tremblap Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 I think the title says it all: a big mess! It started with a dream I had with my favourite and exclusive Montréal-based luthier Pierre Laporte, who has made my 3 other basses: a bolt-on fretted 5 strings, a neck-through fretless six string and an acoustic fretless classical six string (nilon strings!) I wanted something like a dirty thump, and his basses have way too much sustain for that ;-) So we went along with the idea of a Gretch but 6 strings, 35" scale, and in tune! The latter is always a problem with suspended bridge but the tunomatic is the best invention on earth... but I wanted RMC piezo in there too, and six string bass tunomatic does not seem to exist... I happen to have a CNC research department at my uni, so I contacted them and we designed something around the pickups. If it interest anyone, I can post pictures of the model as it is a build diary. So far we have a first computer model, a 3D powder printing of it (crazy technology), a revised model and now a plastic printing of it... the next step is the actual metal CNC... we might be able to try many types of metal to see if and how it changes the sound! Anyway, if anyone else than me is interested, I'll put the pictures as we go. pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Sounds very interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Yes definitely interested in that. Also if you're willing to share the information I'd be interested to know how much this bridge is costing you. One of my long-term projects is to have 5-string versions of some of my favourite 4-string only basses made and that will involve quite a bit of custom hardware, so I'm interested in both the process and the financial feasibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Gardner Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Be very interested in hearing more about this as I'm currently designing a bridge and other parts that I want to get cnc'd Please show us some pics and I know it's a uni but any info on how much such things cost would be great. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 [quote name='BigRedX' post='981455' date='Oct 8 2010, 12:05 PM']Yes definitely interested in that. Also if you're willing to share the information I'd be interested to know how much this bridge is costing you.[/quote] I would say probably somewhere around the £3290 mark as a guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul h Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 [quote name='EdwardHimself' post='981529' date='Oct 8 2010, 01:09 PM']I would say probably somewhere around the £3290 of taxpayers money as a guess [/quote] Fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 (edited) [quote name='paul h' post='981534' date='Oct 8 2010, 01:14 PM']Fixed. [/quote] You're wrong. The taxpayer has to pay the remainder of the £10,000 tuition fee... Edited October 8, 2010 by EdwardHimself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted October 8, 2010 Author Share Posted October 8, 2010 ok pictures as I get the chance to upload them: these are the picture of the 1st CAD, Simon Fletcher (the CNC research guy) did the plans from Schaeller's tech drawing, adapting them to RMC tech drawings of the pickup and doing a 'wagon' for each piezo... pictures of the 3D printing (a powder 3D printer like in StarTreck will follow!) and then I will post the new CAD and the new 3D printing (even more surreal: a plastic one that makes things quite solid enough to try on the bass!!!) The second series of CAD and printing were upgrades made in the light of feedback provided by Pierre Laporte (the luthier) so before I post the comments and the drawing, I'll let you guess what they were ;-) pa [attachment=60873:iso1.jpg] [attachment=60874:iso2.jpg] [attachment=60875:rendered1.jpg] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 [quote name='tremblap' post='980955' date='Oct 7 2010, 10:06 PM']I think the title says it all: a big mess! It started with a dream I had with my favourite and exclusive Montréal-based luthier Pierre Laporte, who has made my 3 other basses: a bolt-on fretted 5 strings, a neck-through fretless six string and an acoustic fretless classical six string (nilon strings!) I wanted something like a dirty thump, and his basses have way too much sustain for that ;-) So we went along with the idea of a Gretch but 6 strings, 35" scale, and in tune! The latter is always a problem with suspended bridge but the tunomatic is the best invention on earth... but I wanted RMC piezo in there too, and six string bass tunomatic does not seem to exist... I happen to have a CNC research department at my uni, so I contacted them and we designed something around the pickups. If it interest anyone, I can post pictures of the model as it is a build diary. So far we have a first computer model, a 3D powder printing of it (crazy technology), a revised model and now a plastic printing of it... the next step is the actual metal CNC... we might be able to try many types of metal to see if and how it changes the sound! Anyway, if anyone else than me is interested, I'll put the pictures as we go. pa[/quote] Looks really cool - I've got a couple of questions. A 35" scale isn't the way I'd naturally go if I wanted a dirty thump (particularly after you mentioned how your other basses sustain too much!) How is your luthier going to go about it? Secondly, Gretsch-wise, are you going for solid or semi construction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted October 10, 2010 Author Share Posted October 10, 2010 35" is there for 2 reasons 1) the only way I ever heard a good B 2) don't want to mess with my left hand technique for intonations on the 2 fretless(es) now 6string is there for only one reason: i am not a fusion guy (i.e. solo guitarist frustrated) but I am a bass guitarist coming from classical guitar long ago and I hate changing position! I go for the reach! String puller and bridge separated should kill some of the resonance, flatwounds should help the thomp a little... very small frets is another hypothesis. Set neck will probably eat a little resonance too (though Pierre is very well renown for the sustain, which might be counter productive... but his intonation on the fret job is just unheard of!) We are going for hollow body, made of curly spruce. I actually met the guy who cut the tree, it is quite impressive so much passion with so much muscles around it ;-) Barto P4 and RMC, with a dual jack option for independant paths. I am more than open to talk, suggestions, stuff. I can post pictures of wood, plans, as we go... the project is already 3 year old but the wood was too humid, the bridge needed to be design (and Pierre being ridiculously popular the delays are quite long!) We are in the final stretch: the wood is dry, the neck is glued with the fingerboard (one piece sugar maple, cut 20+ years ago, dried and seasoned with love)... the plastic bridge is in the mail between England (where I live now) and Montréal (where Pierre is based) for the luthier approval... I'll keep you guys posted if there is any more interest. pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted December 22, 2010 Author Share Posted December 22, 2010 OK I'm still waiting for Pierre (the luthier) to send the pictures of the wood and the 3d printing of the 1st generation, but here are the CAD of the 2nd generation. The piezo wagon are now small enough to fit in the wholes so we can change the bridge to different metals (alu, steel, bronze are planed) so we can test how it affects the sound without resoldering! I also decided to go for Villex pickups with their passive mid-sweep... it should be great! Comments/questions welcome. p === [attachment=66925:guitar_b...ndered_8.jpg] [attachment=66926:guitar_b...ck_shiny.jpg] [attachment=66927:guitar_b...ed_black.jpg] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted December 22, 2010 Author Share Posted December 22, 2010 btw those who worry about their tax money: please consider that 1) the average academic in this country works 56hours a week for a 37 hours contract (and as I 'young' academic I am seriously above that!) 2) we are underpaid on any international standard (apart from the French ;-) 3) this country is planing cuts beyond anything that makes sense despite the downhill in international rankings... 4) the list can go on and on... No worries, I was not too offended ;-) p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 (edited) [quote name='tremblap' post='1066532' date='Dec 22 2010, 10:28 AM']btw those who worry about their tax money: please consider that 1) the average academic in this country works 56hours a week for a 37 hours contract (and as I 'young' academic I am seriously above that!) 2) we are underpaid on any international standard (apart from the French ;-) 3) this country is planing cuts beyond anything that makes sense despite the downhill in international rankings... 4) the list can go on and on... No worries, I was not too offended ;-) p[/quote] Yeah it is ridiculous really. Mind you, when you see some of the pond life that we have to co-exist with at uni it's hardly a surprise that the taxpayer feels this way. I'm glad you're getting this sorted. Our uni is so PATHETIC that we don't even have any CNC milling machines! Very well hidden fact at the open day I must say. Also the rapid prototyping machine broke down meaning we couldn't make our centrifugal pump for a project that was worth 25% of the year grade for that subject... Edited December 22, 2010 by EdwardHimself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 The great thing is that Huddersfield has a research centre in ultra-precision CNC control. The person I met (Simon) needed a fun project to learn a new piece of software... he has been amazing on the project, and I (being a musician) was completely flabbergasted by the computer models, the 3d printers (one with powder, one with plastic) that allowed us to improve the design before cutting metal. Pierre has had some clever ideas when he saw the powder printing, I left it with him so he should send me pictures soon for here to share... and I'll take picture of the second printing (3d) in the new year and will post them here too. I know the bass would sound great anyway, Pierre is a world-class luthier. Actually, every bass player who tried one my basses he made were totally impressed... and I never tried a bass that I would have swapped for one of mine... But this project is just so exciting... now I'll go practice to be worthy of his instruments! In the meantime, a couple of picture of the guy's shop, in Montreal. [url="http://www.djangomontreal.com/doc/PierrePhotos.htm"]http://www.djangomontreal.com/doc/PierrePhotos.htm[/url] pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 OK some more pictures! in this first one you can see the four stages of the bridge CNC [attachment=71729:SAM_0010.JPG] the leftmost is the 'powder 3d print' of the 1st generation of CADs, the one that Pierre saw in Montreal and proposed improvements on. the second is the 'plastic 3d print' of the improved CADs, which was ready for production the third is the aluminium 'draft' CNC that was testing the mechanical process the fourth is the steel 'draft' with other problems in the mechanical process. In other words, we are on our way! This second picture shows the 'plastic 3d print' of the wagon that will hold a RMC piezo (with one on it!) [attachment=71732:SAM_0036.JPG] Finally this third picture is to show the 'system' in action... you can see the threading in the wagon to allow the adjustment screw. [attachment=71731:SAM_0032.JPG] I spoke to Pierre, the wood is ready to cut... I decided to go with 2 Villex pickups with the variable mid. This instrument will be awesome! pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Looks good so far - I especially like the aluminium one. Rapid prototyping machines are brilliant for this kind of stuff, your bass will be unique. Let's see some more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 thanks for the props, I'll send picture when I see the luthier in Montreal in April! p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 [quote name='tremblap' post='1067514' date='Dec 23 2010, 09:56 AM']and I (being a musician) was completely flabbergasted by the computer models, the 3d printers (one with powder, one with plastic) that allowed us to improve the design before cutting metal.[/quote] As a musician (sort of) and an engineer, I resent your sweeping generalisation there 3d printers are great because as nice as a computer model is, being able to make a real physical model of something straight from a CAD file in such a short space of time is a real boost for designers who can get a much better idea of how their stuff will turn out in real life. It's looking nice anyway. Apparently we do have some machines, we're just not allowed to use them. Great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Dear EH I was raving about the 3d printers, I hope my message was not missunderstood! anyway, seeing the metal stuff is even more exciting! I look forward to compare the sound difference between the 2 metal types! p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 ok I went to Pierre Laporte's place last time I was in Montreal... took some pictures too! So here is the book match glued and partly emptied body (curly spruce) [attachment=79131:body.JPG] It is a six string fretted and to go with the assymetry of the top (curly spruce) we will go with a one piece two coloured Macassar Ebony fingerboard. First the pieces (neck and sample wood) then a guitar neck with a similar finish. [attachment=79132:fingerboard.JPG] [attachment=79133:neck_and_top.JPG] [attachment=79135:neck_guit.JPG] [attachment=79136:neck_guit2.JPG] [attachment=79138:neck_guit3.JPG] and finally, the man with one of my current basses (I have been tuning/adjusting them since I moved in England, so I brought it back to the boss to see if I've done well... he seemed impressed ;-) [attachment=79139:theman.JPG] Comments welcome. pa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 a quick update... it seem that, after flooding and other building problems have slowed down the production, I should receive this bass late May... stay tuned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 argh! not ready yet! In August it seem... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Mire argh.... October it is now... What you have to suffer to have a bass from this amazing luthier... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremblap Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 Argh again! March it will be. In the meantime, this article explains why it is so long! http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Quebec+guitar+gods+plucky+bunch/9027732/story.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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