Andy Zoldo custom bass build underway

[ZoldosCustom]

Well as promised I have a few pictures to post and that will be about it until after the new year. I might post some pics of the Myrtle once it arrives, but that will be about it. Keep in mind too that it has only been 2 weeks since I started this build, so I think I am doing pretty good with a full time job and a few kids at home. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas in advance and a very happy and safe new year. And what do you know, Dec. 22 and were still here, so that's a very good thing. Okay, here are some pics.


Body template w/ bridge and pickup housing skeleton on top of Sapele body core.



This is where the bridge sits right now. Holes are drilled for string through, and recesses are routed for strings to rest on and create angle to saddle.






These are all the jigs that I built in order to create the bridge. The first one is what I used to route the saddle grooves. I just used a 3/8" template bit and set the depth to 5/16". It took a few passes since this bridge is so stinking hard. The other 3 show what I used to create the string recesses. It's basically just some guides and a stop used with a rigid trim router and an 1/8" bit. I hope this makes sense to everyone watching. I am not the best at explaining myself, but I know this and try to do my best.




Here is where the pickup housing is at right now. I know that it looks different from the concept, but there is good reason. I had a slight oversight and ordered the wrong pickups originally. The spacing on the bart's j pickups were about 1mm too narrow above the bridge pickup. They probably would have worked, but if Christian is a hard player and caused the string to wander outside of the magnetic field, the sound would be just awful and I couldn't risk it. So instead of 5 compartments, we settled for 4 since the new pickups are a bit larger. I feel slightly embarrased for this, but it's not whether we fail or not, but how we recover.




I just wanted to show how this housing got glued up. Everything was cut long and then cut to size. But this sort of depicts how I arrived at the final product.


Just a picture of the body core blank. It's 1-1/4" thick right now, but will probably get sanded a little thinner. I want to see what thickness I can get the top and back. I want 5/16", so I might take the core down 1/8"





The neck with carbon fiber following the neck taper, and truss rod in place.


Just wanted to show neck wood contrast. This is just a water pop, and will be a lot more pronounced once the finish goes on, not to mention all the carving that will be taking place.

Well that's all that I have for today. I think that this bass is coming along nicely. Aside from the little pickup problem, everything is jsut going real smooth and that leaves me with a very comforting feeling. Some times things just work out like it was meant to be, and other times certain designs are very troublesome. Those are the ones that I realize probably weren't meant to happen. Again, have a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

[Macrocosmcwh]

Thank you for posting!

[natw42]

Subd. Looks great!

[Beej]

Where do you get your carbon fibre stiffeners, Andy?

[ZoldosCustom]

I actually found these on ebay. The name of the store is bikeschnell. These came in 48" lengths so I just cut them in half with my dremel and a cut off wheel. I was going to order from dragonplate.com but the shipping was pretty high compared to the price of the carbon fiber. I guess if you were to order in bulk then that might be the way to go.

[Macrocosmcwh]

I must admit.... hahaha I miss the updates! =) Still very excited for my new bass... I hope you had a great Christmas Andy! Excited to see things progress after the 1st! =)

[ZoldosCustom]

You and me both. I do wish that I still had a work shop at home. We just moved into this house a little over a year ago and have yet to set up a proper workshop in the basement. I have everything that I need to do it, just a matter of finding time. I am very excited to get going after the new year and start making some real progress. Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy new year.

[Macrocosmcwh]

Originally Posted by ZoldosCustom

You and me both. I do wish that I still had a work shop at home. We just moved into this house a little over a year ago and have yet to set up a proper workshop in the basement. I have everything that I need to do it, just a matter of finding time. I am very excited to get going after the new year and start making some real progress. Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy new year.

Did you get top and back woods in yet??? Any chance for a pic?

[NKBassman]

The fingerboard inlays remind me of my old Yamaha Attitude. Looks amazing so far!

[ZoldosCustom]

Definitely see the strong similarities with the Yamaha. I like doing the inlays this way, especially when matching the fingerboard binding to the inlay wood, I think that it looks really sharp. Its also fairly easy to reproduce and maintain consistency.
I did get the top and back wood and it looks awesome. Definitely need to stabilize it with epoxy before surfacing and resawing it, but that was expected. I will get some pics tomorrow after wiping it down to really show off the figure. Even without wiping it or surfacing, you can really see the color variation, beautiful burl, and different depths of figure. Can't wait to bookmatch it and glue this thing up.

[ZoldosCustom]

Here are just a few pics of the top and back Myrtle Burl. I will need to wait until I resaw the blanks before i designate which is which. Plus I will need to let Christian see which ones he likes best and wishes to use for top/ back. I am figuring that on wednesday I will stabilize it which means if all goes well I can resaw it on thursday, take some pics, decide which goes where and hopefully on friday edge glue the top and back. That means early the following week and I can glue up the complete body blank. Anyway, here are the pictures of the burl in no particular order.

[Macrocosmcwh]

Happy new year everyone! just stopped by to see if there was anything new here! Could not help myself!

[ZoldosCustom]

Happy New Year to you too. That was a long overdue break, but it sure feels good to be back to work and back to working on this bass. I will have some updated pics either tomorrow or saturday. What I have done so far is I bookmatched and glued up the headstock cover, Cut and template routed the neck and headstock, glued on the fretboard (which is drying overnight), and bookmatched the burl for the pickup cover. Tomorrow I will be glueing on the Wenge binding on the fretboard, and trimming that nice and flush. I always like to attack the neck first and get it to the point that it will be at tomorrow before I start glueing up the body, just how I like to do it. Everyone at work keeps asking me to bookmatch the myrtle for the top and back, but I don't want to rush anything. I am very excited to split that stuff, but I want to be at a good stopping point with the neck. The bass is really coming together nice, and I really look forward to the day when Christian can play his first custom bass. Stay tuned.

[ZoldosCustom]

There has been some great progress on the neck thus far. You can see in the pictures what has been done. I am going to glue up some laminations for the transition block next week, and will leave it at that point until the body is glued up. This way I will have a nice easy squared off neck to work with, and once the recess is routed out to recieve the neck, I will start carving the neck. This is just the order of progress that I have been so used to, and it works so I don't want to deviate from what works. Here are the pics:

[ZoldosCustom]

I have a few more updates as of today. I was able to get the body pressed up, the 5 layers consisting of Myrtle burl top/ ebony veneer accent/ Sapele core/ ebony veneer accent/ Myrtle burl back. I still have quite a bit of void filling to do, but a large majority of the top is filled. I have yet to touch the back. I was also able to get the neck pocket routed and the body cut out. I still have a lot of carving and shaping to do, but this is where the bass is at. I just have to say again how much I am enjoying this build. The design is very unique (at least to me), and I am just loving the wood choices. I did water pop the burl top just to get some contrast. You will also notice in the pictures that the route at the base of the neck is quite sloppy, but that is because the pickup cover will be routed into the heel a bit, so it will all be cleaned up in due time. There is also a picture of the transition block, which is just wenge, maple, and wenge which should look pretty sweet once I start carving into the back.







I should be able to start carving the neck tomorrow, and possibly some of the body. Carving and shaping is by far my favorite part of this trade. It is my form of meditation, and it just relaxes me and makes me smile.

[Macrocosmcwh]

She looks beautiful!!! A little chunky right now.... Hahahahahahaha but a carving diet will do her some good! I am very excited.... Thank you for getting some work done under your unfortunate circumstances! It means a lot to me! But she is coming together nicely! I am so excited!

I am curious what the weight is right now... Before the diet... Andy can you comment on this?

[ZoldosCustom]

I am not sure of the weight right now, but I will throw it on the scale at work tomorrow. I will say this though, it is not nearly as heavy as it may appear. A few guys seen me working on this bass and commented, "Man that's a lot of bass" but when they held it they were pleasantly surprised. There is still quite a bit of meat to hog out for the electronics, but I will let you know the weight before hand. It does feel quite good holding it while in the seated playing position, even before carving and everything. More to come later.

[Macrocosmcwh]

Andy has been in touch with me and I thought I would update the progress on this build. He says:
"Got neck carved. Will be radiusing the fret board and fretting this week. Got pickup housing glued up and complete. Should set the neck next week. Going good"

I have no idea on how the magic of what you all do gets done! I always had thought that on a single cut bass that the neck and body got carved as one to give it that "single cut" look. I am so excited to see how this all comes together.

Andy, once again... Thank you thank you thank you! Please know that you have one excited guy here in Arizona that cant wait to get his hands on your instrument! You are the man!

Seriously.... We need to talk about our next build! Hahahahaha I have some good ideas from what I have seen others here doing.... =)

I cant wait to have a full stable of Zoldos Basses at my house!

[ZoldosCustom]

You are right about the heel area of the neck getting carved with the body to give it that seamless look, and that will be done once the neck is glued in. I carve the neck to the point where it will meet the body, and leave that heel area ( transition area) whatever you want to call it squared off until everything is glued together. I will have some pictures in a few days of the progress, just haven't had much time to snap some photos. It may seem like things have slowed down, but there are a lot of little things that I like to get done before glueing the neck in. Once that is done, everything should move pretty quick. By the end of next week, I am hoping that all the cavities will be routed and will start getting ready for some sanding, sanding, sanding.

[Macrocosmcwh]

Seeeeeeee...... Maaaaagic! Thank you again Andy! I am excited.... I just cant wait!