blablas

The Iroko (top and back) cost me 15 euros, that's absolutely dirt cheap, it was just plain luck that I found it.


However, I think the price for a nice piece of wood is not really relevant, some pieces are expensive, some are cheap, you just need some luck and patience to come across a nice piece of wood, when you see something you really like buy it right away at whatever price, you will never find it again.

I couldn't resist the urge yesterday evening to roughly do the two final chamfered edges, I think the SG feeling is there, now I need to finish the outer body contour first before I continue with the edges on the back.

Primarily the reason is practical, they are cut from the leftovers of the body slab, because of this the two different types of wood is only a side effect.
The aesthetics is also a factor but not the main one.

Made a set of knobs at work during lunch break today.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/EGkGOSa.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/aP8O0rq.jpg[/IMG]
Rough shaped the chamfered edges on the top of the outside of the body, now I first need to finish of the outer body contour of the body before I will continue with these edges.

Pimped up the top with some naphtha.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/3cOLpIE.jpg[/IMG]
Sawed the body contour.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Zukh2Se.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Ra0rap1.jpg[/IMG]
The wood grain is coming out beautiful!

Glued together the separate halves of the three body layers and leveled them (no photo's, not that interesting).


Top/core/back glued together.


Before gluing I defined the size of the back cover and the positions of holes for the screws in it, then sawed it of and finished of its sides. After gluing together the body I drilled the holes in the cover and body.
Before gluing I also sawed of a (future) leftover piece from the side, this is going to be used as the top for the headstock.


Body ready to be sawed into shape.

All the parts are in, a roll of fret wire is standard stock, same goes for the assortment of screws I need.

Nothing wrong with single coils, I love the sound. That's one of the reasons, when I'm using dual coil humbuckers, I like to have a series/single/parallel switch.

Keep us posted of what these blade pickups sound like, hopefully they are a hidden gem.

And decided how I am going to use them, on the left the top, on the right the back.

Re-sawed the top and back book-matching, also re-sawed the body core planks to thickness but these are just boring slabs of alder and not worth taking a photo of.

The first sawdust is a fact.



The top, back and core.

I think the Artec and Wilkinson pickups are a step up from the ones you linked before.
I understand you don't want to spend the money on Bartolini's or something compatible on this bass, but then again if you want to improve this bass I think you are taking the risk of a disappointment if you are replacing the cheap ones that are already in there with another set of cheap ones, the pickups are the most important part of a good sound and the good ones are expensive for a reason, you're not only paying for the brand.

If you want to use five string pickups for a six string and they are split coil watch out that all the strings are covering the coils because most five string pu's are split in 2 by 3 string pairs coils, if one of your stings is running over the gap that is between them you can experience a drop in volume for that string in relation to the other strings. I've had that experience with a set of 5 string pu's (Barts) that I had lying around and which I tried on a four string.
If they are single coils it's no problem but then you have be very thorough with shielding and grounding to minimize the possible hum.

The sidewinder I'm using is a experiment, I don't know this type of humbuckers and for the price I payed for it I was willing to give it a go.

I wouldn't go for these cheap pickups, you'll probably regret it later on and wish you had gone for higher quality pickups.

As far as connecting, just wire them to the current electronics, you can always remove the preamp at a later time if you don't like it.

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1380484960' post='2226068']
I'm not going to begin bowing before you right away. I want some weeks without bowing before you first.[/quote]
I hope I can oblige you, it's already itching but I think I can hold it back long enough.

Yes, up to now they have been personal builds, being a left handed player has always meant I would never be able to find what I wanted (for a price I could afford).
After having had enough of the stuff I could buy I decided to build the special ones myself, not unsuccessfully if I might say so. It has become a nice waste of time by itself.

I also hope to keep it that way, it's just a hobby, i don't want it to be my work, I've already got a nice daytime job I like which pays the bills and finances my hobby's.

The next build can be found [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/218289-de-afwerking-mk5-4f-blablas-does-another-build-diary/"]here[/url].

A lot of people would like to see it... so here is the start of the diary for my next build.

The plan, a SG based bass:
- Fanned four string 32.5 to 34 inch scale
- Artec Sidewinder as bridge pickup and a Gibson copy (brand unknown) bridge pickup as the neck pickup
- Passive electronics (a first for me, all my builds have been active)
- Iroko top and back, Alder body core
- Set neck
- Neck might be: Maple, Wenge, Bubinga and or Zebrano, whatever I feel like when I start on it, I've got all these woods in house
- Indonesian Rosewood for the fingerboard
- Dual action truss rod
- Single string bridge parts
- Duesenberg tuners

I still need to order some parts, but I've already got most of them.




It's going to be the bottom fret layout.

I'm not going to begin building right away, I want some weeks without bass building first, I'll start on it when it starts itching again (3 weeks at the most )

Love it for 5 strings and higher, It needs some getting used to in the beginning but once your used to it it feels more natural (at least for me) than a rounded fingerboard.

Not at the moment, maybe at a later time.

And a few more photo's.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/RJKmL28.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/dTS9b92.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YvAHZk5.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks to everybody for their responses.

Now I need to clean up the mess on my workbench and take a couple of weeks rest from building, then I need to order some parts for my next build and slowly start working on that one again.


This will be the next build:
A four string fanned 34 to 32 inch scale SG based bass.





Would anybody like to see a build diary on that one as well?

[color=#FF0000]Tweaked & tuned.... Finished!!![/color]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/iXbFfjY.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://s20.postimg.org/jt28f2lp9/DSC_6632.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Fiduarz.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BLNyCAs.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/m4wFSBd.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/HjvcMDi.jpg[/IMG]

Wiring is done, everything works the way I want it to.

Preamp, output and switches are mounted, also put on the knobs.
Friday I will mount the pickups, wire everything up, make the nut, put on the strings and adjust the whole thing.