Alpha-Dave Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 (edited) Hi Folks, Right, a new build diary here! I found that having 1 ACG isn't enough, so I'm getting a second built! This will be a 6-stringer to the 'Skelf Single-Cut' design with a set-neck, also being headless and having a ramp. This is the gist of the overall shape (without the ramp, and the neck-laminations should be seen between the fretboard and the neck p'up, and the tuners will be within the body outline, and there will be a scoop cut from under to be able to tune). I'm having a quilted Redwood front and back, a white-limba body core (with black contrast veneers), and bubinga/sycamore laminate neck and a flame/spalted maple finger board. The ramp will be cut from the same wood as the fingerboard. Of course I'll be having the ACG/East filter-pre. The scale length is yet to be decided, but it's mostly there. Redwood (body shapes are for illustration purposes only): Top: Back: As above, but wet: Top: Back: Body: white limba Neck laminations: Figured Bubunga: Flame sycamore: Fretboard (nice eh!) This is going to be great! Thanks, David. ---------------------------------------------------- Edited October 3, 2007 by Alpha-Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 Well, thank you to both Alan and Sugden for sorting out a render! This is how it should look, the major things to note being that the tuners are well within the lines of the body and they have a rout under them so you can get your fingers in to tune, and the p'ups will be covered in the ramp too! ------------------------------------------------ Here is a general update, the neck blank made from quilt bubinga and Ebony: it'll have an oil finish, so will have a lovely feel to it! ----------------------------------------------- Small update, We've finally decided on how to cut the fingerboard (thank you to all who voted): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 (edited) First update for the new site: the body! Edited May 21, 2007 by Alpha-Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreeneKing Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Dave It's good to see you circulating Alan's excellent work on Basschat. Spreading the gospel One day we'll all be worshipping (oops I mean playing) ACG's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 Honestly I'd prefer not, I think it'd be less fun if Alan became as big as Warwick. Perhaps the next Jens Ritter? If I win (or played) the Lottery, I'd like to see what Alan could make me for £50,000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velvetkevorkian Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 God damn that's going to be a nice bass. I really am going to have to save my pennies and hop on a bus to Moffat one of these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poptart Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Dave That is looking way too cool - I hope you are going to paint that top it looks redicolous Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 That's a silly idea, I need some textured wood grain for the stickers to adhere to! Just remembered I had some questions on your Skjold so I'll head there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugden Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Arr woo i got top wood layout right for the render. Thats coming together really well love the way its turning out. Mind me asking about the ramp. I was quite tempted to ask for a ramp with my fretless as playing a few fretless's with ramps it felt really nice. How come you have gone for a ramp that covers both pickups, and not just in between? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I get the feeling this is going to be the nicest bass yet! What a stunning fingerboard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted May 22, 2007 Author Share Posted May 22, 2007 CK: I hope so! I've only seen a couple of quilt red wood tops, but I think they look better than red-dyed maple because of the extra vertical grain pattern Sugden: This way the ramp and the p'ups will all be the same surface, so I won't feel any edges. Plus this way the p'up tops will be curved to match the fingerboard (I think I went for a 24" radius or something so it's pretty darn flat, but it means there won't be a difference between them anyway. Also the most useful part of a ramp is over the neck p'up or even towards the neck (we couldn't put a ramp there because of the truss-rod adjuster), so only having it between the p'ups is quite far back. The last major reason is to increase the woody goodness of the bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassmonster Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 nice!, loving that top! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 [quote name='Alpha-Dave' post='4232' date='May 22 2007, 11:43 AM']CK: I hope so! I've only seen a couple of quilt red wood tops, but I think they look better than red-dyed maple because of the extra vertical grain pattern [/quote] I have some lovely quilted and burl redwood I've been keeping at home which ended up being loads cheaper than maple to buy too. Its a very soft wood so it might need a tough finish to stop nail marks and the like from showing. The Fodera AJ basses and MTD basses sometimes have quilted redwood tops. Your selected neck laminates are very similar to Smith's so I'm really looking forward to hearing how it compares! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted May 22, 2007 Author Share Posted May 22, 2007 I thought you sold that piece of redwood you had? It certainly is soft: Alan and I looked at it when it first arrived, and were considering going for an oil finish but you could make dents in it with just your nail, so he's going to pore fill with a hard coating as deep as possible. As the top of the ramp is red-wood too he's filling that with a thick coating too so that it doesn't wear through too quickly. This is the kind of glassy finish we're aiming for on this Nordstrand: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 [quote name='Alpha-Dave' post='4293' date='May 22 2007, 01:18 PM']I thought you sold that piece of redwood you had?[/quote] I sold ONE of the pieces I have two others which were much nicer. One bit has a very coarse quilt figure, and its very dry and light. The other bit was sopping wet when I bought it and was very heavy so I've been letting it dry out for the last 2 years. It has a very distinctive birdseye/burl/quilted figure to it. I showed it to Rob Green last year - since then he only remembers me when he remembers the wood. [quote name='Alpha-Dave' post='4293' date='May 22 2007, 01:18 PM']he's going to pore fill with a hard coating as deep as possible.[/quote] That nord finish looks like a great combination of lustre and its still got an organic quality to the sheen. Lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted May 22, 2007 Author Share Posted May 22, 2007 Ahh, that makes sense now. I do have to admit, a few months ago I was looking all over ebay and the US stores for high quality wood for basses that I could store for a while to eventually make instruments out of, but quality wood keeps croping up! I'm tempted to get this piece of burl walnut that would have been good for a single piece body, but it would weight soooo much and the shipping would be half the cost of the wood! [url="http://walnutwoods.net/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/37.27.11gcomp.jpg"]http://walnutwoods.net/Merchant2/graphics/....27.11gcomp.jpg[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Lovely piece of walnut - is it English or Claro? Sometimes good value redwood and maple can be bought direct from land owners on Ebay -some of them have old logs they've salvaged from deep rivers on their land, after the trees were cut down at the turn of the century and lost in rapids. However they don't tend to stay on Ebay for very long. The other thing is that Ebay is used as a clearing house for stuff that otherwise wouldn't make it past a lumber yard or broker inspection. Dry wood costs a load less to ship too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted May 22, 2007 Author Share Posted May 22, 2007 Claro, but as with many lovely pieces of wood, I think that one may be dificult to carve a bass out of that looked good symetrically becuase there are some cracks in it. Alse there is an issue that a lot of the best figureing would be lost under the p'ups, bridge and neck pocket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I'm sure any competent luthier would tell us that cracks and splits aren't the end of the world. Knot holes can be filled too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted May 28, 2007 Author Share Posted May 28, 2007 Update: the additional redwood for the p'up covers and ramp has arrived! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 Update: All the major bits together: body, ramp, fingerboard and neck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King of Loss Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Awesome, that is going to be one stunning bass when it is finished. By the way, I have also decided to have a bass built by Alan. I am going to visit him in August or sometime around then I think. Should be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 Excellent, good choice! It certainly is a worthwhile trip to meet the guy who is going to be making an instrument for you I've found. Are you spending some time researching more wood choices or are you pretty much set? While you're there you might get to see this one in its final stages; the guesstimate is 2 months, but we'll see ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King of Loss Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Yeah that'd be awesome, but it will probably be done and in your hands before I get there haha. Wood wise I am not sure - I am going to check all that out when I get there. I'm just unsure as to exactly what I want.....I will see what Alan says, what woods he has at the time, that kind of thing. We shall see.......but it will probably be a "warmer" core wood with a brighter top wood, and then the neck I am thinking either 5 piece maple/sycamore + ebony or 7 piece with Maple/Syc, Ebony, and walnut? We'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Holy crap Dave! That thing is awesome! Alan's builds are just getting better and better, you must be so chuffed! (must save up a deposit... must save up a deposit... must save up a deposit...) Cheers, Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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