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Ken Lawrence "Joust" 11-string
- Thread starter Jean Baudin
- Start date
Hehe, when people ask me what folks do with that many strings, I always show them the video Jean posted of him playing Bach:
Link Removed
(Hope its cool for me to post that Jean, if not, shoot me a PM and I'll take it down immediately. Figured was cool since its on the boards here someplace hehe)
Link Removed
(Hope its cool for me to post that Jean, if not, shoot me a PM and I'll take it down immediately. Figured was cool since its on the boards here someplace hehe)
Stewmc5222 said:looks like some kind of mutant wenge... delicious!
Looks like Spalted Katalox or something to me, the dark heart wood, the light sap wood riddled with spalt, but it does look a bit too white rather than yellow in the sap wood to be Katalox. Im curious as well hehe.
- Aug 27, 2003
- 1,413
- 183
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: See Profile
Glad you guys are digging the bass and thanks for the compliments. The kudos really go to Ken, I'm just the guy who will have the pleasure to play it.
here's the specs:
Ken Lawrence Joust 11-string C-Brase I
- Spalted Brazilian Rosewood Top & Headstock Cap
- North Eastern Ash Body (Chambered)
- Wenge Neck with Purpleheart/Maple Stringers
- 2 Dual Function Truss Rods and Graphite Beam
- Katalox Fingerboard
- Katalox Tail & Bridge Cradle (w/ ABM Saddles)
- Multi-scale "Fanned Frets: 35" - 30.5"
- Compound Angle Headstock (the headstock twists)
- Custom Body Template
- 15mm Spacing (same for all my customs)
- tuning: F#, B, E, A, D, G, C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab
- Purpleheart/Wenge/Purpleheart Veneer Theme
(under headstock, top, heel, tail, etc.)
- Purple lighted Fiber-Optic / Mop Sidedots
- Katalox Push-button on/off switch for Optics
- 2 Custom Seymour Duncan Pickups (KL's spec)
- Brazilian Rosewood / Katalox Pickup Covers
- Custom Ken Lawrence Preamp
- Joust inlay in White, Gold, Black & Red Pearls + Legal Ivory
- Katalox Knobs by THG Knobs
- Hipshot Ultra-lite Tuners (Black)
- Custom Fodera Strings
- Hand-rubbed Oil and Wax finish
Ken has been great to work with and I've been out to his shop a few times (yes, it really is that clean).
The bass that attracted me to Ken was a fretless with the same top. When we intially measured the body, it was too wide for the remaining pieces he had of the same wood so I had to go with something else. 5 months later when he had the body template done (he was finishing other basses - it didn't take him 5 months to make a template) we went through his wood supply again to pick a top and we discovered that the the last piece of Brazillian rosewood piece he had just happened to fit within a few millimeters.
The body was redesigned to accomodate the fanned frets (look at the tail) and he also completed resized the body so it wouldn't have that tiny body / big neck look of most ERBs (conklin excepted) - I'm not knocking any extended range basses out there - I'm just a big guy and I need a big bass -
. Instrument weight is not an issue with me, regardless this will probably weigh about the same as the Conklin Pac-9 (14-15lbs). In comparison, The Hideous Claw will probably clock in around 20lbs.
This bass will also be tuned with a high Ab string instead of Low C# (hence the shorter scale). Ken tested it and I shouldn't have a problem using a .09 or .07 for the high Ab with good tension (not too tight, not too loose), so I will have zero issues handing this to someone and worrying about the high string snapping. Though, it will be designed to work in either direction if need be.
Again, thanks for comments everybody - this really is a stunning bass... the next couple of basses won't have a video game theme but yes, I hope to have more video game themed basses in the future (no leisure suit larry!
).... when? what? You guys will just have to wait and see. 
here's the specs:
Ken Lawrence Joust 11-string C-Brase I
- Spalted Brazilian Rosewood Top & Headstock Cap
- North Eastern Ash Body (Chambered)
- Wenge Neck with Purpleheart/Maple Stringers
- 2 Dual Function Truss Rods and Graphite Beam
- Katalox Fingerboard
- Katalox Tail & Bridge Cradle (w/ ABM Saddles)
- Multi-scale "Fanned Frets: 35" - 30.5"
- Compound Angle Headstock (the headstock twists)
- Custom Body Template
- 15mm Spacing (same for all my customs)
- tuning: F#, B, E, A, D, G, C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab
- Purpleheart/Wenge/Purpleheart Veneer Theme
(under headstock, top, heel, tail, etc.)
- Purple lighted Fiber-Optic / Mop Sidedots
- Katalox Push-button on/off switch for Optics
- 2 Custom Seymour Duncan Pickups (KL's spec)
- Brazilian Rosewood / Katalox Pickup Covers
- Custom Ken Lawrence Preamp
- Joust inlay in White, Gold, Black & Red Pearls + Legal Ivory
- Katalox Knobs by THG Knobs
- Hipshot Ultra-lite Tuners (Black)
- Custom Fodera Strings
- Hand-rubbed Oil and Wax finish
Ken has been great to work with and I've been out to his shop a few times (yes, it really is that clean).
The bass that attracted me to Ken was a fretless with the same top. When we intially measured the body, it was too wide for the remaining pieces he had of the same wood so I had to go with something else. 5 months later when he had the body template done (he was finishing other basses - it didn't take him 5 months to make a template) we went through his wood supply again to pick a top and we discovered that the the last piece of Brazillian rosewood piece he had just happened to fit within a few millimeters.
The body was redesigned to accomodate the fanned frets (look at the tail) and he also completed resized the body so it wouldn't have that tiny body / big neck look of most ERBs (conklin excepted) - I'm not knocking any extended range basses out there - I'm just a big guy and I need a big bass -
. Instrument weight is not an issue with me, regardless this will probably weigh about the same as the Conklin Pac-9 (14-15lbs). In comparison, The Hideous Claw will probably clock in around 20lbs.This bass will also be tuned with a high Ab string instead of Low C# (hence the shorter scale). Ken tested it and I shouldn't have a problem using a .09 or .07 for the high Ab with good tension (not too tight, not too loose), so I will have zero issues handing this to someone and worrying about the high string snapping. Though, it will be designed to work in either direction if need be.
Again, thanks for comments everybody - this really is a stunning bass... the next couple of basses won't have a video game theme but yes, I hope to have more video game themed basses in the future (no leisure suit larry!
).... when? what? You guys will just have to wait and see. 
Geoff St. Germaine
Commercial User
- Aug 31, 2001
- 6,267
- 302
- Disclosures
- Owner - St. Germaine Guitars
Juneau said:
Yeah, I'm thinking that it looks like Katalox as well. KL is known for using that wood quite a bit too.
So, did anyone else think that that was a ghost maestro holding a baton before they looked at the other pics?
