This one is being built for TB member JazzFusionBorg, better known as "Alan" to the fellow Brisbane TB'ers who have attended the last GTG's :p

Alan was GAS'ing for a Canadian made fanned fret bass so he smartened up and went for a Australian made fanned fret bass made by a Canadian :D :hiding:

Thanks for trusting me with that one mate :hyper:

Specs are:

- Swamp Ash body with spalted Maple top and Wenge accent layer,
- set-neck of Maple, Purpleheart and Wenge
- Mac Ebony fretboard, 37"-34" scales
- two of my dual-coil humbucking pickups
- Aguilar OBP-2 preamp
- continuous wood covers with exposed pole pieces
- ETS one piece custom bridge

This build is still several months away from being done so here's the work so far.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005083.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005009.jpg

I got to use my new fretting jig for that fretboard too, what a joy this is :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005031.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005036-1.jpg

OOOOOOHHHH!!!!! Nice!!!

OOOOOOHHHH!!!!! Nice!!!


Wait for the rest :D


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005051.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005050.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005054.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005058.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005065.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005066.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005078.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/philmailloux/005080.jpg

Done. So that's where i'm at at the moment. I'm pretty happy with how it looks, two days ago this was only a square block of timber. :)

Thanks buddy http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/1452/emotbuddywz1.gif

The wait on this one is going to kill me (although it'll be very much worth it in the end).

Thanks buddy http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/1452/emotbuddywz1.gif

The wait on this one is going to kill me (although it'll be very much worth it in the end).

i'm so jealous of you Brissie folks. That is one HOT bass...

phil's work is phenominal...

I so want to make it to a GTG...one of these days...

looking great phil! love the Mac Ebony board. and the transition piece on the neck looks pretty cool too.

Nice!!! As soon as that's done it's GTG #3 time!

Funny, as it's exactly what I said to Alan when we saw each other Monday. :D

Lookin' good!

um...wow!

Phil, this is turning out great!

The neck looks great! Real nice work.

Looking good. That "mildly spalted" top should look nice, too.

phil, seriously... AMAZING for 2 days work... Great job. Can't wait to see this one complete.

Looking great, Phil!

Nice work Phil.
Interested in seeing the ETS bridge.
Alan

That is a good looking neck.

Wow :eek:

incredible work as always! Great job!

That is nice.

Thanks guys :)

Pilot, the top isn't as spalted as we would have hoped it would be but the picture doesn't do it justice. It's a lot nicer in person and with some thinner on it the ink lines and the rest of it really pop out.

Alan, the bridge has been ordred 8 weeks ago, i'm also curious to know what its going to look like as I haven't received it yet. :) I was told 12 weeks though, so its no big deal. I'm just so curious to see if its going to be as I imagine it to be. That's why I built the neck first. I don't have any height dimensions for that bridge so there's no point in doing much work on the body before I get it as its a set neck bass. I might glue up the top though and start working on the pickups and covers until I get it.

hey phil, how did you thin the headstock? the old safe-t-planner?

Nah, the headstock is angled so that would have been a bit awkward to hold under the drill press. I could have fixed up a jig to hold the neck at an angle but didn't, so I used the old elbow grease along with rasps and files, also used a small RO sander for that. that speeds it up pretty good. The neck thickness was done with the Safe-T-Planer though.

I do most of the work on the neck by hand anyway with just files, rasps, spokeshave, block plane, RO sander and some sanding blocks and such. Carving the back of the neck and shaping the back of the headstock took me about 6 hours to do yesterday. So it's a good workout :)

Looks great, I can see GTG #3 being awesome.

So I guess this means your 5 string is pushed back once again :p

LOL
yeah probably, although its far enough that I might be able to finish them both together, the 5 only needs some more sanding, fretting than finishing, so its not that far away either.

Wow, that what was quick... how many basses do you have going at the moment?

Just these two, the 5 has had some work on it on and off for more than 2 years now. I carved the body and shaped the neck a month or two ago so there's not much left. I do have a Jazz Bass 4 in "pre-production" if you want to call it that. I've got most of the timber and harware in but I'll wait for that until Alan's bass is done.

Phil, good to see the progress on this. Your fretsaw is awesome, :D. Is that a Martin style truss rod (rod in alum channel)? Also, did you get the timber locally?

It's an LMII two-way rod. the Maple, Wenge timber & Purpleheart is local. The Ash, Wenge veneer and top is from the US. Unfortunately, you can't really get away from importing that stuff.

So Phil.. next GTG at your place eh? :smug::D

If ya'll want to drive half an hour to 1 and half to get here. I think the northsiders won't be very happy. There might not be a big northside turnout for sure :) There wasn't much enthusiasm to the idea when I suggested it for the last GTG.

It would be nice to have a decent amount of people showing up. GTG #2 felt pretty empty with the 10 or so guys that turned up.

Phil Im curious about the angled headstock. It has one angle from one side to the other of the neck. I ask this because the fanned frets made by Nelson and Budman have different angles on each side of the neck.

Yes, my headstock also has a 10 degree compound angle like them and like on the more expensive Dingwall models. It's not very obvious when you look at it and at pictures. You can see it pretty well when you look down the neck at the headstock end though.


EDIT: for more info and pics of a great tool :)

I did the compound headstock by first bandsawing a smaller angle on the headstock and finishing it off on a 5HP 20" disc sander with the table angled in the 10 degree position. It took a couple of tries on scrap before I got the right angle I wanted to have on the headstock before I put the neck to it. That thing cut the headstock angle like it was butter :) Great tool.

http://www.carbatec.com.au/images/hires/DS-3801.jpg

If ya'll want to drive half an hour to 1 and half to get here. I think the northsiders won't be very happy. There might not be a big northside turnout for sure :) There wasn't much enthusiasm to the idea when I suggested it for the last GTG.

It would be nice to have a decent amount of people showing up. GTG #2 felt pretty empty with the 10 or so guys that turned up.

I live on the EXTREME north side ;)

won't make much difference to me...you may as well be in the Gold Coast ;)

I wish my wife's family was still in Ballina, NSW...definitely would be convenient for such things as Brissie GTG's...

I live on the EXTREME north side ;)

won't make much difference to me...you may as well be in the Gold Coast ;)

I wish my wife's family was still in Ballina, NSW...definitely would be convenient for such things as Brissie GTG's...

Well if we're really going to wait until the bass is done then we can expect the GTG to be around end November. I've got other commitments in between so I don't think the bass will be done before that time. Also, from last GTG, just before or after X-mas is not a good time because the turnaround was much smaller last time. People spend time with their families then.

Kerry, if you really want to come, you can always save the $$$ until then for a flight from Gladstone to Brisbane for the week-end (can't be more than $100-200) I'd gladly pick you up and lend you our spare bedroom.

This is going to be an awesome instrument.

Seeing the name Alan reminds me though; where the hell is Hambone? I haven't seen him around here in ages.
edit: Sorry, not trying to Hijack this thread, but this isn't our Hambone is it? http://www.legacy.com/venturacountystar/Obituaries.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=111453621

This is going to be an awesome instrument.

Seeing the name Alan reminds me though; where the hell is Hambone? I haven't seen him around here in ages.
edit: Sorry, not trying to Hijack this thread, but this isn't our Hambone is it? http://www.legacy.com/venturacountystar/Obituaries.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=111453621

huh..I've got a feeling that's him... If I remember correctly from his posts on the MIMF forum his name is Alan Hamilton...


Although his e-mail is adhamilton@mindspring.com and the deceased' name is Alan James. If you feel like e-mailing him you might get answers.

huh..I've got a feeling that's him... If I remember correctly from his posts on the MIMF forum his name is Alan Hamilton...

That's terrible :( R.I.P. Hambone!

Well if we're really going to wait until the bass is done then we can expect the GTG to be around end November. I've got other commitments in between so I don't think the bass will be done before that time. Also, from last GTG, just before or after X-mas is not a good time because the turnaround was much smaller last time. People spend time with their families then.

Kerry, if you really want to come, you can always save the $$$ until then for a flight from Gladstone to Brisbane for the week-end (can't be more than $100-200) I'd gladly pick you up and lend you our spare bedroom.

Phil, I may take you up on it...as always, it depends on the schedule. you guys are awesome. Alan's also offered accommodation :)

huh..I've got a feeling that's him... If I remember correctly from his posts on the MIMF forum his name is Alan Hamilton...


Although his e-mail is adhamilton@mindspring.com and the deceased' name is Alan James. If you feel like e-mailing him you might get answers.

Hambone's name is Alan Hamilton...according to his profile, he was last active on TB on the 30th of June...

He hasn't been posting much as of late, however...

Hambone's name is Alan Hamilton...according to his profile, he was last active on TB on the 30th of June...

He hasn't been posting much as of late, however...

Was just going to post this. The obituary says that this Alan Hamilton died on the 10th of June. I think we're still cool.

Sorry. You may now continue with your regularly scheduled postings.

Well if we're really going to wait until the bass is done then we can expect the GTG to be around end November. I've got other commitments in between so I don't think the bass will be done before that time. Also, from last GTG, just before or after X-mas is not a good time because the turnaround was much smaller last time. People spend time with their families then.

Kerry, if you really want to come, you can always save the $$$ until then for a flight from Gladstone to Brisbane for the week-end (can't be more than $100-200) I'd gladly pick you up and lend you our spare bedroom.

If the GTG is in November theres a very good chance I won't be able to make it as I will probably be out west somewhere doing work experience for my degree.

Was just going to post this. The obituary says that this Alan Hamilton died on the 10th of June. I think we're still cool.

Sorry. You may now continue with your regularly scheduled postings.

Quite the coinky-dink, eh?