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Dark Stars!!

#61
This is one of the most pleasing pieces I have ever seen by any manufacturer. I am once again impressed by your design eye and skills in bringing the design into being.

Congratulations, Bud. How long have you been at this? It seems like you have attained a level of craftsmanship that is far beyond the time you have been doing this.
 
#62
elwood said:
This is one of the most pleasing pieces I have ever seen by any manufacturer. I am once again impressed by your design eye and skills in bringing the design into being.

Congratulations, Bud. How long have you been at this? It seems like you have attained a level of craftsmanship that is far beyond the time you have been doing this.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. The roots of my building go back many, many years. Even though I haven't been scratch building that long I've aquired lots of transferable skills along the way.
 
#64
The morning after.

As Letterman might say:

I B Hip-NO-tized

That body is something else.

The knobs and pups definitely work for me. Still don't like the bridge but may be that satin is reflecting light and doesn't look so different in person. Maybe a chrome bridge would work and continue the flow of the surrounds. Possibly chrome tuners but black may continue the asymetry of the pickgaurd/headstock tones. The F hole is good to go and probably better left untouched.

Interesting the resemblence between tones of the stone/mortar of the fireplace and the fingerboard/satin hardware. Noticed that last night.


Talk about a signature piece. I've never heard of any sanctioned luthier competition, but if there is one, you wouldn't come away-empty handed with this bass.

What's it sound like? How's it play? Anything you're disappointed in or would have done different? How long it take start to finish? You think you could cop that look with a second instrument?
 
#66
luknfur said:
What's it sound like? How's it play? Anything you're disappointed in or would have done different? How long it take start to finish? You think you could cop that look with a second instrument?
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Thanks for the kind words. I finished it late last night and didn't spend much time with it after it was all bolted together. I had it playing pretty good last night but it still needs a little minor adjusting. That's typical. Unplugged it's the loudest bass I've built so far, no doubt do to the chambered body. It's also very light and comfortable to play standing. It almost feels like a 32" scale bass for some reason. For some reason I thought the Dark Stars would be really hot, but they're very well balanced and quiet for a single coil pickup. I'd like to spend more time with it to get better aquainted with the pickups before giving a full review. I'll just say that I'm very pleased for now. I was surprised that it actually has a decent slap tone.

I'm very happy :D :D :D with the way it turned out. I don't think there's anything I could have done that would improve the design at this point. Maybe a chrome bridge, but that's just looks. I used a single action U-channel truss rod for this bass and it looks like it's going to be fine. I might use a dual action rod on future builds of this model, but at this point I don't see that as an issue and it doesn't really matter.

The bass took about 3 months to build. Hours? I don't have a clue. I could have done it faster, but the cold weather made for some poor spraying conditions, so I waited.

Sure, I could do it again. As caramelly good as this one looks I'd like to see one with some high contrast. Maybe ebony and holly and all black hardware.
 
#67
budman said:
Thanks for the kind words. I finished it late last night and didn't spend much time with it after it was all bolted together. I had it playing pretty good last night but it still needs a little minor adjusting. That's typical. Unplugged it's the loudest bass I've built so far, no doubt do to the chambered body. It's also very light and comfortable to play standing. It almost feels like a 32" scale bass for some reason. For some reason I thought the Dark Stars would be really hot, but they're very well balanced and quiet for a single coil pickup. I'd like to spend more time with it to get better aquainted with the pickups before giving a full review. I'll just say that I'm very pleased for now. I was surprised that it actually has a decent slap tone.

I'm very happy :D :D :D with the way it turned out. I don't think there's anything I could have done that would improve the design at this point. Maybe a chrome bridge, but that's just looks. I used a single action U-channel truss rod for this bass and it looks like it's going to be fine. I might use a dual action rod on future builds of this model, but at this point I don't see that as an issue and it doesn't really matter.

The bass took about 3 months to build. Hours? I don't have a clue. I could have done it faster, but the cold weather made for some poor spraying conditions, so I waited.

Sure, I could do it again. As caramelly good as this one looks I'd like to see one with some high contrast. Maybe ebony and holly and all black hardware.
Click to expand...

knowing what I know about the dark stars and looking at the positions of your pups, I'm not surprised at all that she is a good slapper. That bridge pickup is somewhere in classic 'ray territory and with a little neck dialed in and you have instant FAT tone.

Personally, I'd love to see one with an ash body, and highly figured cedar top and a locust fretboard.

I'd also love to see one done with a maple board, a mahogany body, maple top in Gibson Cherry Red (with an ebony faux pickguard and headstock laminate) (OUCH! GAS PAINS!)

IT'S SUCH A NICE BASS AND DESIGN, it would probably look and sound great is a whole HOST of combinations
 
#69
budman said:
Unplugged it's the loudest bass I've built so far, no doubt do to the chambered body.

It's also very light and comfortable to play standing.

It almost feels like a 32" scale bass for some reason.

For some reason I thought the Dark Stars would be really hot, but they're very well balanced and quiet for a single coil pickup.

Maybe a chrome bridge, but that's just looks.
Click to expand...


Sounds like it just keeps getting better. All pluses.

The Dark Stars are supposed to have a serious frequency range. Tried to get a guy to swap me one for a my extra Bongo but he decided to just buy the Bongo. He was talking about letting me mooch the Dark Star for a pup run but he'll probably just get the Bongo tomorrow so I don't expect to hear back from him till then. There was a pair of Dark Stars ebay a week ago that had Fender string spacing. I thought they were all EBO spaced. Yours may even have the Fender spacing, I didn't think to look for that.

Maybe a chrome bridge with black saddles/screws even. That may really reflect the pup mix. Hardware on a bass is like trim/tire-rim packages on a car, they can really change the look of the same vehicle.

I hoped you enjoyed working on that bass cause you may be cranking out a few more of those soon.
 

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