• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

7-string fretless super hollowbody for Alex

Son of Magni

Son of Magni

May 10, 2005
1,427
7
NH
www.thorbass.com
Disclosures
Builder: ThorBass
#1
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 :)
 
#5
grace & groove said:
Alex is a brave man to order a 7-string fretless hollowbody custom body from the otherside of the world.



Good luck, Karl. :)
Click to expand...

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
 
#6
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
Link Removed

Back
Link Removed
 
#7
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.

Link Removed

Link Removed
 
#8
Alexander Eddy said:
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
Click to expand...
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. :D
 
#13
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...)

Link Removed
 
#16
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?
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back