Another twelve string bass

[Basvarken]

And here's the third of the twelve string basses I've been building last few months.
After this I promise to keep quiet for a few months ;-)

Unlike the other two that are based on well known Gibson model, this one is my own design.


Brooks EB-N-12
- Mahogany body
- Bookmatched Flamed Maple top
- Smoked oak contrasting veneer in between layer
- Five ply Mahogany/Walnut set neck. Glued in
- Warm Honey stain
- High gloss transparent acrylic finish
- Ebony fretboard
- Mother of pearl position dots. 12th circle inlay
- Jumbo frets
- 34" scale
- Zero fret and buffalo horn nut
- ETS twelve string brass bridge set
- Two spokewheel double action trussrods
- Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck
- Lace Alumitone Bass Bar humbuckers
- Bourns volume pots
- Bourns Push-pull tone pots for humbucking / single coil
- Mallory 22nF capacitors
- Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners
- Gotoh Stealth ST 31 guitar tuners
- Pure Tone Multi Contact jack output
- d'Addario EXL 170 - 12 strings
- Weight: 4.25 kg

Electronics circuit by Bas Becu.

And a quick video to show you how she sounds



I'll share pics of the build process in posts below

 

[Basvarken]

I'm afraid I didn't photograph each and every step. Some essential parts of the build are missing. But you'll get the global idea. ;-)

The body is a two piece Khaya (Mahogany species)

The top is a bookmatched set of flamed maple which I scored at Holz Faszination in Germany

I put a layer of Smoked Oak veneer in between the Khaya and the Flamed Maple as a contrast layer.
I have no pics of the actual moment where I glue them together.

Routed the controls cavity first

Here's the result after I routed the body shape along the template

The routed the pickup cavities. And chiseled the corners square by hand

Routed the controls cover profile. And started shaping the bevels

Routed the neck pocket

Body looking good already

 

[Basvarken]

The neck is a five ply Khaya/Walnut laminate.
Quarter sawn. And the middle piece is turned 180 degrees. Should be very stabile

Routed the slot for the carbon reinforcement strip

And the two slots for the truss rods

Chiseled the part for the spoke wheels by hand

Sawed the headstock angle

Planed and shaved it nice and smooth

Made a ring for the 12th position marker

Drilled the holes for the position markers. They are 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 mm

Glued the inlays in and sanded them to the right radius

Made side position markers.

Hammered the frets in

Cut the excess off on the sides and filed/sanded it smooth

And the 12th side position is also a circle again

 

[Basvarken]

I put a layer of the same smoked oak that I used for the body on the headstock and topped it off with a veneer of mahogany

Shaped the neck profile and the heel

Drilled the holes for the tuners

Stained the body a dark brown to make the flame pop. After it dried, I sanded it back

Then stained the warm yellow

Wasn't happy with the yellow. It was supposed to be warm honey. Found it too yellow.


Started all over. Sanded back to bare and tried again...

Filled the pores on the back and neck. Decided not to stain it and keep it the natural (somewhat pale pink-ish) colour.

And sprayed quite a few layers of transparent lacquer. Lots of sanding in between..

Installed the tuners

Put strings on

 

[bholder]

Wow.

 

[PhatBasstard]

All your 12 string builds are just stunning works of art and a huge improvement
(especially functionality) over any other 12 out there.
I've just marveled (and drooled) over every one.