Custom 5 string for Alex

[wilser]

Hey guys,
I've been building this bass for a few months now and didn't start a thread because Alex had already done so in the general basses forum. But what the heck! I have to be consistent!

Here's the specs:
- Model F (JukeBox)
- 3 piece qs maple neck
- 5 string bolt on
- swamp ash body
- wenge binding and block inlays
- wenge nut
- wenge transition block
- wenge/maple/wenge pickguard
- audere 3ZB 3 band pre
- nordstrand big splits pickups

It's almost finished and there have been a couple of set backs along the way, the biggest of all being that I used dye to blacken the epoxy used for the inlays and it soaked in the maple around it. I had to remove and discard the fingerboard and build a new one. This time I used wenge dust and epoxy, worked perfect! I suppose dye would have been fine if the surroundings were also black.

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Here's Alex's thread from the Basses forum which has earlier pics.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=335973

 

[Foxworthy925]

wow, looks great. very nice wood combo. got any pictures of the entire fretboard?

 

[Eric Perry]

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YOWZA!!!!

 

[Son of Magni]

Ya, that fingerboard, binding, and zerofret are pretty sweet!

 

[Reinholds]

I like that!
It looks just cool!
Post some images when all is ready!

 

[john turner]

wow, that wenge binding and wenge blocks looks awesome.

 

[cricketfever32]

holy $#!t thats one hot bass, amazing choice of woods ime, will that wenge nut survive use over a prolonged period of time?

 

[blizzard]

Thats insane, reminds of some kind of Lakland/Marcus Miller hybrid. Can't wait to see it finished.

 

[scottyd]

Nice!

 

[q1014]

wht is the zero fret for??

 

[wilser]

holy $#!t thats one hot bass, amazing choice of woods ime, will that wenge nut survive use over a prolonged period of time?

It should hold just fine as the strings don't rest on it, they just guide them from the zero fret to the tuners.

wht is the zero fret for??

Do a search, there's lot of info in this forum about it.

 

[scottyd]

Hey Wil is this your first bolt on? What steps are different than the normal set neck? (besides the glue )

 

[Greenman]

Looks good Wilser.

 

[wilser]

Hey Wil is this your first bolt on? What steps are different than the normal set neck? (besides the glue )

No, it's not my first. I do it the same way but I go for more of a gap between the neck and body to make up for finish build.

 

[Musiclogic]

Love the FB shot Will....Great combo....looks HOT...HOT...HOT....

 

[SDB Guitars]

That is right sexy... the wenge and maple set each other off so nicely. I've got to reconsider doing block inlays. I've always preferred a monochromatic fingerboard, but that is just gorgeous.

Do I see correctly that you actually sawed your fret slots through the binding, or is that just something my tired eyes are imagining?

 

[wilser]

...Do I see correctly that you actually sawed your fret slots through the binding, or is that just something my tired eyes are imagining?

Nope. Your eyes are not deceiving you.

 

[THIRSTYGUMS]

more great, clean work wil!, howd you get the wenge nut to hold, mine just fell to bits?

 

[stedtale]

looks awesome!

 

[erikbojerik]

Nope. Your eyes are not deceiving you.

It's a tricky thing here...with binding as thick as that, I think I'd do exactly this way and fill in the exposed slots with epoxy or black CA; I wouldn't want that much of the fret hanging tangless at the ends.

For a thinner binding, yeah..I'd leave it unslotted and nip the tangs.

Love the pickguard!