		 Camphor Burl Top
    The Beautiful Camphor Burl Top set    		    




    24 December - Here a a few pics I took of the neck just before routing for and installing the truss rod and fingerboard.

    full neck blank
         		 front of headstock and scarf joint
    front of headstock and scarf joint    		 back of headstock and scarf joint
    back of headstock and scarf joint    		    


    28 December - The Camphor Burl bass clef inlay at the 12th fret is in. Next the body wings go on.

    Bass Clef inlay cut out
    Bass Clef inlay cut and ready to go in    		 Inlay is in
    Inlay is in    		 Headstock closeup
    Camphor Burl headstock overlay    		 Finished neck blank
    Finished neck blank ready for body wings    		  


    02 January - NEXT UPDATE COMMENTS.

    Body wings are on
    Body wings with tone chambers    		        


    10 January - The wood pickup covers are done and off to Kent Armstrong for custom winding and installing of the pickups! Wood is off to THG for the custom volume and tone knobs as well.

    unfinished pickup covers
    Unfinished covers    		 First coat of finish applied
    First coat of finish applied, and the insides are sealed as well    		      


    21 February - A few pics of the roughed out bass just before I routed the control cavity, battery box and belly contour. I've got a few pics of the bass with the first few coats of finish on, which I will post in the next day or two.

    headstock rear
    Macassar Ebony rear headstock overlay and volute    		 Neck heel carving
    Neck heel carving
     
     
     
    Pickups placed in bass
    Just for fun, the pickups placed in the bass    		 Rear of pickups
    Back of the pickups, excellent work by Kent Armstrong!    		      


    20 March - Some pics of the first coat of oil going on.


     
     
     
     
     

         		        


    04 April - It's on it's way! I must say, I really like this combination of woods. I really like the zebrawood accent layer, it adds a lot of visual interest, as if the camphor top wasn't enough on it's own. The wooden tuner and control knobs from THG are the final touch (and of course, I love gold hardware).