New Hack 8 string bass in progress

[Geoff St. Germaine]

Well, now that I'm settled into my new place in Winnipeg, I may have a bit of time to work on this bass that I pretty much started on when the first 8 string was finished a year ago.

The specs are:
-8 string fretless bass
-7-piece maple/wenge throughneck
-walnut body with koa top and flamed maple accent
-acrylized wenge fingerboard
-dual truss rods, 3 graphite rods

Some of the other things aren't settled yet. I'll probably go with Nordstrand pickups, Sperzel tuners and the same ETS indi bridges. I'm not sure on whether it will be passive or have an active eq.

So far the neck is glued up (it is from the same black as the fretted 8 I built), the scarf joint is glued, the body wings are nearly ready to be glued to the neck and the, the truss rod/graphite channels are routed and the headstock veneer is glued on. I am starting an 11 month long course on Monday, so progress may be slow, but it should be faster than it has been up until now... I hope. All of the wood is from Larry at Gallery Hardwoods.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures to start things off.

 

[Dan Knowlton]

So, is that tennis racquet your secret for gluing up necks?

Nice looking woods and I really like the design.

Dan K.

 

[Dusty G]

Looks great! Careful about glue + kitty! Wasn't that a saying or something; curiosity glued the cat?

 

[spudmaster34]

note to self:
use cats and tennis raquets to help with gluing


Does the stringing on the raquet matter?

 

[Geoff St. Germaine]

note to self:
use cats and tennis raquets to help with gluing


Does the stringing on the raquet matter?

Yes, but not in the way you're thinking.

 

[spudmaster34]

wow, now I really want to know what you thought I was thinking

 

[PaleMelanesian]

Is that a Siamese cat? That must be the secret!

 

[eleonn]

heard once that violin string where made a lot time ago from cats!!! ...that it would be the secret for the raquets and bass strings and the cat???

 

[wilser]

cat and sheep guts. these are called gut strings and are still available ...though very expensive.

 

[PaleMelanesian]

I've heard that, although they were actually made from sheep guts, the string makers called them cat-gut. They used people's superstition about cats to maintain their monopoly.

Edit: according to wikipedia, catgut was also used for stringing tennis racquets. Hmmm.....

 

[ebe9]

Is that a Siamese cat? That must be the secret!

Looks like a chocolate point burmese if I am not mistaken


Nice work with the bass, I like the wenge maple combo neck.

Also, are you going to be doing a volute on the neck?

 

[Geoff St. Germaine]

Looks like a chocolate point burmese if I am not mistaken


Nice work with the bass, I like the wenge maple combo neck.

Also, are you going to be doing a volute on the neck?

The cat is actually a devon rex/laperm cross and is chocolate point, as best I can tell.

I also really like the wenge/maple combo. It is a very light, very strong neck. I won't be doing a volute. I have been thinking about using the same veneering that I'm doing on the front of the headstock on the back. I have quite a bit of the koa and flamed maple lying around.

Also, I've finished attaching the koa/maple binding for the fingerboard. Pics to follow.

 

[ebe9]

The cat is actually a devon rex/laperm cross and is chocolate point, as best I can tell.

I also really like the wenge/maple combo. It is a very light, very strong neck. I won't be doing a volute. I have been thinking about using the same veneering that I'm doing on the front of the headstock on the back. I have quite a bit of the koa and flamed maple lying around.

Also, I've finished attaching the koa/maple binding for the fingerboard. Pics to follow.

Oh okay, I though it had maybe just been in from the rain, look wet rather than the rex influence.

 

[Mark Wilson]

This thread took a serious U turn on an icy road by Mr. Magoo and is in the process of being towed out of the ditch.

 

[iamlowsound]

I've heard that, although they were actually made from sheep guts, the string makers called them cat-gut. They used people's superstition about cats to maintain their monopoly.

Edit: according to wikipedia, catgut was also used for stringing tennis racquets. Hmmm.....

Catgut was also used as webbing in lacrosse sticks for years. I actually have two that are over 50 years old that have catgut webbing.

lowsound