I thought you all might like to check out my latest, a Warmoth Explorer which has just been finished. These are poor quality pics, but check it out! Here are the specs: Alder body, 1/8" flame maple top with pearloid body binding, blue dye finish Five piece Deluxe Five neck w/maple board, corian nut and stainless steel frets, matching flame/blue dye headstock face Nordstrand Dual Coil pickups Aguilar OBP-3 preamp Hipshot A-style bridge Three way mini toggles for series/single coil/parallel for each pickup Gotoh tuners All I can say is that this bass leaves one hell of a first impression! It also has a voice that an back up it's looks. My goal was to get a five string Explorer, that had great tone and playability as well as killer looks, and I believe that this was a success. Also want to thank this forum for helping me with researching and learning so much about what went into this bass, and especially Nino and Carey Nordstrand for their help and suggestions. Without getting too a long post let me just say that this bass sounds great! It really has a big, full, and very articulate tone. It has a nice attack quality to it also that I wasn't really expecting, but am enjoying! The three ways give three distinct but still related tones, which all sound great, and the Aguilar really matches up nicely with it. The 19mm bridge centers dead over the pole pieces, and the strings fit the neck very well. Also a nice bonus is that there is no neck dive! I have Schaller strap locks, and the button drilled through the outermost edge of the neck plate, roughly behind the 17th fret. Balances very nicely, especially for an Explorer! I didn't assemble this, as I didn't want to risk damaging anything, and the builder I used did a very nice job. It is going to take me a little while to really get to know this bass, but thought you guys might enjoy a look.
congrats , nice pointy bass !! that thing looks so cool , and i'll bet the Nordstrand / Aguilar combination just kills !! who did the actual build for you ?
Wow. The blue dye / gold hardware / maple fb combination is gorgeous! What's the nut widht? aren't the strings too close to the edge of the fb towards the neck heel? There was a thread recently where someone thought (and I agreed) that 19 mm might be too wide for a Warmoth neck.
That was one big concern for me as well, but all the research said it would fit, and I know Valenti has no problems with it either. The nut is 1 3/4". The strings fit very nicely over the board, and pass directly over the pole pieces of the Nordstrands. To me playing it feels no different than any other bass I've played, as far as the strings being near the edge of the board. It all works nicely! The builder I used is Rick Cremer, a luthier/tech in the Chicago suburbs. He did a nice job getting her all together and wired up. As for clips, I have nothing right now and not much free time left this month. I also want to let this bass get settled in a bit, and re-tweak the intonation and pickup heights a bit first. I'll get something recorded soon though... And thanks for the comments!
That's freaking nice! I remember my first Explorer... it wasn't nearly as nice as yours. You're gonna love the Nordy+Aggie combination. It is killer. Congrats
I love it! Frankly, I've been kinda planning this one out in my head, but you beat me to it!!! Except the gold, that is.
I *will* get something recorded, just need a little time! yeah, that's it... And Bass2x, there is no neck dive at all with this. It balances near the 50/50 point so you can tell that there is some weight to the neck, but there is no dive. I am even using a slippery strap with it right now and it doesn't dive. This is mainly because it is a bolt on, I am able to position the strap button much farther toward the neck. It works great, and was one thing I was really hopeing for. Again, thanks everyone for all the positive comments!
I don't like the shape, but seems to be really really really well made and I suppose it sounds real cool
wow that bass looks beatiful expecially the finish with the white binding is awesome! was the finish done by warmoth or buy the luthier??
The binding can't been seen in those pics but it is pearloid, and just totally sets off the flamed top! The body and neck finishes were done by Warmoth, and were flawless. The neck is satin finished maple with a matching headstock face in gloss. The gloss body is so reflective that I can't get any lighting on it to show up in a picture! The workmanship in the finish is top of the line.