New bass for Tom Petersson

[Basvarken]

Hooray!
A new Brooks bass was born.
The EXB-12-TP White Falcon

Built for none other than Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick.

Specifications:
- Korina body
- Nine-ply Korina/mahogany neck. Glued in
- Vintage White finish
- Checkerboard binding
- Ebony fretboard
- Mothe of pearl position dots. Two brass rings in 12th position
- Jumbo frets
- 30 1/2" scale
- Buffalo horn nut
- Acrylic pickguard Gold
- ETS Custom made twelve string bridge set. Gold
- Two spokewheel double action trussrods
- Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck
- Gemini Dominator in the neck position. Gold
- Gemini Devastator in the middle position. Gold
- Pure Tone output. Gold
- 3-way pickup selector toggle switch. Gold
- Gotoh GB350 bass tuners. Gold
- Schaller GrandTune tuners. Gold, Pearloid button
- d'Addario custom strings
- Weight 4.9kg

I'll share pics of the build process in separate posts below

 

[Basvarken]

The bass has a Korina (White Limba) body.

The blank was rather heavy. So I drilled some holes for weight relief

Then glued a matching Korina top onto the body bank

Routed the body outline along a template

And on the back side routed the profiles fo the controls covers

 

[ThudThudThud]

Can you imagine being a guitar tech for Cheap Trick? How much time would you spend changing strings?
12 string basses, 12 string guitars, Telecasters, then all Rick Nielson's multiple guitars - some with multiple necks....
It must take all day, and their string budget must be immense.

 

[Basvarken]

Routed the profile for the first step of the checkerboard binding

Glued the binding in. The outer black strip only functions as a carrier for the black and white blocks.

Then routed the second channel for the final outer binding

And gued the outer (black) binding in place. And tied the corners with rubber strips while the glue hardened

 

[Basvarken]

Then moved on to the neck

Routed the slot for the carbon reinforcement strip first.

Then the slots for the two trussrods.
On necks with two trussrods I let them follow the taper of the neck.

Made two covers for the part near the spokewheel that sits deeper.

 

[Basvarken]

Sawed the angle for the headstock and planed it smooth.

Then cut of the rough outline

Prepared the fretboard for fretting.
(inlays were already done here. No pics of that process, sorry)

Hammered the frets in

And glued it onto the neck

Made the truss rod cover

 

[Basvarken]

Shaped the heel for the neck joint

Routed the neck pocket

Before I glued the neck in I drilled the holes for the tuners

Made the side position markers

For the 12th position I made brass rings. The brass will match the gold hardware nicely

Routed the pickup cavities

Drilled the output hole on the side of the body

And the holes for the pots

Finally glued the neck in

 

[Basvarken]

Starting to look like a bass already

Filled the pores with Z-poxy.

And sanded it as smooth as possible

Then sprayed sanding sealer and primer

Then sprayed the nitrocellulose Vintage White color

After several layers of acrylic clear I applied the decals

Sprayed the face of the headstock black
And applied the decals

Ready to polish

Mounted the hardware.
I laser cut the gold acrylic pickguard by the way

 

[5StringBlues]

Crazy cool and well executed.


Quality work, sir.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Very impressive build! Is working for a “name” like that more stressful? I have a hard time satisfying myself, let alone a famous bassist. Very fine work indeed.

I’ve done (3) basses now with checker binding, I was wondering why you cut the two binding “ledges” separately? I’ve always cut both and then applied first the inner then outer binding in two passes, or both simultaneously, which avoids the inner layer “toeing out”, but is harder to bend. Do you get a truer ledge on the outer by letting the template bit follow the binding instead of the body outline? Do you glue both inner and outer binding in the same pass?

 

[Basvarken]

Very impressive build! Is working for a “name” like that more stressful? I have a hard time satisfying myself, let alone a famous bassist. Very fine work indeed.

I’ve done (3) basses now with checker binding, I was wondering why you cut the two binding “ledges” separately? I’ve always cut both and then applied first the inner then outer binding in two passes, or both simultaneously, which avoids the inner layer “toeing out”, but is harder to bend. Do you get a truer ledge on the outer by letting the template bit follow the binding instead of the body outline? Do you glue both inner and outer binding in the same pass?

Thank you. No, it is not more stressful. But I do feel pressure when someone pays a lot of money for a bass. I feel have to live up to that. And I never feel I really can... I think I suffer from imposter-syndrome.


I can't really follow the method you describe.

But the way I do it is because the black and white binding is not very tall. Plus the outside binding is not very flexible. It tends to break on the sharper corners. It is really only meant as a carrier for the black and white blocks.
Plus the strips of checkerboard are rather short. I really do not want several seams in the outer binding!

So I glue the strips of checkerboard in. Around the corners that is usually done block by block!

And then route the second and taller profile. Cutting away the outer carrier that is now obsolete because the black and white blocks are glued to the body.
By the way: The router bearing follows the body outline. Not the binding outline.

Then I glue in the outer binding. Which is one long strip without any seams.
I soften the binding with a hair dryer to make it bend easier around the sharp corners.

 

[Gaolee]

That bass is an absolute knock-out.

 

[60bass]

WOW that's an absolutely fabulous looking bass. Well done sir. VERY well done.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

No doubt the checker binding is finicky stuff, the version I’ve been using is from Winfield Vintage, and it’s real celluloid. I’ve ruined more than my share of it by getting it just slightly too hot with a heat gun, and having it deform. I managed to IGNITE some of it briefly, very exciting. I think I see what you mean about cutting away the sacrificial “carrier”, very clever.

 

[J Wilson]

This will obviously pair with FCS White Falcon Twelve. Fabulous work as always, and no hiccups in shipping this one??

 

[mambo4]

love the binding

 

[PrimitiveMan]

Awesome design and execution!

 

[Sjobi 1]

So sick!!

 

[Albert Ross]

Beautiful bass! I really enjoy seeing your build posts here on TB.

 

[BassicJazzy]

Hooray!
A new Brooks bass was born.
The EXB-12-TP White Falcon

Built for none other than Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick.

Specifications:
- Korina body
- Nine-ply Korina/mahogany neck. Glued in
- Vintage White finish
- Checkerboard binding
- Ebony fretboard
- Mothe of pearl position dots. Two brass rings in 12th position
- Jumbo frets
- 30 1/2" scale
- Buffalo horn nut
- Acrylic pickguard Gold
- ETS Custom made twelve string bridge set. Gold
- Two spokewheel double action trussrods
- Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck
- Gemini Dominator in the neck position. Gold
- Gemini Devastator in the middle position. Gold
- Pure Tone output. Gold
- 3-way pickup selector toggle switch. Gold
- Gotoh GB350 bass tuners. Gold
- Schaller GrandTune tuners. Gold, Pearloid button
- d'Addario custom strings
- Weight 4.9kg

I'll share pics of the build process in separate posts below

Beautiful, as are all your creations.