Rather tasty looking, Dusty Hill style.

[weepaul]

Got a little ZZ top vibe off this.

 

Custom Explorer Firebird Bass Guitar (unique) | eBay

 

May be up some ones line of work.

[Happy Jack]

Loving the break angle at the nut for the G-string ... what could possibly go wrong?

 

[Waddo Soqable]

2 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Loving the break angle at the nut for the G-string ... what could possibly go wrong?

 

Wants a jubilee clip round it jus' to be sure !

 

They'll be lucky at the starting price they've put on it.. Plus the postage is taking the p!ss somewhat

[dyerseve]

19 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Loving the break angle at the nut for the G-string ... what could possibly go wrong?

 

Considering the nut is brass and is cut to match the break angle, actually nothing could go wrong.

[Rich]

Actually... I really like that. I've always had a massive soft spot for Explorer-shape basses.

[Bassassin]

That's a stunner, looks like superb craftsmanship. Looks in great condition - component choice (Schaller bridge & tuners) suggest it's not particularly new, possibly 80s. It would be good to have back views so you could see the construction.

 

Style-wise not to my taste, but it's beautifully done.

[PlungerModerno]

On 16/08/2021 at 07:43, dyerseve said:

Considering the nut is brass and is cut to match the break angle, actually nothing could go wrong.

I'm pretty sure that even if the slot is perfectly smooth and deburred, and has enough room for the string to sit properly at the bottom of the slot, the sharpness of that change of angle where the string meets the nut (in two planes simultaneously!) has potential to cause issues. If you strung it in reverse you might have issues bending a thicker string that much in a tiny radius, and as it is I can see a dramatically increased chance of binding, even with smooth rounds or flats, compared to a much gentler angle.

 

The irony is the bridge, with little changes in angles, appears to have roller saddles (for string spacing adjustment I presume) while the nut has plain slots. A normal roller nut probably wouldn't work by itself, you might need to have bearings in two directions, like a bandsaw blade:

You might need a custom angled roller, or a standard roller and a custom roller string tree, rotated 90 degrees.

My suggestion would be to use a standard nut, cut normally, then run the strings around a very smooth string tree or trees you've angled or machined to the desired angles with very gentle transitions.

 

Or you could get creative!

Spoiler

https://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/5313

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/peterstewartwarmington/LP Project/rollerplateside.jpg~original

 

EDIT: Lol I forgot to mention that other than some damaged laquer, that bass is glorious in it's wood and in it's over the top looks.

I do think it would be even nicer with contrasting wooden binding, or maybe a 4002 style checkerboard or some other jazzy pattern if it has to be plastic.

Edited August 17, 2021 by PlungerModerno

[tauzero]

The headstock mirrors the body angle beautifully. The best way to have approached the break angle issue (sadly no longer available) would have been to shift it all upwards[1], so the break angle to the E string was in the opposite direction to what it actually is and the break angle to the G is reduced.

 

[1] Or, depending on your perspective, leftwards

[PlungerModerno]

5 hours ago, tauzero said:

The headstock mirrors the body angle beautifully. The best way to have approached the break angle issue (sadly no longer available) would have been to shift it all upwards[1], so the break angle to the E string was in the opposite direction to what it actually is and the break angle to the G is reduced.

 

[1] Or, depending on your perspective, leftwards

I think if you insist on wrapping the strings the same way around all the posts, so you can use 4 of the same kind of tuner (without weird partial reverse tuning lol!) you're spot on with the geometry, like the below:

Spoiler

from https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/hamer-blitz-school-explorer-bass-made-26761601

 

I think the mixing of wrap directions is definitely a less elegant looking arrangement, if you look at some Bass Collection or Fodera, as well as I think a few others you can see the effect they have, definitely not to everybodies taste!

[Stub Mandrel]

I suspect that issues with the nut might not be as bass as they look.

 

Very tasty.

[BreadBin]

If I wasn't totally strapped right now I would definitely have that!

[BigRedX]

21 hours ago, PlungerModerno said:

I'm pretty sure that even if the slot is perfectly smooth and deburred, and has enough room for the string to sit properly at the bottom of the slot, the sharpness of that change of angle where the string meets the nut (in two planes simultaneously!) has potential to cause issues.

 

The string break angle is still in a single plane - just not one that is perpendicular to any of the sides of the nut (you have to stop thinking in 2D and think in 3D). The witness point for the nut is not on the "bottom" of the slot as with a straight string pull.

 

Of course that angle is still a bit too extreme even if it was rotated round to be in the standard plane for a string string pull.

[Stub Mandrel]

10 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

The string break angle is still in a single plane - just not one that is perpendicular to any of the sides of the nut (you have to stop thinking in 2D and think in 3D). The witness point for the nut is not on the "bottom" of the slot as with a straight string pull.

 

Of course that angle is still a bit too extreme even if it was rotated round to be in the standard plane for a string string pull.

 

I agree. Probably not much more extreme than many Gibsons.

 

 

 

[PlungerModerno]

42 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I suspect that issues with the nut might not be as bass as they look.

 

Very tasty.

 

I'd say you're right, looks like the slot is good and deep to stop pop outs, and the angle is hardly a 90 degree bend on a knife edge. maybe double the average angle but not that extreme.

 

19 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

The string break angle is still in a single plane - just not one that is perpendicular to any of the sides of the nut (you have to stop thinking in 2D and think in 3D). The witness point for the nut is not on the "bottom" of the slot as with a straight string pull.

 

Of course that angle is still a bit too extreme even if it was rotated round to be in the standard plane for a string string pull.

 

I stand corrected! Thanks for that, I guess it's in a single vertical plane (if the bass is lying on the ground like in the pics), but instead of just being in a plane parallel (co-planar?) to the basses centreline like most 4 in line headstocks it's rotated with the center of rotation at the start of the nut where the angle changes.

 

The witness point is on the "bottom" of the slot, because the strings go down and sideways, so the witness point is also on the side of the nut slot. You could argue it's somewhere between the side and the bottom, if it's a single point of contact but I think it's less like precision machining (pardon the pun) and more like tying off rope so there are no weak points or snags.

[prowla]

The angle is rather sharp.

But it had me thinking of Chris Glenn's.