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Posted

Just finished the build of a new bass.
It is a hybrid of a Gibson EB-0 (Les Paul Junior Double Cut) and a MusicMan Stingray.
The shape of the body and headstock are the Gibson ingredient. The scale (34"), the pickup and the bridge are the MusicMan ingredient.

Hence the name
[B]Brooks EB-MM-Q [/B]
(The Q is for Quilt)

- Mahogany body
- Bookmatched quilted maple top
- Mahogany set neck. Glued in
- Transparent black stain on top
- High gloss finish on top and headstock face
- Solid matte black on back of body and neck
- Pearloid binding
- Ebony fretboard with m.o.p. dots
- Aluminium circle 12th position marker
- Jumbo frets
- 34" scale
- Buffalo horn nut
- Guyker MM style bridge
- Spokewheel double action trussrod
- Lace MM style man o war humbucker
- Hipshot Ultralite tuners plus Bass-extender
- CTS pot Volume  Push Pull
- CTS pot Tone
- PureTone jack output
- Dunlop StrapLocks
- D'Addario Chrome Flatwound strings 50-105
- 3.75 kg


brooks-eb-mm-q-full-front-1500_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-body-front-1500_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-headstock-side-1500_orig.


brooks-eb-mm-q-headstock-back-1500_orig.


brooks-eb-mm-q-full-back-1500_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-body-side-1500_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-controls-1500_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-upper-horn-1500_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-bridge-1500_orig.jpg

 


I'll post pics of the build process in separate posts below.

  • Like 7
Posted

I asked my wood supplier to make a body blank of two nice slabs of Khaya (mahogany)

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-body-blank_orig.jpg

 


And a neck blank of three pieces of the same Khaya. 

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-neck-blank_orig.jpg

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-mahogany-neck-blank_orig.

 


I routed the trussrod channel.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-routing-truss-rod-channel

 

 

And chiseled the spokewheel part

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-truss-rod-channel_orig.jp

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-truss-rod-channe_orig.jpg

 

 

Cut the headstock angle with the band saw. And planed it nice and smooth

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-headstock-angle_orig.jpg

 

  • Like 2
Posted

Ordered a pre-radiused ebony fretboard at Holz Faszination in Germany.
And drilled the holes for the potion markers.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-drilling-inlay-holes_orig

 


Glued the markers in and sanded everything flush with the 16" radius beam

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-fretboard-inlays_orig.jpg

 

 

Hammered the frets in

 

brooks-pb-2-frets-hammered-in_orig.jpeg

 

 

Before I glued the fretboard on, I closed up the part where the spokewheel part lies deeper. Maybe it's nonsense, but I think it's neater to have a bit more wood in that place 😉

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-trussrod-slot_orig.jpg

 

 

Glued the fretboard on. As you can see I roughly shaped the outline of the neck prior to that.
The rubber strips of inner bicycle tube pull the fretboard and neck nicely together.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-glueing-fretboard-on_orig

 

 

Let it dry overnight. And then took to cleaning up the sides and shaping the neck profile.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-shaping-the-neck-profile_

 

When the sides were all cleaned up nicely I drilled the holes for the side markers.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-making-side-markers_orig.

 


And glued the side markers in

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-12th-side-marker_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-shaping-heel_orig.jpg

 

  • Like 2
Posted

Worked on the headstock shape a bit...

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-shaping-headstock_orig.jp

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-shaping-volute_orig.jpg

 


...And the neck profile some more.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-shaping-the-neck-profile2

 

 

Then moved on to the body.
First I drilled some holes with a forstner bit to make it a bit lighter

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-weight-relief_orig.jpg

 

 

Routed the controls cavity

brooks-eb-mm-q-routing-controls-cavity_o

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-ready-for-glue-up_orig.jp

 

 

Glued the bookmatched set up quilted maple on top

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-top-glued-on_orig.jpg

 


And routed the outline shape along a template.
This time I tried a different method by not cutting out a rough outline first.
I just routed along the template straight into the slab.
This way I hoped to reduce the risk of router tear out. Which in this case did work. But the downside is that the router bit get dull sooner (I guess)


brooks-eb-mm-q-routing-body-outline_orig

 


brooks-eb-mm-q-body-wet_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-body-outline-ready-back_o

 

  • Like 2
Posted

Routed the profile for the controls cover

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-routed-controls-cover-pro


brooks-eb-mm-q-controls-cover-profile_or

 


Later on I decided to widen the controls cavity a bit more, to create some more room for soldering.
I have no pics of that (sorry)

Then routed the channel for the binding

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-routed-binding-channel_or

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-ready-for-binding_orig.jp

 


Glued the binding in, using acetone instead of glue. Because I was going to stain the top I did not want to risk any glue on the top. Acetone just softens the binding and makes it stick to the wood by itself.

I used the same rubber strips of bicycle tubes for the clamping.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-binding-glued-in_orig.jpg

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-binding-close_orig.jpg

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-binding-close2_orig.jpg

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-binding-done_orig.jpg

 

  • Like 2
Posted

Drilled the holes for the machine heads in the headstock

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-tuner-holes-drilled_orig.

 


Routed the neck pocket

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-neck-pocket-routed_orig.j

 


Shaped the heel

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-neck-poet-and-heel_orig.j

 


Checked the alignment of the neck, before I glued it in

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-fitting-the-neck_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-lining-the-neck_orig.jpg

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-glueing-the-neck_orig.jpg

 


Drilled the holes for the bridge


brooks-eb-mm-q-drilling-bridge-studs_ori


brooks-eb-mm-q-drilling-bridge-studs2_or

 


Made a template for the pickup cavity. And routed it.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-routing-pickup-cavity_ori

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-pickup-routing_orig.jpg

 

  • Like 2
Posted

Test fitted the pickup and the Guyker two point bridge with separate tailpiece that I originally had planned to install.

 

brooks-eb-mm-qpickup-and-bridge_orig.jpg

 


Only to find out I did not like how that combination looked.
Plus the guy who commissioned the build came by with a Rickenbacker he had acquired recently and he told me he wasn't too fond of its narrow string spacing. Which was the same as the string spacing of the Guyker two point (18mm).

So I decided to order a MusicMan style bridge as an alternative. And see how that would fit.
This one has a 19mm string spacing.

In my opinion it suits the bass very well. Especially in combination with the Lace MusicMan style humbucker.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-mm-bridge_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-mm-bridge-alignment_orig.

 


The only problem was I had already glued in the neck. With the angle set for the Guyker two point bridge.
And the bridge post holes already drilled...

I was going to have to plug the holes. And redrill them, with a different (narrower) spacing.

Plus I had to gain some extra height, since the MM style bridge is a fraction lower than the two point bridge.
So I made an extra bridge plate out of a plate of brass. And sprayed it matte black to match the Guyker MM style bridge.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-bridge-plate_orig.jpg

 

  • Like 2
Posted

The bridge "problem" was solved.

Before I did the staining, I sanded a little curved at the end of the fretboard

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-mm-fretboard-edge_orig.jp

 


Then stained the whole bass black.
It really made the quilted pattern pop.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-mm-stained-top_orig.jpg

 

 


Drilled the potentiometer holes

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-mm-drilling-controls-hole

 


Built up quite a few laters of clear. And sanded in between.
Then applied the decals to the headstock.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-mm-logo-decal_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-mm-logo-decals2_orig.jpg

 


When everything was perfectly flat and well sanded I  spayed the back of the body, the sides and the neck a matte black. And the some layers of transparent matte.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-mm-matte-back-body_orig.j

 


Applied the serial number

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-mm-matte-back-sn_orig.jpg

 

 

And then mounted all the hardware.
Put some old strings on for a little test drive.
Took care of Intonation, Action, tweaked the Hipshot Bass extender.

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-almost-ready_orig.jpg


brooks-eb-mm-q-test-strings_orig.jpg

 

 

And then put the new set of d'Addario Chrome flatwounds on (per request of my customer)

 

brooks-eb-mm-q-full-front-1500_orig.jpg

 

 

I'll make a demo video after the weekend

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