Wenge/Pau Ferro Jazz

[Yvarg]

I've finally been able to make up my mind on what my next project is going to be and I've decided on making a five string jazz(ish) bass. Here's the specs I'm tossing around right now:

- One piece Wenge body
- Pau Ferro neck
- Ebony fretboard
- Bloodwood block inlays and binding on the neck (still unsure on this one)
- Bloodwood pickguard (also unsure on whether or not to use a pickguard)
- Q-tuner pickups (again, largely unsure right now)
- Black hardware (brands undecided)
- No finish on the neck (lemon oil?)
- A few coats of satin wipe-on poly on the body or no finish at all (Warmoth says Wenge doesn't need a finish, but I'm not sure I trust that on a body; we'll see)

I know, I know, this is going to weigh a ton. I'm going to make the body somewhere between 1 3/8" and 1 1/2" thick to help a little bit with the weight. Here's some pictures of a very rough body and neck so far. Progress will probably be quite slow on this due to a lack of equipment at the moment, but I can't wait to really start working on it.

[roberthabraken]

Man, that are some gorgeous woods! Unbelievable. And a jazz bass too.... can a build also be on your GAS list?? This thing is going to be amazing, really!!

One thing (but that's just my opinion): wouldn't gold hardware look beautiful on such dark woods?

[Yvarg]

Thanks! The thing that I still find hard to believe is that I got the board of Wenge (about 23" x 15" x 2") and the board of Pau Ferro (about 5" x 36" x 7/8") for roughly the same price of an Alder or Ash body blank from StewMac!

Oh man, gold hardware; the thought had never even passed through my mind (weird, huh?). Thanks a lot for that suggestion, I have some serious considering to do now!

[roberthabraken]

Originally Posted by Yvarg

Thanks! The thing that I still find hard to believe is that I got the board of Wenge (about 23" x 15" x 2") and the board of Pau Ferro (about 5" x 36" x 7/8") for roughly the same price of an Alder or Ash body blank from StewMac!

Oh man, gold hardware; the thought had never even passed through my mind (weird, huh?). Thanks a lot for that suggestion, I have some serious considering to do now!

Well, that's a good deal on the woods! Good luck deciding on the hardware.. and sorry, 'cause gold hardware's a bit more expensive... but than again, you did save on the wood

[vbasscustom]

thats gonna be heavy, but will have a load of punch, in theory

[vbasscustom]

oh, and no pickguard, dont cover up that lovely wenge, and, the block inlay idea i like, go for it, its lookin good

[tdogg]

subscribed!

[The Insane]

mmmmh Wenge, yummy
Looks great!

[jordan_frerichs]

i assume that you are doing more ergonomic arm contour based on that line drawn, which makes this thing even more awsome. My vote is black for the hardware. I am a fan of bloodwood, so the idea of it inlayed into ebony sounds nothing short of orgasmic. i am going to like this one!

[BassShifter21]

Those woods look juicy!!! Gonna be sweet

[Mcfunkinstein]

heavy as ****

[anon65884001]

subscribed

[vbasscustom]

i really dont think that that kind of language even with the spaces inbetween the letters is acceptable here, just thought i would get to it before the mods did, just as a friendly reminder

[Human Bass]

Pau Ferro is an awesome wood, looks good, behaves good and sounds good.

[tdogg]

any updates?

[Yvarg]

Actually, yes. Tonight I routed the trussrod slot:



I had a little trouble because I cut the neck out of the plank it came from (to maximize the amount of usable wood), which meant I didn't have a straight edge of the wood to guide the router. Luckily, all router troubles will be covered with the fingerboard and not affect how the rod sits in the neck.

I also picked up the wood for the fingerboard a while ago. Since I didn't have the money for a large piece of ebony (the store couldn't cut down any of their boards for me), I went with a piece of coracao de negro that was very dark:




I really need to get my thickness sander up and running so I can do more work on the body.

[Yvarg]

This past week I've been slowly working on the belly carve, and man it took forever. Here's an action shot:


And the completed carve awaiting to be cleaned up further with some sandpaper:

[roberthabraken]

Sweet ! I really love wenge!!

[jordan_frerichs]

how do you route your truss rods?

[superfunk47]

This is going to be one sweet jazz bass! I've thought about doing a build kind of like this. Kudos for doing it all yourself too! Not an easy thing to do, I can say that from experience

Nice to see younger guys doing work like this. Takes a lot of determination.