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6 String Barker Build!!!

#21
I was engineering some tracks for the Disco Biscuits the other month and Brownstein just got a Barker in that he'd ordered. Thing looked amazing and playability was unreal! The low B was the tightest of any 5er I've ever played. Amazing... This is going to be a great bass.
 
#22
During the drawing of the flux capacitor I accidentally poked my non-dominant hand with the lead holder and, on the way to the first aid box, noticed a Shakespeare play I had not read for several weeks and that started the whole jellyroll.

There are enough uses for alder, beyond musical instruments, that a sustainable harvest is a given, Tom. All will be fine.

Be it also noted that I spent a shy year of my otherwise misspent young adulthood traipsing about the Oregon Cascades and Coast range, planting Doug Fir. I thought it all a waste of time, that we should be setting in two-year-old starts of the Towering Plywood Tree, but the suits never listen to the guys in the raingear.
 
#23
Along with any wide variety of reasons that I am a PITA customer, here's a good one:

The Brice Z6 donor neck has a blue headstock, which obviously would look out of place with the body woods. Lee has to take the blue finish off, and in his words:

"Finishes now are so good and so hard that scraping remains the best way to keep the surface flat as possible until one hits paydirt!"

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In my day gig, we refer to stuff like this as "Out-of-Scope" and immediately hit the client with a change order. I fully expect Lee to be making some adjustments to the pricing :help:..... (and I'll be more than pleased to give him whatever he needs, it's worth every penny .... Barker Bass has dazzling customer service :bassist:)

Yup, right about now Lee has to be thinking "How did I get myself involved with this nut job" :rolleyes:
 
#25
Phalex said:
I'm not even involved in this in any way, and I'm kinda pissed off at you Ed!

What do you think about a headless Barker bass Lee??
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What's that equation about oneK words?
 

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#31
Recv'd a bunch of pics from Lee Barker today .... I'll need some time to get them sorted and in order, but here's a few to give you an idea as to what has been happening ..... :cool:

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You can all officially be jealous, starting right now .... ;)
 
#38
After a way too busy gig weekend, it was a nice treat to open emails today and see these updated pics :D

First, the "donor" body next to the B6

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Next, the neck pocket and pickup cavities are routed using the donor body as the template

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Cool photo showing the accuracy of the cut :cool:

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The B6 body all routed and set to receive the neck and pickups ..... (look at that top wood :))

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If you have a bass that feels 100% right to you in terms of the neck and pickup placement, this is a great idea for having your BVB set up the same way. In my case, as we were discussing the idea of a 6 string Barker, the choices were either a Warmoth 6 string neck, a custom built 6 string neck, or the Brice Z6 neck. I've always loved the Brice necks, so it was a no-brainer for me, plus matching up the pickup layouts will help retain the feel of the Z6, but at the same time give me all that BVB goodness we all love :bassist:

I don't know if this is a major PITA for Lee or not, but if you have a bass that is a fave, you might want to "Barker-ize" it! (Probably want to be sure the headstock isn't NASA-strength blue paint, though .... :help:)

Next up ..... send some lettuce to Lee!!!!!

:cool:
 
#39
pointbass said:
... I don't know if this is a major PITA for Lee or not, but if you have a bass that is a fave, you might want to "Barker-ize" it! (Probably want to be sure the headstock isn't NASA-strength blue paint, though ....
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You are KILLING me with this statement!

A few years ago when I bought my Barker, I had the idea of sending him a bass to Barker-ize, and ran it by Lee, but at that time wasn't up for a 6 string project like that.

The bass I was going to send him was a John Patitucci signature. I had two, one fretless.

My main 6 string basses are both Fbasses now, in fact when it comes to 6 string basses I rarely play anything else, so I sold my two Patituccis for a GREAT deal (and I mean so great I shouldn't have done it) to a guy who said he LOVES Patiticci basses and would take care of them with all the TLC they deserve.

Less than a month later he sold them on for a profit, and now I don't have a 6 string neck I could give to a project like this.

And fretless Patiticci basses are pretty rare; it took me forever to find that one.

Argh!

Anyway, that's just whining, I couldn't afford to do a project like that right now anyway.

I'm THRILLED for you, and perhaps living a bit vicariously through you on this project as well.
 
#40
In know what you mean, Tom ..... Initially, I wasn't positive that I wanted to spend the money either, especially considering the general financial issues we're all experiencing. But three things pushed me over the edge:

1) I never buy ANY gear unless the music income pays for it, and I have been very fortunate to have had a busy gigging year and I'm solidly booked into next year already

2) My wife is extremely supportive of my playing, and she loved my recently departed B1. She is also a great money manager (thank God, 'cause I'm certainly not :rolleyes:) and came up with a way to make it work without messing with our finances and still being able to try to recover some of what we lost during the big economic hit

3) As most of you already know, Lee Barker is likely the most considerate guy on the planet and he has structured a "pay-as-we-go" plan that spreads the coin out over the build time

Anyone in the Barker "family" already knows this, but it needs to be said again .... the customer service at Barker is nothing short of amazing :eek:. During the course of this build process, starting with the basic conceptual idea in March of this year, Lee has been in constant contact with me regarding every detail no matter how minor it may be. I don't know the exact number, but we've probably exchanged upwards of 100+ emails through the whole process. I've lost track of the number of picture updates I've received since Lee started the build in May. Although I've posted quite a few, there are a lot more, too ......

I've been in the music business a LONG time and over these years I've dealt with many people, but none have even come close to the level of service and professionalism that Lee Barker has shown me. If I wasn't 2,817 miles away I'd love to sit down with Lee over a beer and burger .... :cool:
 
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