benavente bass building machine

The back of that ebony one is amazing!

Holy smokes!

 

Wow that -is- awesome!! The hollowbody too!!

 

Major GAS attack!

 

That thick hollowbody looks like it might be very uncomfortable to drape one's right forearm over, with its lack of body contour.

They are pretty, though.

 

Most hollow bodies are thick... if you don't like a thick body, then get a chambered or a solid body.

 

I think his point was that a contour at the location that the forearm touches the body could be incorporated into the design. He wasn't arguing that it shouldn't be thick.

 

Exactly.

 

That wood and finish is beautiful , lots of great character right their.

 

That tabaccoburst finish is gorgeous. And what is that wood? Flamed Spalted Maple or something?

*drool*

 

The back's nice but I wanna see the front!

 

Thanks Geoff for pointing that out!

Do you mean like this?
http://www.roballenguitars.com/info_mb2.html

Or this?
http://www.renaissanceguitars.com/rb4fl.html

Or the one this guy's playing?
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=36903

Thick body, no contour... I'm not aware of a hollowbody that has such a contour. I'm not referring to a chambered mind you-- that's a different design altogether. I'm referring to hollowbody instruments (like the one that started the discussion) that are made out of thin wood held together at the joints by kerfing and glue, as opposed bodies carved from a block of wood.

So, with regard to hollow bodied basses with the arm contour: Is there one? Please enlighten me... please show me an example!

 

Heh, found it in the older pics

 

Yes, I'm aware that Allen and Turner don't do it. I'm also of the opinion that if it were done, the instrument would be more comfortable to play. It is a desired feature for a 1.75" thick slab body, and it would be all the more desirable on a 3.00" body.

I'm also aware that, even with acoustic-style rather than chambered-solid-style construction, it is quite possible:

There's another maker that does this as well, whose url I can't find at the moment.

 

You don't need to be sarcastic... it just comes across as an attempt to be insulting.

First off, last I looked, this was still a chambered instrument rather than the full on hollowbody that you're trying to describe. I make that comment based on this image:

http://www.thelowend.net/gallery/images/benavente/underconstruction/2005pics/09-18-05/PA160041.JPG

As far as I've seen, these basses are most similar to what Conklin builds, being 3" thick with a heavily chambered body. The Conklins have arm contours. http://www.conklinguitars.com/facebass/9gallery/9blackwhite.html

I don't see any evidence of kerfed joints being used on the Benavente, but I could be wrong. Anyway, it would be more work, but it is easy to bend a top on an instrument with such a thin top wood. Full acoustics have a lot more bending than this would require. I'm not saying he has to do it, or that it is bad without it, but that IME it is more comfortable for me to play a bass with a forearm contour. Even slab bodied basses feel more comfortable with a contour.

 

Since the cat is outta the bag. I was waiting to reveal the hollowbody at NAMM 06. So here goes: As for thickness, that will be variable ( I am currently doing a fretless that is half the thicknes). The body of this particular bass is one piece of Figured Redwood (2 pieces will be used most of the time but I had the Redwood). The top is Port Orford Cedar. I am going for acoustic type tone without acoustic feel (please, before anyone starts something, note that I am not attempting to perfectly recreate the sound that an acoustic bass can offer. But after hearing it already, I gotta say it aint too bad). This bass is so comfortable that you don't really notice it's thickness. Acoustic basses are far thicker and more bulkier to play. This one is not. It will be standard with RMC Bass Excellence saddles and the Benavente 3 band EQ. It can however be loaded with magnetics if so desired (but that was not my initial concept). It also can be ordered as a bolt-on. Hope no one calls spam on me as I am just pre answering any and some of the questions that may and have popped up.

 

A canadian luthier Linda Manzer makes acoustic guitars where the whole front face slopes in at the top slightly. I would have thought it would cause some hefty acoustic problems having angles like that, but for anyone that's heard Pat Metheny's 'One quiet night' album they would know her instruments sound incredible.

http://www.manzer.com/results.tmpl?...=lconstruction.db&eqclassdata=Custom+Features

 

I stand corrected. Thank you for jumping in on this thread to correct me. (note: no sarcasm is intended-- I really mean it.)

 

Cool!

 

Yes, it appeared that you'd missed the whole point and seemed to think that you couldn't put a forearm contour on such an instrument. Sorry for attempting to clarify it, I guess that upsets you.

It's only the internet, dude.