My short scale 6

Hi, I mentioned this project in the short scale six thread in the basses forum. I just got the neck attached and a couple coats of danish oil on it.
Scale length is 29 7/16" tuned EADGBE
Body is mahogany, chambered, with a mesquite top.
Neck is glued in, padauk, with osage orange fingerboard.
The osage is quite garish right now, but it will darken considerably with age.
Sorry for the lousy pics.

It will probably get about as dark as the mahogany. It can get way darker, but only when left outside in the weather.
Electronics will be real simple. I'm using a EMG HZ35 passive pickup, and probably just a volume pot. I never really use a tone control. Not with passive pickups, anyway.

Cool.

Did you make or buy the osage lumber? What was it like working it?

So, a baritone scale length, tuned like a guitar one octave down, right?

I'm surprised you didn't use either the horn shape or part of the shape of those cool body holes for the top of the headstock.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I like a fairly simple headstock shape. The Neal Moser/BC Rich pitchfork stuff is cool looking, but not really my cup of tea.

On the baritone/bass issue, there is more info on this type of 6 string in this thread:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=391343

I milled the osage myself.. I think. I have a portable sawmill, but this piece may have come from a tree I salvaged before I had it. It works really nicely with good sharp carbide tools. It is prone to tearout on the jointer, especially on a quartersawn face, like this. It is probably the hardest and strongest wood native to this country. Has a beautiful bell-like tap tone, as well. I often cut up the smaller branches for firewood, and when you toss the pieces in a pile, it sounds like someone playing a marimba.

And yes, sunlight will definitely speed up the oxidation.
Now that I think of it, the stump that the bass is leaning against in the first pic is osage orange, possibly from the same log as the fingerboard. That's been sitting out for several years.