claustra Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 (edited) Hi all, First custom order for me. (from a luthier in Northern france) I'll try to make a brief description of what I have tried over the years and what I am looking for. I have had only one bass bought new back in 1996 : an Ibanez ATK300, and tried a fair number of second hand instruments, from the cheap old Japanese marvels to the modern and dull American Fender (am I biased ?). From this I have gathered things that prove to work for me : - Lightweight is not necessarily a quality - Ash body and maple fingerboard really sing - Those woods when figured look good - Hipshot lightweight tuners and A style bridge are excellent (from @TheGreek's Overwater custom jazzbass with all the qualities above) - A Precision pick-up is all I need. Passive. - ...but the neck pickup on a vintage Rickenbacker sounds really superb I have turned 40 and decided to thin down the herd and spend a freaky amount of money on a bass that will try to gather those things I like. An Atelier Z , a 78 Precision (of which I want to compare the sound with the bass to come before it leaves) and maybe another Yamaha BB should soon be on the marketplace. It will look like this : Specs : Flamed maple neck with natural pearl block inlays, 21 frets, 6 bolts, 41mm at nut Flamed ash (never seen this before, and the guy has a whole French flamed ash tree drying in his workshop) : looks really good Natural satin finish Benedetti pickups : Vintage P Splittable double-jazz humbucker, Alnico II, on the 24th fret 2 volume, 1 tone and split on the neck pickup Black Hipshot hardware The guy has started already, and first pics will follow shortly. Edited July 4, 2019 by claustra typo 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claustra Posted July 4, 2019 Author Share Posted July 4, 2019 The fretboard (cut from the same maple board as the neck) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claustra Posted July 4, 2019 Author Share Posted July 4, 2019 Body : figured ash (never seen such flame on ash before) 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 Beautiful piece of ash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 😱 WOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b7l4s Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 (edited) Nice! What finish are you going for? Doh! I see you did include that - I swear I read it before posting... it's going to look lovely 🙂 Edited July 5, 2019 by b7l4s Being an idiot! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claustra Posted July 5, 2019 Author Share Posted July 5, 2019 @b7l4s Regarding the finish, I am hesitating between tainting the wood pores of the ash with walnut coloured filler to enhance the contrast or keeping it natural. I have a couple of days left to set up my mind before the finishing work starts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b7l4s Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 Difficult decision... if it were mine I would probably go for a coloured stain, but natural is probably a classier choice. That grain though - hard to not go for the enhanced option. I envy you for the bass, but not the decision! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dem Jolie-blues Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 Hi, so why aren't you fitting a Rick pickup in the neck position then ?, but it has great potential , be watching this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claustra Posted July 5, 2019 Author Share Posted July 5, 2019 (edited) @Dem Jolie-blues actually Rick spare pickups are not that easy to find. First I wanted to fit a Nordenbocker, but they are delivered without the frame, and meant to fit in a Rick neck pick-up frame . I had a look at TV Jones and Roswell pickups but never had a chance to hear them. I also was aiming at a Lindy Fralin Precision pickup to get close to that 70s p sound I like. Then, there would have been chances that the output levels might have been quite different. Benedetti does everything on demand, and a short discussion lead me towards other tonal possibilities with the splitable double J, and keeping it in the position of a Rick neck pickup. Benedetti will exchange your pickup and make others if the sound does not fit your needs, This helped me make this decision rather than buying a 200$ pickup having heard it on youtube only !! I've had a 70s Japanese P bass with a Dimarzio pickup that was far too fat for me and made me think twice before fitting unknown pickups in this project. Edited July 8, 2019 by claustra 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dem Jolie-blues Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 ok, sounds like a plan. i have Lindy Fraline 5-percent overwounds in my jazz, but yes, deliberately mismatching the pups could be an interesting issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si600 Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 I certainly wouldn't write P-Rick on the headstock... 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claustra Posted July 5, 2019 Author Share Posted July 5, 2019 15 minutes ago, Si600 said: I certainly wouldn't write P-Rick on the headstock... Cheesy, heh ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Wishbone Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 Anyone else immediately think of this when they saw the title of this thread? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 1 hour ago, Si600 said: I certainly wouldn't write P-Rick on the headstock... I can’t believe my usually smutty brain missed that golden opportunity!!!! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claustra Posted July 5, 2019 Author Share Posted July 5, 2019 24 minutes ago, Johnny Wishbone said: Anyone else immediately think of this when they saw the title of this thread? A pun worth the investment I was seriously considering having that written on the headstock, but as much as I am aware that luthier built instruments don't sell well, this inscription would mean I would have to keep the bass until the end. 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 7 hours ago, claustra said: @b7l4s Regarding the finish, I am hesitating between tainting the wood pores of the ash with walnut coloured filler to enhance the contrast or keeping it natural. I have a couple of days left to set up my mind before the finishing work starts. Honestly, when a piece of wood is that pretty why do anything other than keep it natural? I love coloured grain filling but I couldn't do it on a piece of wood like that 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 4 minutes ago, Christine said: Honestly, when a piece of wood is that pretty why do anything other than keep it natural? I love coloured grain filling but I couldn't do it on a piece of wood like that This. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durhamboy Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Looks like an interesting build, love the ash by the way, maybe before you decide on stain or not just wet the wood and see how that grain looks, I reckon it will really 'pop' just natural. Stains are great, but they can dumb down some of the timbers natural highlights and subtitles a little. But then I'm a bit of a natural wood fan, so I'm probably biased... Either way it should look pretty special. Your choice of pickups and placements has my interest too, especially as I have been thinking of putting a Bart B-Axis jazz pickup I have laying around, at the 24 fret position ahead of a P in the standard mid spot. This is going to be an interesting build. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claustra Posted July 8, 2019 Author Share Posted July 8, 2019 It will be natural. We did wet the wood a little last time, and the grain does get a deeper brown / orangey colour indeed. I won't take the risk of having too much contrast, like this : 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 (edited) Have you thought of spraying with something like a water based acrylic lacquer? It will preserve the pale colour of the wood with minimal yellowing over the years rather than nitro, poly or any oils Edited July 8, 2019 by Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claustra Posted July 8, 2019 Author Share Posted July 8, 2019 @Christine I'll have a visit at the workshop in a couple of days to see the evolutions and will check what type of satin lacquer he will be using. Yellowing over the years is not an issue to me, I like the idea in fact, naturally yellowed lacquer looks far better than most new tainted finish I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 Cool. Who is the Luthier ? (I'm in Northern France too, interested 🙂 ) I like that there's a fair amount of Billy Sheehan in this 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claustra Posted July 8, 2019 Author Share Posted July 8, 2019 I didn't want to tell his name straight ahead : I'm not getting any discount for publicity and he does not know about this thread here. That's Richard Baudry, he trained with Leduc bass luthier before starting his business, now likes to work on acoustic guitars and has some really nice stock of woods you can browse and choose from. The Yamaha attitude is another inspiration for sure ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 I know him through his reputation. Good choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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