Benavente 7 string fretless custom build pics!

[jasonmasters]

Okay guys and gals, I am beyond excitement. I finally scrounged together enough money to get a custom benavente 7 string single cut.

I'm lucky enough to live in the same town as Benavente so I'll be posting progress pics as my monstrosity is being built.

I know this is a bass that I will have for many years to come so I decided to look for the top woods myself.

Essentially this will be a bass that's tuned exactly the same as a 7 string guitar,only in the bass register.

After countless hours of online searching I found my dream piece of wood. An amazing piece of Maple burl that was big enough to have otherwise been made into a coffee table.

Here's a pic of the edges being chopped off

These little end pieces will make awesome pickup covers

This wood is freakin' amazing

Here she is bookmatched

He has some cutout stencils at his shop so you can get a good idea of what your wood will look like before its built

I ordered a piece of pale moon ebony for the fretboard. It hasn't arrived yet, but he had a small piece laying around so we could get the idea of what it would look like.

Thanks for checking out the pictures and look forward to more in the coming weeks!

 

[OnThaCouch]

Smokin' hot. Please keep us posted on the progress...and sound clips galore when she's finished and in yer hands. Congrats!!

 

[spade2you]

That's insane. Oddly enough, I think that's half the point!

 

[jasonmasters]

Will do! The fretboard arrives this weekend

 

[bassbenj]

Smokin' hot. Please keep us posted on the progress...and sound clips galore when she's finished and in yer hands. Congrats!!

Oh WOW! Just WOW!

 

[jasonmasters]

Do you guys think I sxhould get pickup covers or no?

 

[spade2you]

Do you guys think I sxhould get pickup covers or no?

Sure. I don't know if you've ever played a bass with a ramp, but I find a radiused pickup cover almost serves the same purpose of a ramp, but still allows you to utilize the open space between pickups for your free stroke.

 

[coyote1]

Just the top?

With a piece of burl that stunning, why not make the entire body from it? It's thick enough....

 

[GODSBASSMAN]

Yes on the pup covers. What is your string spacing spec.? That is going to be a beautiful monster.

 

[jasonmasters]

Just the top?

With a piece of burl that stunning, why not make the entire body from it? It's thick enough....

Its not quite strong enough wood to handle the tension of a 7 string bass. It will have a mahogany body, with the maple burl on the front and back, so it will have the same effect, just be more stable

 

[jasonmasters]

Yes on the pup covers. What is your string spacing spec.? That is going to be a beautiful monster.

I believe its 3/4 spacing

 

[jasonmasters]

I've never used pickup covers before. Do you guys have any experience with the pickup being less responsive because it has to be slightly further away from the strings?

 

[spade2you]

Do you guys have any experience with the pickup being less responsive because it has to be slightly further away from the strings?

No. The wood or plastic cover don't interfere with the magnetic signal. Keep in mind that there's generally some radius and the center strings will inevitably be further from the pickup than the outer strings.

 

[jasonmasters]

I'm not worried about the wood interfering, but depending on the thickness, the pickups will have to be lowered further away from the strings

 

[FunkMetalBass]

Oh.
My.
Gawd.


Do.Want.

 

[spade2you]

I'm not worried about the wood interfering, but depending on the thickness, the pickups will have to be lowered further away from the strings

Not significantly.

Just saw that this is going to be a fretless. You probably won't want to exceed 34" scale if you're adding a high F string. Shorter is better for the upper register.

My fretless 7 is 32" scale and uses a .035 high B and .025 high E. Tuning to B and E, as well as the 32" scale allow me to use the thicker strings. This was to avoid being too thin and nasal. Even then, my high string isn't very meaty.

 

[jasonmasters]

Not significantly.

Just saw that this is going to be a fretless. You probably won't want to exceed 34" scale if you're adding a high F string. Shorter is better for the upper register.

My fretless 7 is 32" scale and uses a .035 high B and .025 high E. Tuning to B and E, as well as the 32" scale allow me to use the thicker strings. This was to avoid being too thin and nasal. Even then, my high string isn't very meaty.

Good to hear from a fellow 7 stringer!

It's going to be a 34 inch scale. My main bass right now is already tuned as a 6 string guitar (down 1 step to D). For my high two strings I use a 28 and an unwound 18.

I'm not too worried about the high string being "meaty" I generally only use it for melodic diads. so it ends up being kind of a replacement for a droning keyboard note or something.

 

[Roscoe East]

Keep in mind that there's generally some radius and the center strings will inevitably be further from the pickup than the outer strings.

Wait, wut?

 

[jasonmasters]

Yeah I didn't quite understand that...

 

[spade2you]

Wait, wut?

Look at a flat top pickup. The outer strings will be closer to the pickup than the inner strings simply due to the radius of the neck.