JackLondon Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 (edited) Hi, Some time ago I started chatting to Jon from Simnett Guitars about building a 6-string bass for me and over the last couple of weeks we've been goin through all the details. Here are the specs : Body: American Cherry body wood Redwood Lace Burl top, with matching headstock veneers Thin black veneer line between top and body wood, headstock, Macassar Ebony fretboard American Cherry control cover Red dye Oil/wax finish Neck: Sapele centre, Black Walnut Outside and Ebony Laminates in between 24 frets - Medium Frets Dual action truss rod Carbon fibre rods Custom Ebony inlay at end of neck Graphite nut Stainless steel side dots Oil/wax finish Electronics/Hardware: Nordstrand pickups x2 Hipshot type A bridge, Black Alloy with 19mm spacing Hipshot Ultralite tuners, Black Aguilar OBP-3TK pre-amp with Mid-Frequency switch and Passive/Active switch Black Knobs This will turn out to be one heel of a beauty and below you can see below some pics of the general body designs, and the woods bought so far. [attachment=22240:redwood1.jpg][attachment=22239:ebony1.jpg][attachment=22241:Body_design.jpg] Edited April 5, 2010 by JackLondon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Thats gonna be sweet, apart from having too many strings of course Never heard of Simnett guitars so fair play for going for something different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackLondon Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='bass_ferret' post='438009' date='Mar 18 2009, 08:45 AM']Thats gonna be sweet, apart from having too many strings of course Never heard of Simnett guitars so fair play for going for something different.[/quote] No trying to say it in the wrong way but I don't like the ''bigger'' builders out there so I went with Jon as his work is very impressive. Here's a link to one of Jon's builds [url="http://simnettguitars.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1179.0"]http://simnettguitars.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1179.0[/url] To say it absolutely amazing would be an uderstatement Cheers Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Hmm. I cant be arsed to register for a forum I am never going to use so I'll take your word for it. Seems to me his web presence could be improved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackLondon Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 One of his basses : [attachment=22249:1.jpg] Cheers Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='JackLondon' post='438072' date='Mar 18 2009, 10:07 AM']One of his basses : [attachment=22249:1.jpg] Cheers Jack[/quote] Aye. Saw that when I stumbled into his photo hosting on Flickr. Nice woodwork and a proper cap, not a veneer so you keep the wood with a forearm champher but those pickups look horrible - IMO of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='bass_ferret' post='438078' date='Mar 18 2009, 10:14 AM']Aye. Saw that when I stumbled into his photo hosting on Flickr. Nice woodwork and a proper cap, not a veneer so you keep the wood with a forearm champher but f*** me those pickups look horrible - IMO of course[/quote] I was glad to see someone else using an MM/J configuration - not just me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simo Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='bass_ferret' post='438067' date='Mar 18 2009, 10:01 AM']Hmm. I cant be arsed to register for a forum I am never going to use so I'll take your word for it. Seems to me his web presence could be improved [/quote] Ahh sorry, I hadn't realised the forum settings weren't allowing guests to view that section, it should be working now.....Cheers, Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='bass_ferret' post='438078' date='Mar 18 2009, 10:14 AM']Aye. Saw that when I stumbled into his photo hosting on Flickr. Nice woodwork and a proper cap, not a veneer so you keep the wood with a forearm champher but those pickups look horrible - IMO of course[/quote] Yeah, the pickups = FAIL. Wrong way round for a start... and visually... well, ugh. IMO of course. Quite pleasant woodwork though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey R Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 (edited) Simo does some really nice features on his instruments, like the recessed tuner holes I know its not entirely novel, but its really well executed and just raises the headstock to another level. I like how the accent veneers are just visible through the recesses - a nice touch. EDIT: Simo. your mp3 recordings arent working any more - [url="http://www.simnettguitars.com/01%20Wings.mp3"]http://www.simnettguitars.com/01%20Wings.mp3[/url] doesnt work Edited March 18, 2009 by Mikey R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackLondon Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='EBS_freak' post='438148' date='Mar 18 2009, 11:41 AM']Yeah, the pickups = FAIL. Wrong way round for a start... and visually... well, ugh. IMO of course. Quite pleasant woodwork though.[/quote] Might be wrong way around but sounds the very proper way around IMO. As for the exposed pickup poles, they look good because the don't look like every other bass pickups IMO. Cheers Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='JackLondon' post='438170' date='Mar 18 2009, 12:12 PM']Might be wrong way around but sounds the very proper way around IMO.[/quote] If that's what you like, then cool. Nothing wrong with being different. [quote]As for the exposed pickup poles, they look good because the don't look like every other bass pickups IMO.[/quote] Apart from umm... Delano for one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh3184 Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 I quite liked it and I think the recessed tuners look awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote name='josh3184' post='438471' date='Mar 18 2009, 05:10 PM']I quite liked it and I think the recessed tuners look awesome![/quote] But why? Is it a solution to a problem that does not exist? And I still think the pups suck visually - does that compensate for the recessed tuners? If the pups had been the same width and the same poles it would look OK but it just looks wrong. But then if thats what the customer wanted you cant criticise the builder, apart from not trying hard enough to talk them out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh3184 Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 its not a problem but visually its quite nice. Its just the design, never said I subscribe to any technical reason he did it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Yes it does look nice - in a close up of the head. Not sure if anyone else would notice It may be a solution if you did not want to angle the head back and not use string trees. Might work on a Fender style head without trees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh3184 Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 hmm good point... I'd be worried about knocking a tuner and it coming straight out the bottom with a thin disc of headstock wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simo Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote name='bass_ferret' post='438841' date='Mar 19 2009, 01:04 AM']But why? Is it a solution to a problem that does not exist? And I still think the pups suck visually - does that compensate for the recessed tuners? If the pups had been the same width and the same poles it would look OK but it just looks wrong. But then if thats what the customer wanted you cant criticise the builder, apart from not trying hard enough to talk them out of it.[/quote] In fact, the recessed tuners do serve a purpose other than looks.... As you can see, the headstock has thick Maple veneers on the front and back of the headstock, along with some thin black veneer in between. Using the veneers means that the headstock wood itself must be planed down to be able to get to the required thickness to fit the tuners. So, rather than having a very thin amount of neck wood (and therefore a smaller gluing area on the scarf joint) I prefer to leave the headstock nice and thick and recess the tuners instead. Not only does it look good (in my opinion of course ) it makes for a very strong headstock. I realise that the pickups might not be everyone's cup of tea (I prefer the look of a nice slim soapbar pickup myself) but it was what the customer wanted. Although they might look the 'wrong way around' to some people, it actually works really well, and provides a surprisingly wide range of tones from such a simple setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote name='Simo' post='439012' date='Mar 19 2009, 10:43 AM']In fact, the recessed tuners do serve a purpose other than looks.... As you can see, the headstock has thick Maple veneers on the front and back of the headstock, along with some thin black veneer in between. Using the veneers means that the headstock wood itself must be planed down to be able to get to the required thickness to fit the tuners. So, rather than having a very thin amount of neck wood (and therefore a smaller gluing area on the scarf joint) I prefer to leave the headstock nice and thick and recess the tuners instead. Not only does it look good (in my opinion of course ) it makes for a very strong headstock. I realise that the pickups might not be everyone's cup of tea (I prefer the look of a nice slim soapbar pickup myself) but it was what the customer wanted. Although they might look the 'wrong way around' to some people, it actually works really well, and provides a surprisingly wide range of tones from such a simple setup. [/quote] I came to the same conclusion regarding the recessed tuners when I thought about it a bit more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wotnwhy Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 your basses look top quality Simo, i'm suprised i haven't happened accross you before! and welcome to the forum Jack, your bass sounds terrific! i remember the excitement i felt when my dream bass started to come to fuition, over 4 years later and i still get that same feeling every time i pick it up! enjoy it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackLondon Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share Posted March 19, 2009 As Simo's inbox can confirm I am very excited about it and probably won't stop playing it for couple of days as soon as I'll get it And yes Simo's work looks very impressive, especially when you follow his builds it just shows the amount of dedication and attention to detail and that's what wins him over other builder out there. For me of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey R Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 [quote name='JackLondon' post='439047' date='Mar 19 2009, 11:23 AM']As Simo's inbox can confirm I am very excited about it and probably won't stop playing it for couple of days as soon as I'll get it [/quote] Do you have an estimated delivery date yet? Or still in planning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackLondon Posted March 20, 2009 Author Share Posted March 20, 2009 [quote name='Mikey R' post='440309' date='Mar 20 2009, 02:24 PM']Do you have an estimated delivery date yet? Or still in planning?[/quote] Delivery estimate is between 3-4 months and the work has begun Here's some pics : MDF template for the body [attachment=22422:template.jpg] Nice picture of the wood [attachment=22423:redwood2.jpg] Top being glued up [attachment=22424:glueup.jpg] More updates to follow Cheers Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackLondon Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 (edited) The clamps have been taken off, wood has been sanded a bit and here's how it looks [attachment=22466:topgluedsand.jpg] Edited March 22, 2009 by JackLondon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velvetkevorkian Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 That's going to be cool. I really like the shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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