New Lonnybass: Extreme Birdseye Burl

Here we go again on another build! This one will be a Super-Fived version of my recently completed six string.

Specs are as follows:

Alder body w/ash tone block (debating on purpleheart stringers)
Three piece Tiger maple/walnut neck
Ebony fingerboard
Exhibition grade birdseye burl maple top
Pickups TBD
Mike Pope 4 band Preamp
Evo gold frets
Luminlay side dots

 

Nope, that was just a rough layout that the sawmill put on for sizing purposes. The actual bass will look like my standard shape, kind of a hybrid between an Fbass and Fodera Emperor...

 

Naphtha and the body shape!

 

Some really nice tiger maple is ready for milling to make the neck billet.

 

The neck billet ready for truss rod, tapering and fingerboard. I love the way this turned out.

 

Here the body wings are glued up. This is the first time I'm doing a few extra steps, using biscuit joins and a pair of walnut strips down the center as a tone block in the style of Fodera and Alembic. The walnut is 1/4" thinner than the alder because I will be adding a nice strip of tiger maple laminate over the top to match the neck.

 

The work on the neck can begin. Here the boards are laid out and the truss rod channel is made.

 

The decorative burl veneer is installed at the base of the neck to match the body.

 

Like putting together a puzzle...

 

Tapering the neck

 

Rough shaping of the body.

 

Coming out nicely. You can see how close the live edge bark is to the contour of the bass.

 

Laying out the headstock veneer...