• 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.

5 string fretless showcase: Habanero V

#162
Musiclogic said:
Yeah baby, looking great. What is the nut width and overall bridge spacing for this one?
Click to expand...

Thanks man. 1 13/16" nut width with equal spacing at the nut, probably going to order a set of Circle K's, equal tension with a .135 B so I'll have to recompute the spacing. I'm using a Hipshot A bridge, brass/black with .750 spacing.

Check your gmail :)
 
#165
Jazzdogg said:
I love the latest picture. The body looks incredibly svelte; the shaping and contouring really compliment the bookmatch.

I'm eager to see this bass being played so I can compare its dimensions to a human reference.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jazz. It's a small bass: 34" scale, but the body is tiny.

And your profile pic makes me homesick...I used to ride my bike by there at least once a week until moving to MA in November. No bike rides right now :/
 
#168
modulusan said:
congratulations...very nice construction and wood selection...my only concern is about the balance of the bass cause the small body...
very nice work
Click to expand...

I like small bodies, I concede I might be pushing it here, we'll see though. I'm not contouring the back because A) I like the look right now, B) I need as much weight as I can get behind the strap button, and C) It's really small, it doesn't need it. If it doesn't work out I'll drill out a couple 3/4" holes near the end pin and stick some lead slugs in there! :)
 
#169
Updates!

Radiused the fingerboard...
1fff35d4.jpg


I used a 12" stewmac block, 8" long, with 50 grit to start. This length is kind of a PITA for long, wide fingerboards. I might get one of those long metal extruded ones, or figure out a router jig. I've seen a few of those around here.

I like stainless steel screws. The heads are harder to strip out, and they don't get nasty and rusty from sweat, humidity, beer, etc. But stainless screws on black hardware makes you look like you get you screws from Lowes or something :), so let's fix that:

0ee65293.jpg


I've been reading about pickup-making off and on for about two years now. Time to pull the trigger.

fbe7dd83.jpg


8dbcb69d.jpg


dbe515e6.jpg


7a38cc34.jpg


1ba1c34b.jpg


Stacked humbucker, Neodymium magnets, 43AWG, both coils with leads to facilitate series/parallel and phase switching. I know someone's gonna say "neo's will dampen your strings" but holding one a millimeter from a string on one of my other basses does absolutely nothing to the sound, and I can't see any deflection at all. So I think that's another urban-legend-unicorn thingie that needs to be disproven. Honestly I'm more worried about playing this thing with my credit cards in my pocket! :)

EDIT: My bridge arrived, too. Hipshot A 5 in brass. 50 bucks, yay eBay! No packaging or screws, but mint:

c588bbf8.jpg
 
#171
pilotjones said:
Nice on the plunge into pickup building! Question: Are those magnets running continuously through the two coil areas? If so, how are you going to make the humbucker and still get output?
Click to expand...

I'm running the magnets through both coils for giant single-coil option in the switching. It should still work, because the 'hum' that gets bucked is common-mode interference, it induces current in both coils equally, whereas the bass strings are cutting the magnetic lines of flux in a localized area, so it does not induce current in both coils the same. It's like how rays of light from the sun can be treated as parallel lines, but light from the lamp on your desk radiates out...I know it's not an entirely accurate comparison, but it's how I imagine it. And if it doesn't work, back to the drawing board!
 
#172
Hope it works for you. If you reverse polarity on the second coil to buck hum, you're reversing the string signal, too, so you'll get cancellation - you're depending on the field doing something asymmetric to have non-identical signals.

But that may be the way it's generally done?
 
#173
pilotjones said:
Hope it works for you. If you reverse polarity on the second coil to buck hum, you're reversing the string signal, too, so you'll get cancellation - you're depending on the field doing something asymmetric to have non-identical signals.

But that may be the way it's generally done?
Click to expand...

Here's my thinking:

photo1.jpg


The steel string vibrates in the magnetic field that goes from the north end of the magnet to the south. As the string moves, it tows the magnetic field back and forth along with it. The magnitude of deflection of the field will be greater in the top coil than the bottom; so there will be some cancellation, but ultimately some current will be generated. When the phase of the bottom coil is changed though, the it becomes a big single coil, so I'm expecting more output and more noise. Maybe the single coil mode will get a resistor with it so the output is the same. We'll see if it works at all, though.

And Pilot, this pic is for you:

photo.jpg


Straight outta the bottle, like a dirty sailor.
 
#178
So here's my winding rig. Excuse the mess, the 'Man Cave' has yet to be cleaned. :

9511dd14.jpg


d432537b.jpg


8dcd16e8.jpg


I spent my early twenties working in a wire and cable factory, making very expensive cables for research and the defense industry, on very dirty, nasty, barely-maintained equipment. So I'm comfortable in this environment :)

Nonetheless, I broke the wire on my first two attempts before getting the first coil spooled, started over again twice, and here's my third attempt. Nice and level, but no continuity. I think the fiberglass flatwork might be nicking the wire, either causing shorts or little sections of really high resistance. (The first wind broke around 4k, second one at 8k, shoulda kept that one, this one I was going for 12k.) Plus, I forgot to countersink for my eyelets, I thought I'd do it after but there's really no room. So this pickup goes to Adam's Museum of How Not To Build Basses, along with my cocobolo/ziricote/lignum vitae first attempt at a neck.

752d4eef.jpg


So I'm going to quit wasting copper and start over. Got some phenolic plate coming from McMaster, I should get better flatwork results with that...can't bring myself to buy that vulcanized cardboard stuff from stewmac. More magnets on the way, too.

Meanwhile, got crackin' on a neck pocket. Wifey's scrap yarn to simulate outside strings:

d837ed3d.jpg


Oak routing blocks carpet taped in place. Used a piece of printer paper to space the blocks from the neck, to allow some room for finish:

3dbe04cf.jpg


And...get some.

d703895a.jpg


Now to epoxy on the heel block, and shape a neck.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back