$100 Bass Challenge - Nucifera (The Violent Squirrel)

[scottyd]

Very unique, you had my full attention at violent squirrel!

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Anytime, looking forward to the next skull inlay.

The next skull inlay with be a Raven or Crow skull in the pillar or neck of a lap harp I am in the planning stages of.

 

[Hopkins]

The next skull inlay with be a Raven or Crow skull in the pillar or neck of a lap harp I am in the planning stages of.

Do you already have the skull or do you have to go searching for it?

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Do you already have the skull or do you have to go searching for it?

I don't yet have the skull, but they are relatively easy to find. Etsy is my friend.

 

[Hopkins]

I don't yet have the skull, but they are relatively easy to find. Etsy is my friend.

You really can find anything online cant you

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

OK. I loaded my pickup change in my test bass and have a sound sample for you. It was recorded through my Ampeg BA-110 with all the tone dials at 12 o'clock. The strings are D'Addario black nylon tape wounds, the neck is a 34" scale made of walnut with a fretless maple fingerboard, and the body is maple and walnut. The pickup placement is the angled Warwick Thumb bridge position. There is some audible noise, but it's the same noise all of my recordings have due to noise in my electrical lines - it's there even when the bass is unplugged. It sucks to record at my house.

00:00 to 01:08 Single Strings
01:08 to 01:30 Bad rendition of Yes' "Roundabout" played with a plectrum
01:30 to End Finger style messing around

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

After spending a bit of time with this low impedance pickup I am flat out giddy! It's low noise, articulate, and the flat frequency response provides a clean palette to color the tone. I think I have found my pickup of choice for all my future personal builds. For $30 worth of parts this thing rocks!

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Very unique, you had my full attention at violent squirrel!

Thanks!

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

While drilling the holes for the piano pin tuners I neglected to accommodate for the diameter of the pins which ended up with a situation where I had to correct the mistake and re-drill the holes. I went through a variety of options in my head before settling on a slight body design modification. I have plenty of room underneath the skull inlay to re-drill the holes correctly, so the end was reformed. I have been considering a modification like this to the Aleph design for traditional headless tuners, so it kills two birds with one stone as I can live with it and see if I like it. It's not a mistake - it's a feature!

 

[Jon Clegg]

It's not a mistake - it's a feature!

Spoken like a true software engineer.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Spoken like a true software engineer.

The more I look at it the more I like it for this build. It adds a bit of "edge" to the design without taking away from the aesthetics I like. Some mistakes are meant to happen, and rolling with them will end up with something unplanned but possibly better than originally intended.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Tonight some cleanup work was done on the string retainer area where the piano pins will go, and the headpiece blank was fashioned. Walnut would make a lovely headpiece, but as it would snap under the string load a compromise was reached instead. A nice 1/4" thick piece of hickory was sandwiched between two pieces of walnut, glued, and clamped down.

The 30" scale Nucifera was placed next to my 32" scale Aleph to do a quick comparison. It's interesting how used to the 32" scale I have gotten. I much prefer playing on a 32" scale versus a 34" at this point, and I am wondering whether the 30" will cast a magic spell of delight over me. It may feel cramped...we will see.

 

[Rôckhewer]

Yes!
"In art, there are no mistakes.... Only happy accidents" - Bob Ross

Squirrelly bass is lookin sweet!
I like it....alot.

 

[gsnad2000]

Yes!
"In art, there are no mistakes.... Only happy accidents" - Bob Ross

Bob Ross was the man!

 

[Jon Clegg]

The wood for these guitars comes from "Happy little trees"

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Yes!
"In art, there are no mistakes.... Only happy accidents" - Bob Ross

Squirrelly bass is lookin sweet!
I like it....alot.

Thanks man! I have found that mistakes often spur creativity. When something does not go as planned you really have two options:

1. Abort and start over to execute the original plan
2. Go with it and see where it leads
​

By going with it I have solved the issue, albeit a bit differently than planned. The exercise of pondering correction has also led me to some possible changes in the design that will augment future builds positively, though that particular "fix" won't be employed here.

The wood for these guitars comes from "Happy little trees"

I used to watch Bob Ross on TV as a kid. He was the Zen master of stoner paining.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

The headpiece laminate is out of clamps and it's time to start working on the shaping. We start with a printed template and make sure it fit the end of the neck, then using a super secret and highly proprietary tool fashioned by demons a pair of reference marks are imparted into the wood where the headpiece will eventually live. The template is moved to the headpiece blank where the same eldritch technology is employed to scar the wood for eventual drilling.

You can't see it in the photos, but the area is contained within a circle of protection prepared ahead of time. Otherwise the magical scribe tool might leap from our hands and wreak havoc on my family.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

During the collection of documentary photographic evidence for my last post the Nucifera leapt from my hands and dove for freedom, and in the course of herding the troublesome beast back into quiescence a scar was imparted unto her pristine neck. With reluctance I initiated the ritual by which I could heal the wound. It took some time to prepare as I had to modify my regular circle of protection to secure elemental forces. I then conjured a fire djinn from the place between spaces and imprisoned it into my wand. My kids were kept busy running around and putting out the small fires caused by the djinn's underlings....I was running low on mercury, and truth be told the circle of protection was not my best work.

Once the wand was imbued and sealed I then used it to sear a small cloth soaked with water placed over the mark on the neck. The steam was epic...man was that djinn pissed... The steam did it's work and the spot raised enough for some sanding, and now everything is as good as new, though I may just let the djinn sit in the wand for a while just for spite.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

I want to share one non-bass related thing. The other day my neighbor was complaining about a particularly aggressive squirrel. My reaction was immediate. I said "The time has come! The words of the prophesy are coming to pass in our time! As it is written of the works of the Prophet Sciuridae: 'Oh woe to the generation that sees the uprising! Better that they were never born!'."

She was not amused.

 

[gsnad2000]

But seriously though, the squirrels have probably heard what your up to in there, and I bet they don't like it. Yes sir you might be in for one hell of a rodent storm if word gets out any further amongst them. Be safe.