Spalted Maple Top 4 String Bass Build (complete)
 

Hey all,
I think this is the first build that I've posted on talkbass, though it's my 8th build (3rd bass).

Here's the specs:
Curly spalted maple top
Mahogany body core
5pc Wenge neck w/ mahogany laminates and carbon fibre rods
Wenge fretboard and knobs
Delano xtender pickups
Vol / Bal / Tone / 3-way switches (parallel, series, single-coil) for each PU
Mono rail bridge, Zerofret, Mother of Pearl inlays, Aluminium side-dots
Black hardware

Sorry, progress pics are a little bit sparse.

Lumber planed, neck laminated, top came bookmatched from fraser valley fine woods:


Body glued up, roughly cut to shape:


Neck scarf jointed, test fitting CF rods and truss rod


gluing up the fretboard

Body fully routed


Slotted and Inlayed - this took forever...


Began fretting, headstock laminate placed

First coat of danish oil on the body


Likewise on the neck

Complete pictures:

Full body


Details...

Details...

Beautilicious!!
 

WOWZER!! Nice work!!!

Amazing work! If I could do this, then I wouldn't bother going out buying basses / guitars, I mean, every one of yours is like a custom order / master build instrument!

Fantastic! I love the design; in particular the input jack placement, use of spalted maple, the fretboard inlay figures and the back of the headstock. A fine build. My compliments. How does it play?

this bass is like an Ibanez sr750 on steroids!!

But seriously amazing work, what kind of finish did you use and also what bridge is that?

Great project: tasteful wood combination, very nice body shape and flawless construction. I'm not into bolt-on instruments but I really like this one. :bassist:

Great wood combination! What do you think of the xtenders? Which ones are they?

etherealme: Plays very well; fast, punchy, but lots of sustain. I'm not used to 4 strings, nor 34" scale, so it feels petite to me. The CF reinforcements made a big difference in stiffness I found.

Max Pratt: The client very much liked the style and feel of the SR Prestige so it has some similar styling elements and I based the neck geometry on what they had listed in their specs. I hit both the body and neck with a few coats of watco danish oil, with a bit of wet sanding, then protected with a few coats of satin minwax wipe on poly. The bridge is a set of brandless mono rails. I spent a long time calculating the placement of them; a bit more complicated than a solid one, ha.

Geoff St. Germaine: These are the Xtender 4 HE/S. They are fantastic; I'm very jealous. With the 3 way coil tap switches, the bass becomes a swiss army knife of tones. You can easily get a P tone, MM tone, a more modern ibanez sound, a stanley clark sound, or more of a j tone.

Fantastic!

nice build!

Looks very nice.

Very nice!
i just noticed you were from stoney creek!
my first shop i set up with my buddy from Fbass was in Winona
thats crazy!
good clean build man!

lovely bass
I have a mahogany/wenge neck just like that on my new custom.....I love that neck

how much for a shortscale 30" version
lightweight (6 - 7 lbs) (chambered?)

Thanks for all the positive feedback, everyone!

Yeah, F-Bass is just about 10m from me. I should try and make friends there so I can take a tour or something :D
You do fantastic builds yourself, btw! I think I mentioned it in another thread, but I remember seeing a picture of yours at exotic woods (a block away from where I work) and was very impressed...

WOW..... superb workmanship