Cosmicrain

Mark, you really are the "Bling" master, you need to get a grip. I know your ex-Essex but that's no excuse........

A bit more work done

Now for the pickup routes to be done, but first I need to draw up and code a template that will be cut on the CNC.

Hi Si, I'm now working from a workshop at the rear of my house in Silver End, which is about 5 miles from Witham. Mike.

Looking forward to seeing you soon at the workshop.

Carving the body top

Pictures of the next stages.

The next stage is to bond all the body timbers together.

Did you find a spare £120 for the petrol then?

A few more update progress pictures.

I've been able to work a bit more on Mark's bass. Here are the latest update pictures.

Many thanks for the kind words, much appreciated..

Some of the best sounding basses I've ever made have been constructed from basic Swamp ash for the body and Canadian slow growth Maple with either a Maple, Rosewood or Wendge fingerboard. Add to this top rate hardware, pickups and e.q.'s (be that either active or passive or both) and you have a remarkable sounding bass. I try and pick a neck blank that rings a 5th above the body blank when building a customers bass, I only apply this to bolt on necks which are the majority of what I build. I also believe (and this only my understanding after making many basses) that the timber used is only responsible for about 30% (or less) of the tone of the instrument (solid bodied basses) where as the E.Q. pickups and hardware make up the other 70%, also things like very tight fitting neck joints will help with vibrational transfer. Finally, whatever timber you buy, make sure it is dried to the correct moisture content, you do not need or want glue lines opening up or worse the timber warping/twisting six months after you made the bass due to the timber being too wet when it was used. These are only my thoughts on the matter, but I hope it helps in some way.

Alpha, CTS, MEC, Bourns plus others. I'm not sure if your bass is active or passive? but just make sure you get the correct Ohm rating, 220K, 250K or 500K for passive pickups or 25K - 50K for active pickups. Here's a link for the MEC passive blend control, they also do the active version. https://shop.warwick.de/en/parts-for-instruments/warwick-spare-parts/electronics-parts/18236/mec-balance-pot-module-for-passive-pickups?c=3600

Here's some more versions of the same bass. One has a 2+2 headstock and the other is a 32" scale 5 string headless. Again just mock-ups, so nothing is set in stone.

It's just a design at the moment nothing more nothing less, so anything could change if I were to make one including the bridge. Appreciate the feed back. Mike

Hi, there are no reasons for it, as it's just an idea and drawing at this stage, so anything can change, including I may not even make one, but thanks for the comment, I appreciate it.

I was messing around with my design software and came up with this design (loosely based on bits from a few existing basses, but not a copy of any particular basses) At the moment it's drawn up as a 32" scale 4 string with Thunderbird pups and a Hipshot SuperTone Gibson bass bridge, and Hipshot ultra-lite machine heads. I was also thinking of offering a Carbon Graphite neck version as an upgrade? Anyway, it's just a drawing at the moment but do you think it would sit in with my other Zoot bass range? Any comments/idea's would be appreciated. Thanks, Mike.

Most stacked blend pots (pro' one's that is) have a different resistance taper than standard pot's for the same resistance value. Therefore a standard volume pot say of 250K, will have the full taper from one end of the track to the other (full rotation) off = 0K Ohms and fully rotated = 250K. However a pro blend stacked pot has a different internal structure with regards to the carbon track meaning the summed resistance of a stacked blend pot will be different than two independent volume pots when both are fully open. Also the individual volume pots on the bass are probably Log' pots where as I use Linear taper stacked pots for blend controls, as this makes a difference as well.

In my opinion the best I've heard recently is the Aguilar AG 5P-60 or the AG 5P-60CL depending on string spacing, but any in the list above are also excellent choices. I fitted an AG 5P-60CL to a bass I made for Kei Kato in Japan, it sounded killer with the Aggie and an active/passive Klaus Noll 3 band E.Q. see picture below of the bass.

Yes I know, maybe I'll ask him if he has any intention of making one to marry up with his 5 string jazz pups.....

I've used Harry Haessel in Germany a lot and I've never yet had a pickup that I was not happy with. Harry does indeed make all the pickups himself with a very small team of co-workers. He has a very long wait time if you order something that is not in stock and has to be made, but the wait is worth it. The other 'P' pickup I would recommend as an absolute killer of a pickup is the Lindy Fralin 5% over-wound, they really are stunningly wonderful pickups. I hope this helps, regards Mike at Zoot. https://www.fralinpickups.com/product/p-bass/

Good to hear your still have the Zoot.

This was the very first design that Mark and I came up with for the downsized Zoot Boudica 32" with the "Wal-a-Like" pickups etc. It has changed very slightly since then and now has four controls as a posed to the three shown on the original draft drawing. Hope this helps.

I'm looking forward to this build, Mark has come up with a great idea for a bass. I'm hoping I can nail as close as possible the original Wal sound, so let's see how we get on...