6 string, pale moon ebony top (thanks again todd), flame maple/ebony neck, ebony fretboard, chinese "6" inlay. should be fun!

wow, sounds heavy and expensive, yet amazingly cool

I'll bet whoever is buying that is one bad ass player (and super cool guy)....

This is gonna be a great looking bass!!!

I want two of them, some french fries and a coke please. For delivery!!! :smug:

And I want you to feed me. Key is under the mat.

nice bass

Where, oh where can one find this elusive pale moon ebony?

Where, oh where can one find this elusive pale moon ebony?

Well exoticwoodbrokers (http://www.exoticwoodbrokers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=520) has some but it ani't cheap!

Most other vendors call it mun ebony, which is probably a more proper name. You can search on that, too.

Just FYI, that "Chinese 6" is written incorrectly (or sloppily, at best)- 2 of the 4 strokes are incorrect, and 1 of the remaining is marginal.

It'll look really, really bad to have that inlayed like that.

I have heard it called "black and white" ebony as well. It's relatively new to the US retail market, hard to get wide and clear. The wide stuff I have seen has been around $100/bf.

the balck and white ebony is actually from Africa. This stuff is from Asia and is much rarer (and very hard to get a big piece, esp with a book match)....Only prob is it cost me mega bucks, but what the hell...

the " pale moon ebony" can be called black and white ebony but the moniker "pale moon ebony" is more common.
it is a variety close to the mun ebony family but not mun ebony.
doisyrus .spp or diosyprus mun are different genuses.

when one refers to black and white ebony they can be referring to either but more commonly refering to african black and white
which is gaboon ebony and its juxaposed cream sapwood, which also can have a marbleing effect on the heart too, hence the black and white ebony.

when I say pale moon ebony I mean
diospyrus embryopteris
which is from LAOS and thailand
(asia minor).
a very different breed than the african black and white which is the common referral.

the "pale moon ebony" is very rare for several reasons.
one, it dries very very poorly! so the largest average pieces you see in the worlds market are pen and small spindle blanks.
finding it in large instrument sizes is about the rarest occurance in the timber trades!
its about 100x easier to find pink ivory and skakewood in larger sizes!

I cant go into prices here but matts right, because of those factors it is among the most expensive timbers in the world!

hey I do know something after all!:eek:
T

While I am absolutely grateful for that straight-forward answer, I am (understandably) disappointed. And here I was hoping a fingerboard would come under $150. Oh, well.

Having settled that, are there are other similar-looking, hard (for FBs) woods that are significantly cheaper and easier to come by?

My experience has been that fingerboards are easier to find than wide tops for the pale moon/pale mun. I was able to get a fingerboard blank for well < $150 at a lumberyard. Even at $100/bf, a fingerboard sized blank should come in at 1bf or less. What the eventual price you get from a luthier/lumber seller may come in higher depending on how much searching/processing/minimum order they have to do to find a piece that meets your requirements.... Alembic gets $300 for a macassar ebony...

Maybe marblewood will suit you just as well, though. It's very tough and much less expensive.

alembic charges $1500 for a buckeye top and another $700 for a full top!
now thats insanity.
that macc fingerboard sounds good comparitvely!

But that's just Alembic. They overcharge for everything, even Alembic t-shirts.

if you dont mind me asking how much did you spend on this bass?, its kickin by the way

New pic


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/tophorncut.jpg



Here's what the finished product will look like. (minus chinese inly and maple border around black swirl)


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/pme-21000.jpg

damn! shawns cooking on this already!
lookin Good!

Hey Todd, he just sent me this


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/horncarvesetail.jpg

New pic


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/tophorncut.jpg






That's hotter than a virgin moose knuckle. :D

:ROFL
!

ok this is pretty much the FINAL design...

You can't see the body core from this rendering (it's purple heart) and there are a few small details missing, but if all goes well I'll have this bad boy in Jan or Feb!

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/pme-31000.jpg

Got these shots today!

Thats with just two days in the shop (albeit long ones)


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/3.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/4.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/2.jpg

that's one of the sickest basses ive ever seen.

kudos. who's building it?

shawn may of may custom basses,
Novi MIchigan

Yeah, Shawn is the MF'in man!

www.maycustombasses.com

This is going to be great!!! Can't wait for more pics.

Should be getting more pics on Wednesday!

sweet

i'm back in Plymouth now, but still in MI. where people need to learn how to drive

gosh that is amazing!

that is an incredible bass...

I'm sure just half the top is gonna cost more than all of the wood on my bass!

You are a very lucky man to be treating yourself like this, hopefully one day I can get a pale moon 6er...

Greg

Here's a pic of the new fingerboard next to the wings.

Shawn is gonna do an inlay similar to what's pictured in the rendering below, but the black swirl will be thicker so that it "flows" into the headstock


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/wingsandneck.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/pme-31000.jpg

incredible...

Greg

Thanks man!

I can't tell you how much fun I'm having with this. It's my first custom, and I'm incredibly lucky to have a buddy like Shawn to build it.

Scott over at Beav's graphics and Todd from Exotic Wood Brokers have been cool as hell too.

The whole process has been great. Even though I'm dying to get the bass, I'm afraid I might go through some "design withdrawal" once I don't have it to obsess about anymore!

Good thing I can't afford another one!

yah, I've been talkin to Todd about woods, and he is a great guy, very helpful with any questions I have for him.


Haha, enough money for another one...I'd never enough money to pay for one of the body sides! You're a very lucky guy, cause the guy makin this sure has some skill.

Greg

Shawn has been building basses for about 6 years I guess.

He's still just a PT builder, but IMHO he could play with the big boys any day. Hopefully he'll hit it big one day (and I'll have one of the first models!)

btw...the model name, "Lunar Eclipse"

:bassist:

Oh yeah here's more what the final inlay will look like (I think)

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/pme-31000exswirlnlay.jpg

i heard he take's the customers deposits and buys star wars action figures off ebay.

...and LJS chicken planks...

i heard he take's the customers deposits and buys star wars action figures off ebay.

The Force is with you;)

I used to not like pale moon that much, but this thread has definately changed my mind.

can't wait to see new pics.

Greg

Here's a rendering of the front and back of the bass...The neck will prob have slightly more purple and black in it though.

:hyper:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/frontback.jpg

That's just a sick lookin bass. I can't believe how well the purpleheart and PM ebony go together!

I think the neck would be sweet lookin if you made the center stripe purpleheart instead of what you have there now, but that's just my opinion.

Can't wait til I see some progress on this thing.

Greg

What program are you using to make those pictures? They look awesome, as well as the actual bass.

I believe the talk bass member beav2k2 made them. He has his own website and charges $7 per rendering I believe. To me, it would be worth th 7 bucks.

Greg

we've decided to use more purple in the neck, basically flipping the maple and the purpleheart. this is definately going to break the back (bank?)...

Yeah this bad boy has cost me a few pennies so far, but here's the way I look at it:..........Actually don't remind me..


:bawl: :bawl:

heh, try a few thousand pennies ;)

Any progress?

Greg

No progress today. We have decided to go with more ebony in the neck so I had to order another board. When it comes in (hopefully by Thurs/Fri) all the pieces will be in place. From there on out it should be smooth sailing.

im not making any promises, but if i have enough time i would like to get the fretboard(s) glued up and possibly slotted.

i heard he take's the customers deposits and buys star wars action figures off ebay.

i heard one of his customers WAS gonna buy him a laptop.... but if its just for his sick star wars and animal pr0n fetishes... i dunno man! :D

can you believe i've never seen any of the star wars movies??? no joke...

can you believe i've never seen any of the star wars movies??? no joke...

BLASPHEMY!

Damnit Shawn, I'm kidnapping you and Force-feeding those movies! HAH! FORCE-feeding! Get it? I made a funny! Get it? The Force? HAHAHA! Hahaha! Haha.. ha..... heh...

Baaah, you're no fun...



;)

Ok, so Shawn worked up the fingerboard today..

I'm filled with glee!

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/fingerboardcut.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/gluedboard.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/slottedfingerboard.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/slottedfingerboardwithwings.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/bodyneckcloseup.jpg

Wow, this is going to be an amazing bass........

Subscribed. This is sick.

Somebody neeeds to send him a better camera :smug:

Yea. The phone ca pics are lame. He does have a dig cam, just no way to upload the pics (yet).

Email them to me and I'll host em...........Email's in my profile.

mmmmmm.. that's turning out real nice!

progress...?

Shawn is taking a vacation this week man. Should get the neck boards cut/glued up next Mon/Tues. Hopefully I'll have it by thebeginning of Feb or so.

it's not so much a vacation (c'mon, who really goes to cleveland for vacation). it's more of a preparation to start cutting that ebony. why don't you just get a stone bass? Todd, you have any nice marble tops available?

Hmm...maybe make a bass out of lead??

NEW PICS from a real camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/403137cf-a630-4067-8bf9-d.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/dfb9513d-ffa6-4670-a530-1.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/31a319bc-a88b-4d4b-92c6-0.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/00b5bcfb-df01-4583-bbbf-7.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/cc546746-d544-4e2c-a6e3-3.jpg

:hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:

wow, it looks even beter with a real camera

v nice!

now that's my kinda art!
Schweet!

I'm dreading the final outcome of this bass cause I won't be able to stand the G.A.S. pains for a custom anylonger...there goes my savings :bawl:

this is turning out to be one of the most beautiful basses i have ever seen!

That's a fine display of craftsmanship!!! I really like the black "swirl" going down the fingerboard. Must have taken a good amount of work to make that fit together nice and snug.

Can't wait to see some more progress :)

Nice work Shawn!

That F/B is similar to this one.

I think Conklin is king of that kind of thing.

Yeah, my first attempt at anything like that. I definately have a lot to learn, but Steve is keeping me busy at it.

I think it came out awesome. Excellent work on the FB. I think it invokes a grain line in the board which is cool...

LOVE the contrasts on this bass

It's so fun to look at!!!..(Yea I'm biased)

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/100_2265.jpg

we're getting closer and closer...

that looks like it's gonna be very wide.... are you starting the taper from the back of the bass? Or is the neck gonna be thinner than that...

lookin great, hopefully I'll get mine up an running soon

Greg

yeah it'll definitely be thinner and tapered

oops!...i thought we were doing a 17 1/2 string!!!

oops!...i thought we were doing a 17 1/2 string!!!

that would be quite interesting, please explain the 1/2 string part ;)

can't wait to see some more progress

Greg

Ever seen Jack Read's four and two-halves - stringer made for Vic Wooten?
http://web.archive.org/web/20050403143030/www.readcustom.com/vw1.jpg

i have actually played this bass. it is quite interesting. its a cool idea but it can take a little getting used to as far as your left hand getting around.

yeah...

Vic's "step-neck" bass is kinda odd...i dunno though..I mean, other than the novelty what real advantage is there?

I've never seen him play it but I think he might've put a bass track on some tune with it

yeah...

Vic's "step-neck" bass is kinda odd...i dunno though..I mean, other than the novelty what real advantage is there?I would guess that the main idea is that you have something that feels exactly like a normal 4 when you're playing bass lines in the "money" area of the first frets, together with extended range available for soloing up high.

or tapping...

Greg

this bass sits in a closet with about 75 other basses

exactly

howz this badboy/girl coming?

wow, so the body is purpleheart and the neck is ebony/purpleheart?

yeah..this thing will weigh a ton

Yeah it will very heavy. but thats awsome. I bet it will sustain for days!

I did not see any post telling us what kind of pups/electronics were going into her. I'm curious.

I'm going with Bart soaps and an Aguilar OBP-3 Preamp!

Kinda worried about neck situation though...We MIGHT have to scrap the all ebony idea..

Will update when more develops

i'll let y'all know after i stop hackin up black snot and buy some new blades.

Yeah i could see ebony being difficult to work with. but it would be a shame to have to change the design now, the all ebony thing was a cool idea. i dont think ive ever seen a bass with so much ebony hah.

Well, I'm feeling good about the situation overall. Shawn really loves working with the ebony, so I'd hate to deprive him of that.

Any progress?

Yeah it's all done!!! And, as you can see..it's sick


http://maycustombasses.com/photos/large/b67c35b1-1f83-4286-8047-9.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/bassrezized.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/stpvoodoo1/eaf0970f-1f7f-49c4-a7f7-a-1.jpg

Damn

Holy smokes!

Wow that is yummy. How's it sound?

more pics, sound files, anything!

Speechless.