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9 String Bee Bass

BIG CHEETO

BIG CHEETO

Jul 23, 2006
616
1
Fishing off of Catalina Island
#1
Whats up fellas, I wanted to post the progress pics of my new 9 string Bee Bass in the works. Hope you guys dig my bass as much as I'm diggin it so far. :p

Builder: Fred Bolton (Bee Basses)
Bass Model: "Stinger"


Heres the pic of the wood (curly Koa) I selected for the top of my bass.
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Heres the pic of the top with the curly White Limba body wood .
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Heres a pic of the two woods joined together and roughed out with the addition of a black dyed accent veneer between the two woods.
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Heres the flip side to that.
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And heres the 9 piece flame Maple and Pupleheart neck with a hard rock Maple tapered center laminate all joined together.
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Here are three of the most recent pictures I received from Fred Bolton from Bee Basses (angle shots of the bass wetted down with naptha). The bodys been contoured and has been routed out for the custom wound 9-string Delano triple JSBC pups. (jazz buckers)
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Thats about it so far as far as pics go. :p

I'm now waiting on pics of the book matched acrylicised Madigascar Ebony fretboard with flame Maple binding.

I'll post that up as soon as I get those pics from Fred. :smug:
 
#8
Right on thanks guys!

But I must say, in response to gnasher1993's comment on playability,
no worries on cramping up or anything like that with this bass.

It's not like I ever have my thumb glued in any position to the back of a bass neck. When I do decide to play chords I possition my thumb on the back of the neck accordingly. The chords i like to play, rarely ever consist of more than three strings strummed or plucked at a time. Also ERB basses are great for tapping out wild chord progressions and I'll be going that route a bit with my chordings as well. I dont believe, cramping will be an issue for me playing this bass.

I've seen some guys go as far as practically wrapping their thumbs around the top part of the neck, even sticking their thumbs over and onto the fretboard of their basses.

Playing an "ERB" (extended range bass) makes you have to change things up a bit and become more flexible with your approach so that you can play the additional range of the bass comfortably. I find that it can be quite fun and exciting when I find myself in new territories (new to me anyway) when it comes to playing bass. I like to test myself and my abilities, and stepping outside my musical comfort zone does just that for me. Some like bass to be old school, some like to explore and find different things for themselves on the bass. Theres no right or wrong. I refer back to my "sangwich" analogy a couple posts up. :p

In closing, the builder of this bass (Fred Bolton) is quite notorious for carving up some of the most slim and comfortable feeling bass necks around. ;)
 
#14
Hi BIG CHEETO, just wondering what happened to your 9-string? I've been checking in to see how the story continues, but so far there doesn't seem to be any development.

So any updates? Or are you eagerly still waiting for your new toy to arrive? If so, I know how this feels :hmm:

Looks absolutely amazing so far!
 
#16
yelemusic said:
Hi BIG CHEETO, just wondering what happened to your 9-string? I've been checking in to see how the story continues, but so far there doesn't seem to be any development.

So any updates? Or are you eagerly still waiting for your new toy to arrive? If so, I know how this feels :hmm:

Looks absolutely amazing so far!
Click to expand...

Hey, hows it going Yele!

Thanks for the great comment, I'm still floored by how purdy she's turning out :smug:

No further progress pics as of yet, but i have emailed back n' fourth a bit with the builder (Fred Bolton) and he told me he put a killer piece of Koa on the head stock and added a black veneer between the Maple head stock and the Koa cap. From what i remember, Freds now working on putting the flame Maple binding on the bookmatched acrylicised Ebony fretboard.

Do check back again soon for more progress pics, I may get some soon, and they'll be posted up here as soon as i get those in :bassist:

Thanks for tuning in!

David
 
#17
Tell the guy to hurry up then, I believe the entire community must be waiting to see this bass finished!
Once you have it, can you please post a vid of you playing it? I still can't imagine how a fretboard as wide as a motorway can be played :)
Maybe you hands are huge though, which would explain a lot :)
 
#19
bwv1013 said:
makes you wonder what Jaco would have done with something like that...

looks good man, keep us posted!
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Jaco is forever king.


Theres some really talented people out there with awesome abilities, who are very inspirational. Take this cat for instance. Found him on youtube and his ability to speak through his fingertips is truly inspiring to me. He goes by the user name "BASSRAN". He plays a Ken Smith 6er and slays with it. Ide like to get him to do a reveiw on my new 9. :smug: Check out some of his other stuff. Anybody heard of him?


 

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