I had this built by a luthier friend. What do you think?

[Valvehead]

EDIT: Check out the building process pictures on page 5 of this thread. Thanks!

My long time buddy and great guitarist Vincent had been asking me for ages "If I built you a bass what would you like?"

I combined qualities and ideas from other basses I owned and still own, and came up with this passive bass. He built it for me and it has everything I dreamed up in there.

Ideas I came up with myself:

- The lacquered Bubinga fretboard. I dig Rics.
- Dual Jazz pickup with mode and coil switches.
- Slanted neck pickup for a more evenly 'rich' sound across the strings.
- Purpleheart+Maple laminated neck. I just LOVE the look of Purpleheart.

I drew up the schematic for the electronics myself, too and selected the ABM solid brass bridge.

Vincent did all the work, including custom building those pickups to achieve the tonal qualities I described to him.

As a luthier, can you tell me what you think of the design and execution?
The headstock shape is the standard shape he uses for all his 'Fenderish' like models. At first this looked bulky to me but once I got used to it I actually now like it.

Cheers, Marco

 

[Beej]

Looks nice. I like the veneer under the fretboard, that's a nice detail to separate the colours between the neck and fretboard. What are the body woods?

 

[PBassPaul]

I'm no luthier but that is beautiful.

 

[bholder]

Nice.

 

[JRA]

i'm hardly a luthier, but i thought i'd chime in with some support for your new ax...and it's easy for me to get excited over great pics of neat axes! i think it's a beauty! the fact that you got the features you wanted makes it special/priceless, too. i'm looking at that piece as your NBD = congratulations on your new instrument!

 

[Valvehead]

Looks nice. I like the veneer under the fretboard, that's a nice detail to separate the colours between the neck and fretboard. What are the body woods?

Body woods are red cedar with a european black walnut top.
We picked the piece of cedar after knocking on a bunch of pieces and this one seemed to be more resonant.
The walnut is simply there for aesthetics. After lacquering it gave us a nice flame on the upper horn and upper body, too!

The veneer between the bubinga fretboard and purpleheart neck was added indeed to better seperate those two. We thought their colours would otherwise not work well together. This was Vincent's idea.

 

[Picton]

Love it. Congratulations.

I see what you mean on the headstock shape. My first reaction is that it looks sort of weird, but I know I'd get to like it if I was playing it.

 

[gtmalone]

Excellent workmanship! Love the purpleheart. I like the cutaway on the headstock but a personal preference would more rounded on the tip.

How heavy is it?

 

[bassfreakah]

Sweet bro!!

 

[Cut the middle]

Sweet headstock too!

 

[Drifter8230]

That's a really cool looking bass, I really like the finish especially on the fretboard.

 

[bassbrad]

Excellent design choices and stellar execution. That is a beautiful tone beast.

 

[Seashore]

Cedar body, what a cool idea. And what a neck. This is beautiful. Would love to know more details about the control layout.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

My long time buddy and great guitarist Vincent had been asking me for ages "If I built you a bass what would you like?"

I combined qualities and ideas from other basses I owned and still own, and came up with this passive bass. He built it for me and it has everything I dreamed up in there.

Ideas I came up with myself:

- The lacquered Bubinga fretboard. I dig Rics.
- Dual Jazz pickup with mode and coil switches.
- Slanted neck pickup for a more evenly 'rich' sound across the strings.
- Purpleheart+Maple laminated neck. I just LOVE the look of Purpleheart.

I drew up the schematic for the electronics myself, too and selected the ABM solid brass bridge.

Vincent did all the work, including custom building those pickups to achieve the tonal qualities I described to him.

As a luthier, can you tell me what you think of the design and execution?
The headstock shape is the standard shape he uses for all his 'Fenderish' like models. At first this looked bulky to me but once I got used to it I actually now like it.

Cheers, Marco

View attachment 4005594 View attachment 4005595 View attachment 4005596 View attachment 4005597 View attachment 4005598 View attachment 4005599 View attachment 4005600 View attachment 4005601 View attachment 4005602

Looks amazing

 

[Killing Floor]

Looks really sharp. The neck is pretty, love the contrast. Nice idea on the electronics. And the contour on top makes the flame pop even more. Very nice. I hope you enjoy it.

 

[ComicBass]

Gorgeous!

 

[ctmullins]

First, congratulations! That bass looks great, very well executed. I love the slanted neck pickup, I love the custom control plate, and I love the woods!

Having built a few basses myself, I have two comments:

1. I would have rounded off the neck heel, eliminating one of the screws, for better upper fret access.
   
2. Purpleheart tends to be heavy, and there is a lot of purpleheart in that neck. How is the balance?

 

[Valvehead]

Excellent workmanship! Love the purpleheart. I like the cutaway on the headstock but a personal preference would more rounded on the tip.

How heavy is it?

4.4kg
9.7lbs

 

[MeLikeBass]

Damn thats nice

 

[mikeyjm2]

I like it. Question on the slanted neck pickup (since I've never owned a bass with that feature): is the purpose to get less "boomy" tone on the E and A strings? Always wondered about that.