Phil's latest 5 string

[Phil Mailloux]

Here's some in progress pics of my latest 5 string. Progress is pretty slow on this one. Life always gets in the way of those things It should be done within 2-3 months.

Specs are:
-34" scale, maple/wenge set neck
-cocobolo fretboard
-mahogany core, funky quilted maple top and back, mahogany and ash veneers between the layers. Continuous electronics cover.
-my own pickups as usual, I'll probably be making two of those dual coils humbucking jazz thingies with hardwood covers.
-ABM bridge, gotoh/schaller type tuners

The body design is identical to my 6 string fretless on my website.

 

[Cerb]

I love the figuring down the center of the back wood. It almost looks like a braided cord. I can't wait to see this one done.

 

[tribal3140]

Excellent!

 

[spudmaster34]

sweet

 

[teej]

That's the same design as the olive-topped bass you built, right? Looks nice!!!

 

[Phil Mailloux]

That's the same design as the olive-topped bass you built, right? Looks nice!!!

Yep, thanks all

 

[klocwerk]

beauty!

There's no howto in the FAQ for continuous wood control cavity covers. How'd you do that so smoothly?

 

[wilser]

looking great! nice wood choices.

 

[Phil Mailloux]

beauty!

There's no howto in the FAQ for continuous wood control cavity covers. How'd you do that so smoothly?

That's the trick I used on my 6 fretless

On this one I cheated slightly. The block of quilted maple I bought gave me 5 slices for the two tops, the extra slice was used for the cover. It's a different layer of the same block.

 

[klocwerk]

On this one I cheated slightly. The block of quilted maple I bought gave me 5 slices for the two tops, the extra slice was used for the cover. It's a different layer of the same block.

Sneaky sneaky.

 

[#include <MK>]

It's looking really nice Phil. Looking forward to some info on the pups in comparison to your previous build with the single coils , should sound pretty good. No pot holes yet, have you decided on a pre-amp ?

 

[Phil Mailloux]

Thanks Micheal, I'm also working on building a clone of the Schatten winder at the same time, so I'll have all I need to do all the experimenting I want with those pickups

The bass will be staying passive for now.

 

[PilbaraBass]

great job, phil.

 

[Bassm8ker]

Hi Phil,

The bass looks cool, man. I like the mahogany and maple combination. And, the neck is really impressive, even at this stage. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished - and I wish I could hear it.

Later.

T.

 

[Musiclogic]

Looking good Phil...can't wait to see it finished

 

[DigthemLows]

You're an inspiration!

 

[Phil Mailloux]

I've been really lazy on this bass, I stopped working on it in November last year. All of a sudden Saturday night I decided to bring it to the Brisbane Talkbass GTG so here I went gluing the neck and top on this bass and got up early to do the routing just before leaving for the GTG

There's no in-progress pics of all that since I was in too much of a hurry but here's a few more pics with some info.

The back of the headstock will also be covered with a matching veneer as on the other side, it'll hide the ugly line between the neck and HS.

The layers of wood between the neck and body are flamed maple, Wenge and a very thin layer of mahogany sandwiched between the other two. The pencil lines on the body show where I'll cut through the body towards the neck. That'll give more space to get to the higher frets on the treble side when you play and have that cool "different colour wood gradually cut through" look

The figure already looks hot like that, I can't wait to lacquer this one

 

[erikbojerik]

I am really digging the grain direction on that top! And the coco is darkening nicely.

 

[daveze]

Mm mmm, the more I see it, the more I like it.

I wanna be kept in the loop on this one...

 

[Phil Mailloux]

Thanks Josh, I'll keep you posted