7-string fretless super hollowbody for Alex

Son of Magni · #1 03-23-2008, 06:33 PM

This thread is for Alex's bass. My intent is to detail how I build a full hollowbody electric bass, not an acoustic bass but a hollowbody bass that can be played acoustically in a quiet setting or amplified in any setting with an acoustic sound.

The basic idea of the design is like a semi hollowbody, except that it's hollowed out to the max inside and is twice as thick as an electric to add more resonant space. Also it is a neck-thru design but there are some structural and acoustic tweaks to the way the neck goes through the body and the way the bridge is mounted in order to maximize the quality of both the acoustic and amplified sound.

This project has just barely been started and is expected to take a good many weeks to complete. Also there are a few features that have yet to be ironed out. I'll start by laying out what is known.

This is basically an all Maple bass, but pretty much everywhere there are multiple Maple laminations with walnut veneer highlights in between. All chrome hardware. ABM piezo bridge and one Bartolini magnetic pickup right at the fingerboard. Bookmatched fretless lined (Maple) Macassar Ebony fingerboard. 34 inch scale and 7-string fretless. Some of the electronics is still TBD, so I'll get to that in the next week or two.

Also towards the end of this will be building a custom hard case for this axe. Especially since it will be shipping a few thousand miles, NH-USA to Australia.

I hope you enjoy this build as much as I know I will

grace & groove · #2 03-23-2008, 06:40 PM

Alex is a brave man to order a 7-string fretless hollowbody custom body from the otherside of the world.

Good luck, Karl.

Linkert · #3 03-23-2008, 06:43 PM

I got a boner from the fact of a 7-string HOLLOWBODY. I Love them hollows!

eleonn · #4 03-23-2008, 06:54 PM

I really can wait to start reading any update you will post.

Alexander Eddy · #5 03-23-2008, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grace & groove

Alex is a brave man to order a 7-string fretless hollowbody custom body from the otherside of the world.

Good luck, Karl.

Hmmm, Ive lost count, but I think this is the 4th or 5th bass I've got from the states, and the third custom. Not a great deal to worry about. Plus, have you seen Karl's basses? How could you resist?? The bass is being built with a little of my inheritance money from my grandmother, who was always a great supporter and enjoyer of my music. Since I will never ever sell this bass, I decided to go all out and get everything I wanted!

Cheers,

Alex

Son of Magni · #6 03-24-2008, 07:44 PM

I know some people are probably more interested in the overall assembly of the body but there's a few things that have to get done before we get to that point. So here's some pics to get things started.

I showed Alex some pics of some wood I had available for the front and back and he picked exactly the ones I would have for this bass. After resawing the front and back panels and then planing and sanded to .190 we have these.

Front

Back

Son of Magni · #7 03-24-2008, 07:50 PM

Being a 7-string the fingerboard is pretty wide at the body. So I'm bookmatching some Macassar Ebony for the board. After resawing and planing I trued the edges on my edge sander and glued them together. For good measure I mixed some glue 50-50 with water and let it soak into the edges for a minute. Then wiped it off and applied straight glue and joined it up.

grace & groove · #8 03-24-2008, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Eddy

Hmmm, Ive lost count, but I think this is the 4th or 5th bass I've got from the states, and the third custom. Not a great deal to worry about. Plus, have you seen Karl's basses? How could you resist?? The bass is being built with a little of my inheritance money from my grandmother, who was always a great supporter and enjoyer of my music. Since I will never ever sell this bass, I decided to go all out and get everything I wanted!

Cheers,

Alex

I've been a big fan of Thor basses ever since I learned of him when he joined another forum. This must be really exciting for you, congratulations.

eleonn · #9 03-24-2008, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Son of Magni

Front

Back

Thas is a really nice top but I guess Id go with the back for a top just to be out of the crowd using flame maple for tops.

EDIT: I know that the back is flamed too but the figure on the wood looks more and the flame is not the main attrative.

steve21 · #10 03-24-2008, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleonn

Thas is a really nice top but I guess Id go with the back for a top just to be out of the crowd using flame maple for tops.

EDIT: I know that the back is flamed too but the figure on the wood looks more and the flame is not the main attrative.

kinda like an old violin. that'd be class.

erikbojerik · #11 03-25-2008, 10:41 AM

That booked fingerboard will look mighty nice. Going with epoxy?

Being in New Hampshire....have you ever dropped in on Righteous Woods in Rowley MA (~hour N of Boston)? They had some rather nice Mac ebony and cocobolo when I was in there about a year ago.

iamlowsound · #12 03-25-2008, 11:01 AM

Subscribed. This is going to be a good one.

lowsound

Son of Magni · #13 03-25-2008, 04:15 PM

No epoxy, just nice ebony

The joint came out perfect and it's radiused now and looks great.

As this is a double thickness body and all Maple except Walnut highlights, there's a lot of Maple going into the body core. Of course this will all be hollowed out inside. But after a good deal of searching I found some nice core wood that all looks pretty much the same and has really nice figure. (not the one on the right, that's going in the neck...)

Son of Magni · #14 03-25-2008, 05:05 PM

Here's the fingerboard, radiused, but not tapered or slotted for fretlines. Sorry it's not really color correct due to florescent light plus light coming in the window.

tdogg · #15 03-25-2008, 07:32 PM

this is gonna be sweet. i love the white streak in the fingerboard

Alexander Eddy · #16 03-25-2008, 09:04 PM

I guess I'll ask the crowd how they think the bass should be stained. I really want the figure to pop.
Ideas I've has so far
Burgundy
Very light amber
Very light brown

My grandmother was a lover of Australian cedar and I have some very nice antique cedar furniture, so I guess another option (and a classy one) would be a cedar coloured stain, somewhat like a violin, perhaps with a sanded back black underneath it to really bring out the figure.

Your thoughts?

envika · #17 03-26-2008, 09:54 AM

I'd go for burgundy in terms of color

but light brown in terms of bringing out the figure.

Son of Magni · #18 03-26-2008, 07:02 PM

This project is my first time using my new slotting machine. So now it's time to show it off

I guess this could be in a tools & jigs thread with a full description but for now here's some pics.

SDB Guitars · #19 03-26-2008, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Eddy

somewhat like a violin, perhaps with a sanded back black underneath it to really bring out the figure.

I'm all for a honey amber color, which is much like a violin amber... or a tigereye black/red/brown/amber combination:

scottyd · #20 03-26-2008, 08:14 PM

So what is that miter saw radial saw or both? pretty sweet setup! I MUST HAVE ONE....