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Headless full carbon fiber bass

MPU

MPU

Sep 21, 2004
3,703
10,692
56
Valkeala Finland
#1
I knew this was coming when I first started to mess up with carbon fiber. One thing lead to another and here it is, my first mold-made carbon fiber composite bass.
First I made a wooden plug just like the bass would be. Ten coats of mold wax, some modelling clay and the back was ready for making a mold. I used silica thickened epoxy resin as gel coat and epoxy resin and about palm sized pieces of glass fiber cloth for laminating. I aimed for 2mm thickness.
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The same was made for top as well. Molds were supported with urethane foam and rigid wooden surround.
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Molds were sanded to 2000 and polished, then waxed ten coats. Fretboard will be Diamondwood so no need for making a mold of it. Under the fretboard will be just a flat piece of carbon fiber composite that can be made without a mold.
 
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#2
Several layers of carbon fiber cloth is laminated in the mold. Top or in this case bottom layer is wowen cloth, the rest is biaxial cloth. I laminated 0/90 deg and 45/45 deg layers, mostly 0/90 deg. Excess resin was sucked away with vacuum. Vacuum also pressed the laminates to the mold. Thickness of the composite shell is around 2mm, a bit more on the sides of the back piece.

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#3
After curing a few days in +30deg C I took the pieces out of the mold. I used Dremel with diamond cutting wheel to cut the body halves in right shape. Quite a lot of fine tuning and sanding was needed to make a perfect fit between pieces. I laminated a center beam to the back of the body and a cavity for the truss rod. Oh and there is wood in this bass too. I glued two pieces of plywood for strap lock positions.

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#4
Hollow or solid? Well, my previous cf necks and bodies there has always been some kind of core so solid it is. I used 2-part urethane foam as core. Foam was poured in the back piece. Once it had hardened it was carefully shaped into the curvature of the inside of the top half.

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If you look carefully you may see a small cavity for a fillet carved on the back. I filled it with silica/graphite thickened epoxy, laid a layer of thickened epoxy on the foam and pressed the top over the foam.
 
#5
A flat piece of 2mm cf composite was glued on the neck in similar way as the top. After that it was just like your usual bass building. Gluing the fretboard (don't forget the trussrod!), sanding the radius, fretting, routing for cavities (Dremel with carbide bits works great on carbon fiber), final sanding, clearcoating, fret work, assembly and...

One exception. All screws have a brass threaded insert.

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#9
And here it is, carbon fiber composite MPU headless four stringer with custom wound MPU ceramic three coil MM pickup where I can use the two neck side coils or the coils nearest to the edges of pickup. Does it make a difference? Well, listen yourself. Controls are volume with lift switch for coil switching.
Weight is 2.750kg.

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And the sound clip. It has a bit worn strings but with new steel Rotosounds I have on it now it sounds even better. I have to say that I'm very pleased with the sound and playability of this bass. As for looks the are some small imperfections on the woven top layer but hey, I'm not Rob Green who has made hundreds of cf basses.

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#13
Beej said:
Amazing, I hope you're proud! :)
Click to expand...
I have to admit that I am. I had a little devil in me when I read in multiple sites that you can't make a carbon fiber instrument without spending zillions of $$ in autoclaves, prepregs, cold rooms, metal molds etc. I have a backround in glassfiber boat building so I knew what skills and tools it takes to make a mold and a product with it. This one cost around 400€ (including molds which were about 150€) without hardware so it was not cheap but not very expensive either. Exotic woods can easily cost more than that.
 
#14
cnltb said:
Very nice!
Just wondering why you chose a status body shape.
Why did you?
Click to expand...

It's not a Status shape, it's a slim singlecut headless shape. Surely the shape is inspired by Status Streamline. Just like the countless basses are inspired by Fender.
One reason is that this shape is easily releasable from a mold. More complex shape with horns and bigger body would be more difficult to release as well as more expensive to make. And I wanted a slim bass but not a paddle like Steinbergers. And I admire the work of Rob Green so much that I wanted to make something following his wonderful ideas but not being a copy.
 
#17
MPU said:
It's not a Status shape, it's a slim singlecut headless shape. Surely the shape is inspired by Status Stealth. Just like the countless basses are inspired by Fender.
One reason is that this shape is easily releasable from a mold. More complex shape with horns and bigger body would be more difficult to release as well as more expensive to make. And I wanted a slim bass but not a paddle like Steinbergers. And I admire the work of Rob Green so much that I wanted to make something following his wonderful ideas but not being a copy.
Click to expand...

Whilst to me this clearly does come extremely close to being a streamline copy in terms of shape ( it is not the same shape?), I really don't mind!
I like this one!:)
What I prefer on yours is the single pickup and the single pot, rather than the more complex arrangement on the status.
is this bass passive?
 
#18
cnltb said:
Whilst to me this clearly does come extremely close to being a stealth copy in terms of shape ( it is not the same shape?), I really don't mind!
I like this one!:)
What I prefer on yours is the single pickup and the single pot, rather than the more complex arrangement on the status.
is this bass passive?
Click to expand...

Passive yes. I like simple controls too. It's easy to find the same sound when all I have to do is turn the volume full on and choose between two coil options.
The shape is not the same as Streamline, it is totally drawn by me. The basic idea of the body is coming from Status for sure.
 
#19
cnltb said:
Whilst to me this clearly does come extremely close to being a stealth copy in terms of shape ( it is not the same shape?), I really don't mind!
I like this one!:)
What I prefer on yours is the single pickup and the single pot, rather than the more complex arrangement on the status.
is this bass passive?
Click to expand...

Stealth? This looks more like a single pickup prototype of the Streamliner.

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Still, if I could make my own graphite bass, I would. Not a skill set I possess.
 

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