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A 9-String Bass

Son of Magni

Son of Magni

May 10, 2005
1,427
6
NH
www.thorbass.com
Disclosures
Builder: ThorBass
#1
It's not my first ERB, but is my first over 6 strings. I've learned a few things along the way, as I expected. In any case, here's a few pics I took along the way. Hopefully you'll enjoy them and learn from my mistakes ;)

I seem to have lost a few, so I'll fill in the gaps later after I look through the archives...

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#3
and fingerboard time...

Too wide for my slotting jig and can't get Ebony wide enough anyway. So bookmatched and joined after slotting. I guess I didn't take any pictures of that. After slotting the two pieces I put glue on the edges, butted them together and stuck veneer in the slots to make sure they stayed aligned.

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#5
Looking good, what's the spacing at the bridge? Your neck looks a lot smaller in width than mine (that sounds dodgy doesn't it :eyebrow: )

What sort of pickups are you using?

EDIT: nice touch for the bookmatched FB. Are you still cutting your fret slots by hand? I'm asking because I see you've got a table saw so you shouldn't have to worry about a wide neck if you've got the stewmac circular saw blade.
 
#6
Oh, and the woods used here are:

Macassar Ebony
Black Walnut
Bloodwood
Hard Maple
Katalox
Mahogany

Edit:
It's .675 at the bridge which comes to 17.1mm. Using Hipshot monorails.

More edit:
I'm using the CB series Bartolini pickups. Two 5-string / 4-string pairs set up like P's.
Slotting on the tablesaw... seems like it would be difficult to maintain accuracy. But I've never really looked into it. I'm using a jig that I think I got from stewmac and it is a pita to use :help:
 
#10
Not that it matters but do you use any other body shapes? All of your basses are really really nice so I was just wondering what all shapes you have lined out. Sweet job on this one so far!
 
#17
iamlowsound said:
So, when are you going to be at NAMM? You are one of the most talented, if not the most, builders on this board.

lowsound
Click to expand...

Yeah, people keep telling me I should go to NAMM. Eventually it will happen.

Most talented on this board? I think there's a few that might dispute that, me included :o But I do appreciate the sentiment!

Giel said:
What's that hole at the end of the trussrods?
Click to expand...

That's the adjustment end, you'll see when I get the next pics up.
 
#18
Here's a couple shots of preparing the body for the monorail bridges. There's an annoying bump on the bottom of the bridges that require extra routing. Then there's a picture of my only shop assistant helping me drill pickup mounting holes.

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#19
I had built from my standard body template and when I decided to use this one for a 9-string I reduced the wings a bit to compensate for the extra neck width. This caused some problems with the controls compartment. These pics show how I "fixed" it.

Lesson - plan ahead :hmm:

Then a pic showing the cool stuff you can get with neck lams when you *do* plan ahead.

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