$100 Bass Challenge - Nucifera (The Violent Squirrel)

[michaelwayneharwood]

With the careful precision that comes from tens of thousands of hours pursuing medieval meditation techniques the holes were drilled to accommodate screws and truss rod access. The rough piece was then attached to the neck and the outline of the end was transferred to the wood. The piece was removed and using the same template the piece was marked for string holes. Once drilled the bandsaw was utilized to cut the piece out, but the precision required really is a job for a scroll saw. I don't happen to have said automated cutting implement so files and sandpaper were applied with rigor to shape the piece into a semblance of it's final form.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

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.

We have laid up an emergency cache of nuts preparing for the shortages to come right before the uprising.

 

[Jon Clegg]

They know.... They know...

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

After using my bare hands to press in the zero fret, I used arcane lore learned while working undercover on an inter-dimensional slave galley to scry the locations where the piano pin holes will need to be drilled for the strings to be in correct alignment. Marks were made, and the drill will be busy soon....

 

[Hamish MacCleod]

You guys crack me up.
Rondo

 

[Joshua Pickenpaugh]

Every time I check into this thread, I get thirsty for a cup of tea.

Amazing bass and design, nicely done!

 

[Jon Clegg]

Every time I check into this thread, I get thirsty for a cup of tea.

Subliminal advertising!

 

[mapleglo]

Every time I check into this thread, I get thirsty for a cup of tea.

Oddly enough, I get a craving for acorns.

 

[Jon Clegg]

This is just getting nutty

 

[Rôckhewer]

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.

Just whose side are you on WIZARD?
We don't have many squirrels down here in the low deserts which is probably how one of my animal informants (a particularly sneaky & talkative gecko)... was able to get this information to me... He told me that there is an obscure passage from the writings of Sciuridae...(hitherto unknown because it was inscribed upon acorn shells, one word each... And cashed away inside of a hollow Elder tree)....only recently discovered and translated into this dire warning :
"And there shall come forth one, who in the guise of a mild mannered luthier...is in truth a practitioner of the dark arts. And it shall come to pass that this human wizard will build an instrument that will have the capability of entrapping the soul of the demon squirrel Nucifera!
Upon completion of this instrument, a particular sequence of notes plucked from its strings...The voice of Nucifera himself... will awaken a hoard of all the earthly remains of squirrel kind who have come and gone before! This reanimated hoard of zombie squirrel skeletons will walk the earth again, and this shall a harbinger be, of the time of the Squirrapocalypse!"

 

[Joshua Pickenpaugh]

Squirrelmegedon.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Every time I check into this thread, I get thirsty for a cup of tea.

Amazing bass and design, nicely done!

Thanks so much! I would reccommend a nice Darjeeling.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Just whose side are you on WIZARD?
We don't have many squirrels down here in the low deserts which is probably how one of my animal informants (a particularly sneaky & talkative gecko)... was able to get this information to me... He told me that there is an obscure passage from the writings of Sciuridae...(hitherto unknown because it was inscribed upon acorn shells, one word each... And cashed away inside of a hollow Elder tree)....only recently discovered and translated into this dire warning :
"And there shall come forth one, who in the guise of a mild mannered luthier...is in truth a practitioner of the dark arts. And it shall come to pass that this human wizard will build an instrument that will have the capability of entrapping the soul of the demon squirrel Nucifera!
Upon completion of this instrument, a particular sequence of notes plucked from its strings...The voice of Nucifera himself... will awaken a hoard of all the earthly remains of squirrel kind who have come and gone before! This reanimated hoard of zombie squirrel skeletons will walk the earth again, and this shall a harbinger be, of the time of the Squirrapocalypse!"

Unfortunately vessels of prophecy rarely get to pick the sides they land on. I am but a pawn in the hands of fate. In past times I have railed against my destiny, but have found that it causes more destruction. In resignation I have aligned my karma with the unfortunate role I am to play, though history may well make me out to be a monster. I have the full "text" of the writings from Sciuridae inscribed in the core of the bass, but I neglected to document that part of the build for your safety. Just glancing at the glyphs are enough to...I have said too much.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

@michaelwayneharwood I really like your quote in your sig. I had to put upon it my slant (I've had a long week......)

They want to know that the plank in their hands was forged by wizards especially for them & blessed by the dark gods to overcome all emotional resistance to the mood they are trying to evoke. Also, does it come with a free gig bag?
-DeepCat (and JP)

Hahahahah! @Deep Cat knocked it out of the park with that quote, and there was more on the thread that he wrote that I did not have room in my sig for. The saying resonates with me deeply.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

My 6 year old male spawn made his way down to my side while perusing this thread and he said "Daddy....why did you use a thumb tack on the bass?". This lead to an impromptu lesson in bass making and the merits of marking a place on your piece before cutting into the wood.

 

[Skarsoul]

My 6 year old male spawn made his way down to my side while perusing this thread and he said "Daddy....why did you use a thumb tack on the bass?".

Damn, I was thinking to myself. "Self, you don't have any piano tuners, but you've got a whole box of thumb tacks that will obviously work. . ."

 

[Jon Clegg]

Damn, I was thinking to myself. "Self, you don't have any piano tuners, but you've got a whole box of thumb tacks that will obviously work. . ."

I thought it had some relationship to a 'Thumb bass'...

 

[Rôckhewer]

What be this "thumb tack" of which the youngling doth speak?
I see only a magickal dibble for the alignment of ones wimble!




(I can keep this up all day)
Certified Anachronistic

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

I thought it had some relationship to a 'Thumb bass'...

Interestingly enough the Warwick Thumb line of basses are one of the only two basses made by someone other than me I would be tempted drop money on. The other is the Invalid Link Removed.

 

[MrArose13]

O' dear... you guys are going to chase me up a tree with all the squirrelyness... SEE, now you got me doing it.