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My six taking shape...

#41
I did ace it- it wouldn't work with the layout of the bridge. I'm kind of at a standstill right now, what with just having bought a house that was in need of some TLC. Moving is only part of the equation. I am having to remodel a room at a time because the people who lived there before were absolute PIGS. They hadn't cleaned in over five years, so you can imagine the dust horses...they were dust bunnies about 4 1/2 years ago. I actually have a few pics off my camera phone (can't find my real camera right now), I'll see if I can post a few over the next day or two. Thanks for the kind words- I'm really learning a whole lot over this slow process.

One of the things that kills me is when people who have no clue about what is involved with designing and building basses ask "Y'ain't done yit?" Oooooh, makes me wanna CHOKE them! No, it's not finished yet, I still have some really complex woodworking to do that requires my friend's shop to properly execute. He built a combination lock out of wood, that works, with absolutely no metal in it at all! All wood. If he can do that, I feel he is qualified to help me with my project. He gives me good advice, and the only tools I can't use are his router and radial arm saw (for liability purposes). I can live with him making a cut or two on my wood, we triple-measure everything before we commence with the making of expensive sawdust. I also have almost enough wood left over to build another whole bass, thanks to his help with layout. The man can economize his @$$ off when it comes to cuts!

The fiber-optic routs are next on the list- I plan on doing them in my shop, with a Dremel and a drill press attachment- kind of turning it into a router. My fingerboard has been stored in a somewhat humid climate- his mudroom- with about 50 lbs of wood stacked on it, he checks it every weekend for warpage, none so far. Now if it would cool down in his shop (no A/C) enough to work in I'd be much closer to being done...maybe I'll be done by Christmas... :confused:
 
#50
It's going to be from the same board as the back, but a slightly different place. Should be near invisible. Got some neodym magnets coming, about the size of a pencil eraser. I will embed the magnets in the body, then have a piece of steel flush-mounted in the cover. The steel is thinner, that's why it is going into the cover. The cover should be a little less than 1/4" thick. A thin coat of epoxy will help it slide.
 
#51
Bassic83 said:
It's going to be from the same board as the back, but a slightly different place. Should be near invisible. Got some neodym magnets coming, about the size of a pencil eraser. I will embed the magnets in the body, then have a piece of steel flush-mounted in the cover. The steel is thinner, that's why it is going into the cover. The cover should be a little less than 1/4" thick. A thin coat of epoxy will help it slide.
Click to expand...

I discovered this past weekend that that combination of magnets and steel may not be enough. Talking with Gard at Roscoe, he tells me that Sheldon Dingwall uses huge magnets to hold his coverplates on. I asked about any potential problems with stray magnetic interference and the electronics but it was confirmed by more than one guy there at the GTG that there isn't anything happening there. Sheldon uses 3/8" or bigger slugs of neodymium. The small ones like you've got and I use have proven to work best only in matched pairs so that it's magnet to magnet.

BTW, that is becoming a most remarkable instrument. That's a technicolor top if there ever was one. You need to finish it so you can get better so you can finish them faster so we can see them quicker! :D
 
#53
Hambone said:
I discovered this past weekend that that combination of magnets and steel may not be enough. Talking with Gard at Roscoe, he tells me that Sheldon Dingwall uses huge magnets to hold his coverplates on. I asked about any potential problems with stray magnetic interference and the electronics but it was confirmed by more than one guy there at the GTG that there isn't anything happening there. Sheldon uses 3/8" or bigger slugs of neodymium. The small ones like you've got and I use have proven to work best only in matched pairs so that it's magnet to magnet.

BTW, that is becoming a most remarkable instrument. That's a technicolor top if there ever was one. You need to finish it so you can get better so you can finish them faster so we can see them quicker! :D
Click to expand...
Point noted...I'll have to do some testing. If it doesn't work the way I want, I may end up screwed...literally! Perhaps I will end up with a really pretty wall ornament, but I am prepared for that. I could always mock up a set of wood pickup covers and hang it on the wall... :D

But seriously, I should talk with Gard about this. He's got one of my best friend's basses in the pipeline as we speak. Once I get my shop electrified, it'll be faster.
 
#56
Used a mill at work to get a great fit on my pickups...here's a couple crappy cell phone shots.
 

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#59
Sure can- they're Q-Tuners from Neophyzix in the Netherlands. Erno Zwaan, author of "Animal Magnetism for Musicians" is one of the principals of that company. He and his small staff were very helpful with technical assistance and any number of questions I had. They are handmade at the time of order, they also have J-style pickups available, and they have incredible harmonic content, as well as output. They were $300 USD for the pair. Their coils are wound vertically, cast in clear epoxy, hence the red appearance. The magnets are neodymium, they are humbuckers, and look ten times better in person.

There are rows of small setscrews on the front and back edges, and down the middle. Apparently you can "tune" the resonant frequencies by adjusting these three rows either up or down. They function similarly to the polepieces on the old Carvin humbuckers of the 70s-80s. Lots of them, there isn't just one or two polepieces per string, there are a whole bunch of them for a truly customizable pickup- you can actually notch out wolf frequencies per string, if need be.
 
#60
That's looking nice! Interesting shape, borrows from a few things (as all designs do) but is original- and pleasing. Should look great with a roundover.
Bassic83 said:
you can actually notch out wolf frequencies per string, if need be.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't count on that. By changing the shape of the field, you can make it act as a wide-aperture or a narrow-aperture pickup- with the resultant upper harmonic response compexity and partial attenuation, or lack thereof. But if you've got an actual wolf tone, that's an aspect of the mechanical resonances of the neck/body/string machine, and the pickup response will not be able to correct it.
 

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