Matteo Marziali Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 (edited) Hi there! I'm a newbie in this forum, I'm an amateur bass builder based in Italy, I build 2-3 instrument per year, I started making Carl Thompson copies, but now I'm trying to find my own style. I hope to learn a lot here, receive precious advices and share what I know. Thanks The first is for a Canadian guy, he want something that look like an Elrick, I proposed my model "Traditional" (like this), he want also a pair of Bartolini that will sounds good with slap technic, so I choose the new Singularity pickups: a single-coil jazz pickup in a soapbar shape. The Buckeye Burl top will be filled with photoluminescet epoxy, and i will place an Italian flag somewhere, because my customer is proud of his italian origins. Spec: Handmade custom bass model "Traditional" with tonal chamber and sound hole 34" scale 24 medium jumbo fret (21 on E and A string) 3 pieces Maple neck Buckeye burl headstock with Ebony TR cover Single action Stew-Mac truss rod Indian Rosewood fretboard with Paua Abalone square "Gibson-style" inlay Fretboard radius 12" Ebony nut Thin neck width 38mm thickness 19,5mm at nut Set neck (glued in the body) Ash body chamberd with Buckeye burl top and Maple back Top filled with photoluminescent epoxy Varnished with Danish oil 2 Bartolini Singularity pickups single coil in a soapbar shape 1 EMG BTS preamp (bass-treble) 18V with Active/Passive switch Hipshot A style bridge black Hipshot Ultralite Y black Black strap lock Strings DR Lo-rider nickel-plated medium A mockup: The second is for a Swedish guy, initially he ask me to build a Claypool replica, but with different wood: Wenge, Padauk and Rosewood. I propose to him one of mine model (I called it "Mio" that means "My" in italian) and he accepted. This model shape is a mix between a CT Claypool and Ritter Roya, and with the body stripes, the tremolo bridge and this control panel it's very close to the Claypool bass mood. The customer immediately had very clear ideas about this bass, he want an EMG 35DC at the neck, a Bas-Mid-Tre preamp, a bolt-on Wenge-Padauk thin neck (I suggest a Ritter style multi-screws bolt), an inlay at 12° fret, no battery box in the back. He use to play in BEAD, so I choose a Kahler 2400f with forward saddle, in order to have more space to use D'Addario XL long scale strings, because it's not easy to find low-B strings for 32" scale bass, and also the headstock is 1cm forward; I choose .135/.100/.075/.055 strings gauges in order to have a light and balanced set. Spec: Handmade 4 string bass model "Mio" 32" scale 24 medium jumbo fret (21 on E and A string) Wenge neck with Padauk stripes Wenge headstock with Padauk TR cover Single action Stew-Mac truss rod Indian Rosewood fretboard without dots, only on the side Custom Inlay at 12° fret Fretboard radius 16" Ebony nut Thin neck width 38mm thickness 19mm at nut Neck bolt-on with multi-screws Wenge body with Padauk stripes, thickness 32mm Indian Rosewood control plate Varnished with Danish oil 1 EMG 35 DC pickup in Precision position EMG BQS preamp (Bass - Mid/Freq.selection - Treble) 18v with Killswitch Kahler 2400f tremolo bridge black Hipshot Ultralite Y black Black strap lock Strings D'Addario XL nickel wound .135/.100/.075/.055 A mockup: In this mockups you can see my old "thompsonish" logo, but I will not use it anymore, I'm working on a new logo, as well as I'm working on my building style _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This is the Buckeye burl for the top: My customer want to fill the burl with photoluminescent epoxy (it's my first time with epoxy...: And I will try ro recreate the color of the Paua Abalone inlay, I will try with different pigment colors. Some stuff This is the wood for the second, the body: The neck: Fretboard and control panel: This is the Kahler 2400f tremolo bridge, a beautiful piece of engineering: I'm checking if the long strings scale will fit in this bass, they do! About woodworking: I cutted 3 pieces from a flat European Maple blank, in order to have a 3 pcs quartersawn neck With an hand plane I planed one surface Than I planed the other side with my neck-blank-router-jig, in order to have an angle on the blank itself Here you can see the angle I did the same with the Wenge-Padauk neck Edited December 16, 2017 by Matteo Marziali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Welcome. The mockups look great - they are going to be fantastic basses. If you need any tips on using epoxy to fill your burl top there are some great ones on ProjectGuitar.com. Some of the builders on there have used mildly radioactive compounds to great effect, which sounds similar to what you are planning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuNkShUi Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Look like theyre going to be fantastic guitars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Definitely watching these builds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Fantastic post mate, and welcome to the forum! I'll be watching these builds closely Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Oooo I do like a bit of Buckeye Burl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scojack Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Lovely, looking forward to seeing these Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Following this with interest.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Watching the buckeye one with interest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Welcome! These look really nice - I'll be following with interest. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cloud Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Very, very cool bass builds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteo Marziali Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) Thank you all for the kind words of welcome!! Slowly I'm working... Today I glued the skunk stripes Here you can see how I work on the skunk stripe in order to let it fit the truss rod Clamping The TR is glued with epoxy, skunk stripe with Titebond I also start working an the MOP custom inlay for the "Mio": I glue the MOP on Rosewwod, I cut a circle with a hole saw and I filled with epoxy and Rosewood dust. This is inlay design Edited December 16, 2017 by Matteo Marziali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 (edited) If you can produce builds close to your mockups... and you haven't hit any other snags or issues like resonance etc .. I'd say you aren't an amateur..or will stay one for very long. The proof is in the finished product of course, but I'd think you'd have to have...or may well have, serious furniture making skills. Good luck Edited December 20, 2015 by JTUK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rk7 Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Welcome! Following this thread with interest, RK7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblueplanet Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 These look like they will be awesome instruments. Can't wait! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 The plans look great, and so far things seem very promising. Keep at it, and if you can post loads of pics and details (or as much as you want to). As you know, measure twice, then check everything again - then cut - and you should be grand. Wood if funny stuff so there's never a guarantee it'll work as well as hoped - but given the progress so far I am confident you'll have a pair of very elegant musical tools at the end of all your hard work. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roman_sub Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 the designs look great, looking forward them coming to life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteo Marziali Posted February 15, 2016 Author Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) @JTUK I hope my builds will look better than mockups! Ahahah Seriously I think to get enough close, but as I’m not building replicas I have some freedom... I started to build instruments 5 years ago, I built 7 basses and 2 guitars, and all this instruments currently works But honestly I didn't have any furniture making skills, and I'm still not able to make forniture! A friend ( an ex violin maker) taught me how to use hand planer, chisels, scraper and how to sand the wood (he also gave me the [/size][/font]carpenter's table and some chisels!) and a guitar maker taught me how to do fretjob. I learned all the other things watching Carl Thompson videos on YouTube (I spent entire nights watching..) and in various forums. I did all the fretboard inlays, I was at the first attempt with inlays, the block was not so difficult, instead the custom inlay was a real PITA! and radiusing deleted a part of it so I had to replace the missing parts... Block inlay pics: This Paua Abalone is really awesome! After this pic a glued the blocks with Epoxy and Rosewood dust, then I glued Ebony bindings on the fretboard and then I glued it on the neck. Custom inlay pics: This is how it looks like before radiusing... it was almost perfect!... And here how I restored it: This is the extension to allow the use of long scale strings in this medium scale bass. Now I need to remove some Padouk binding, because for my customer it's too thick, I will route away the side of the neck and apply a Wenge binding under the Padouk And here both the necks with the fretboard on: Edited December 16, 2017 by Matteo Marziali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 That abalone looks gorgeous! Incredible colour! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Looking really nice so far. Everybody makes mistakes - the trick is recovering from them. When the neck is together, with frets and the rest - It'll be near perfect I'll wager. With the strings on it'll be invisible, even up close! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastav Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Looks great! Very inspirational Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cloud Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Superb stuff! Loving this thread.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 The bound neck looks great... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 Very impressive stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteo Marziali Posted September 4, 2016 Author Share Posted September 4, 2016 (edited) I have not posted updates here for many months. Both basses are finished. I will show you some pics of the building, first the "Traditional". This is the Ash body glued and routed, front and back I glued a black veneer on the back and added the magnets for the back control plate Here how I cut the back control plate from the Maple Making space for the magnets I glued the back Maple wing using the back control plate to find the exact position Ready to route the extra long neck pocket The bass with the neck on (not glued) and the back too. The back control plate is pretty good As you can see I had to enlarge the holes for the magnets to find the exact alignment, it's not so beauty, but I will cover with copper foil. Curly Maple back Epoxy with photoluminescent pigment The Buckeye Burl filled with epoxy and the headstock My new logo The top on the body with some hardware Edited December 16, 2017 by Matteo Marziali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.jpg.7e18f76540598a8efc0e6ca9be453059.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.