That thing looks incredible!!!! Amazing workmanship and design. The gold EVO fretwire will last you a lifetime. Its good stuff !
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One I built - whatcha think?
- Thread starter Wademeister63
- Start date
It's a beauty. It does look like it would be hard to access the last 2-3 frets. The top is gorgeous. It's great to see a nice neck through design. The white block inlays on maple are a great touch, too.
Yeah the last few frets are pretty tight but I don't really play much above the 15th fret anyway. Still, I got em and can get at em if I need to. I mostly ran the fretboard that far up on the body for structural reasons.
On the Ricodyne you can see the the fb stops close to the edge of the body, and originally I had a lot of the body routed out to allow room for the T-40 pickups. I never could get a tone I liked out of that bass untill I filled the body rout back in with a piece of maple and rerouted only for the pickups that are in there now. I figured if adding that strength helped that much, then running the fb on up to the 24th fret might also be a good thing. Seems to have worked because this bass is very resonant and has really good sustain.
Also I used to have a Benavente Vintage Vortex that was just awesome and it had 24 frets. I may not have used them all, but I always thought it was a cool feature and finishing off the second octave felt like the right thing to do for some reason
Nah. I was telling the guys I work with the other day that half the reason I enjoy building these things is that if something doesn't go according to plan, I change the plan. And no schedule to worry about. On top of that I get to enjoy the bass after I've put all that work into it.
At our machine shop, the customers are very demanding and always pushing for faster delivery times and tighter tolerances etc, and half the stuff we do has to go out to other places for heat treat, plating, anodizing etc. Between having to wait for the metal to arrive, having to program the part, then make the part, then possibly ship the part across the country to have another shop do something to it, we often find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. When I make stuff for myself I may be "working" but it's all my creation and nobody making demands so it's a wonderful break.
I'm not about to change that.
Nazca Hummingbird
Specs:
34" scale
Cherry construction with maple fretboard, redwood top and headplate
Dimarzio Split P and Ultra Jazz pickups
Passive wiring, Vol Vol Tone
Hipshot bridge
Gotoh G510 tuners
Tuned B-E-A-D
7.37 pounds
Feels great, sounds awesome! I finished it on Tuesday and took it to band practice on Wednesday. It cut though great with plenty of meat and sustain. Definitely a keeper.
It's stunning
nice job! classy look. one Question about the jazz pickup placement. Is it closer to the pbass p/u because its strung BEAD? Again stunnind bass great work
I put the J pickup there because it brings out a beefier tone that I think really works well with the P pup. I don't really care for the more nasal tone they get when they sit too close to the bridge. Also, having it farther out there it hears a louder part of the string which helps balance it's volume with the P pickup. Those Split P's are powerful stuff! I have the P cranked down into the body a ways and the J up pretty close to the strings. The P is still a little louder but they are a lot better match than other PJ's I've messed with. My J pup still has plenty of bite that compliments the thick round tone of the P really well IMO. I learned what I liked through experiments on the Ricodyne so on this bass I went right for the throat
This causes deep and unhealthy envy from me. Your basses I admire, a Galaxy convertible... I envy.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Nice basses man, Sweet ride also. Is that old 352 getting a stock rebuild or are you throwing some go fast parts in it.
When I bought this I was looking for a cool old car to drive instead of the econo cars I've been in for the last 10 years or so. Part of my search requirement was to be able to fit a big bass cab in the trunk and I think I surpassed my goal on that one, lol. Going stock except for the Edelbrock cam, which is pretty close to stock. If I really wanted a hotrod I would have passed up this car in favor of something smaller. I found a real cherry here though. Yes, it needed some mechanical work but this thing must have been inside since it was built. She's as rust free as I've ever seen a car this old. Check it out, here's a view looking up toward the rear bumper. If this car spent much time up North this area wouldn't be that clean, it would be GONE, haha..
It's a hardtop by the way. No vinyl top either, just a good old 60's flavor 2 tome paint job. Going to have it repainted pretty soon but I'm going back with the original colors as it is now.
Wademeister63 said:
I'm from Peru and my father lives minutes away from Nazca. That bass is a great tribute with great influence. Let me know if you ever plan on making a twin, I'd take it in a second!
I put the J pickup there because it brings out a beefier tone that I think really works well with the P pup. I don't really care for the more nasal tone they get when they sit too close to the bridge. Also, having it farther out there it hears a louder part of the string which helps balance it's volume with the P pickup. Those Split P's are powerful stuff! I have the P cranked down into the body a ways and the J up pretty close to the strings. The P is still a little louder but they are a lot better match than other PJ's I've messed with. My J pup still has plenty of bite that compliments the thick round tone of the P really well IMO. I learned what I liked through experiments on the Ricodyne so on this bass I went right for the throat
thank you for your time. Please post some sound clips when you get a chance. I would love to hear that beast!
Very nice job! Classy looking beauty! All your basses look great and that Galaxy looks fabulous too!
