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Rhiannon and Galadriel

#61
Rôckhewer said:
Sorry to hear that your kids are sick, my friend... Hope they get to feeling better soon.
The wood for this build looks fantastic!
And you are obviously giving all due diligence towards excellent customer service...this is like watching a master from back in the day ...when pride in craftsmanship and integrity were paramount.
Can you dig it!
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Thanks for the big heart towards my kiddos! I agree with the wood - it's amazing!

Rôckhewer said:
BTW....where is the MM sweet spot?
I guess I could go measure one...but if you already know.....
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There are a lot of takes on it, but based on what I could gather it's somewhere near 30.25" from the nut on a 34" scale - that's the center line for the pickup.
 
#62
The Sonum has been delivered into @rondodunbar's keeping!

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#63
Not terribly photogenic am I? :-) I was hoping to play with the Sonum tonight but it was a 14 hour day, I am beat. Tomorrow I should have a few free hours to move the p'up around and see where it sounds the best. I have to say working withMichael has been awesome. I can't say enough about how cool it is to have control and input over every aspect of the build. Thanks, Michael.
Rondo
 
#64
rondodunbar said:
Not terribly photogenic am I? :) I was hoping to play with the Sonum tonight but it was a 14 hour day, I am beat. Tomorrow I should have a few free hours to move the p'up around and see where it sounds the best. I have to say working withMichael has been awesome. I can't say enough about how cool it is to have control and input over every aspect of the build. Thanks, Michael.
Rondo
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Thanks so much Rondo! You have been an absolute delight to work with - you make my job easy!
 
#65
The next step is to cut out MDF templates and build a pine prototype for customer approval. I have the template rough cut out for the body, but it needs a lot of clean up. I have found that taking the time to do a nice template up front saves a ton of time and grief further down the road. The prototype is of similar use.

Rondo and I have been planning this for quite a while, and some of the design decisions look really good on paper, we want to make sure that everything is as perfect as possible in real life. Taking the time to rip into some pine is a no brainier - it does not really add that much time to the process, and the cost is negligible. The time to make modifications to the design is before that beautiful wood gets cut into. I also want to make sure he is happy with the neck profile. I don't use a standard profile, and though I like it quite a lot it may not be Rondo's cup of tea.

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#66
Michael- you're 100 percent right about the approach to templating. A big time investment upfront, but entirely worth it. I changed over to an all-template approach and there is no going back. No more sanding out machine marks, no more trying to carve perfect body contours freehand, way better precision right off the router.
 
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#68
I would normally never take a body blank out of clamps this quickly, and NEVER start working on it so soon after gluing.....but that Titebond III is pretty good stuff. ;) I figured the worst that could happen is that I have to make another blank if it comes apart, and it's never going to be under any string tensions so.... *shrug*

Here's the body fresh from being band sawed, routed using the template, and having a 1/2" round over applied. I have never seen a tele guitar or bass with more than a 1/8" round over applied, but I like it. It softens the edges up a bit and gives it an air of elegance usually lacking in the tele designs. Just my opinion - no offence intended to die hard tele fans.

I see a few areas I need to modify on my template to clean up some curves, but it's 95% there.

Next steps are to cut out a faux neck from pine and bolt it on, and then get it into @rondodunbar's hands to see what he thinks.

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#71
rondodunbar said:
I like the round over... because of the contrast in woods I want both the walnut and maple to be seen. It should be remembered, also that this is a Tele inspired bass, I wasn't going for a replica... more like a modern/retro reinterpretation. I am very pleased with how this is shaping up. :D
Rondo
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That's a soothing balm to my soul! The more I look at it the more I want to make sure that it can be made into a player...I hate to see wood go to waste. ;) I think I am going to drop a piece of oak across the top to give a bridge something solid to hold onto, and then ebonize the oak black as night with ferric acetate to provide a nice contrast to the pine. I can drop in one of my experimental low impedance pickups and attach a maple neck with an oak fingerboard.
 
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#72
rondodunbar said:
So tonight I finally had some time to sit down with the Sonum, plugged in my practice anp, opened up my gig bag and dog gone it... where are all my instrument cables? So I'll have to wait til I get by a GC or back home to test things. Uhg!
Rondo
Update: found an old cable in my hardcase, yeah!
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Word! I am super excited to get a third party review on the Sonum.
 
#74
Good grief we think so much alike it's scary. <spoiler alert> I'm planning on turning the pine prototype I did for my original body into a $100 Challenge

When I saw the pic of the Rhiannon prototype I thought the same thing; that it would actually make a nice bass in it's own right.
 
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#75
Jon Clegg said:
Good grief we think so much alike it's scary. <spoiler alert> I'm planning on turning the pine prototype I did for my original body into a $100 Challenge

When I saw the pic of the Rhiannon prototype I thought the same thing; that it would actually make a nice bass in it's own right.
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One of the things I thought last night was that I can use this to get something into Ron's hands that he can actualy play with until Rhiannon is done. It gives me a good practice run on the build and it gives him the chance to really kick the tires. It's a total win win situation.
 
#76
michaelwayneharwood said:
One of the things I thought last night was that I can use this to get something into Ron's hands that he can actualy play with until Rhiannon is done. It gives me a good practice run on the build and it gives him the chance to really kick the tires. It's a total win win situation.
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Yeah, the biggest thing that I got from my prototype was ergonomics; How's this gonna feel sitting on my leg? Hanging from a strap? Is this gonna dig into my arm? All the sorts of things you can only get from a solid object in your hands.
 
#77
Jon Clegg said:
Yeah, the biggest thing that I got from my prototype was ergonomics; How's this gonna feel sitting on my leg? Hanging from a strap? Is this gonna dig into my arm? All the sorts of things you can only get from a solid object in your hands.
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Exactly! If Ron plays it for a while and has a change of heart on any aspect it gives us both the chance to change things. There is also the "it's how I would want to be treated" aspect. As a very small shop "non factory" builder I can go the extra mile.

I have been thinking a lot about questions like "Why should someone choose me to build them an instrument?" and "What kind of services should be standard offerings?". For fully custom jobs where one of my "standard models" are not being chosen I think that a prototype should be my standard offering. Too often I have been faced with people telling me "That won't work" or "You won't be happy with the outcome" when I am dreaming about something I want to do...instead of responding like that I want to respond with "Let's build a prototype and see if you like it".
 
#78
michaelwayneharwood said:
Exactly! If Ron plays it for a while and has a change of heart on any aspect it gives us both the chance to change things. There is also the "it's how I would want to be treated" aspect. As a very small shop "non factory" builder I can go the extra mile.

I have been thinking a lot about questions like "Why should someone choose me to build them an instrument?" and "What kind of services should be standard offerings?". For fully custom jobs where one of my "standard models" are not being chosen I think that a prototype should be my standard offering. Too often I have been faced with people telling me "That won't work" or "You won't be happy with the outcome" when I am dreaming about something I want to do...instead of responding like that I want to respond with "Let's build a prototype and see if you like it".
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You are a brave man, I wouldn't give a customer full control over a build. I will give them their choice of pickups and color combos, but would never give them control of the design. If they come up with a wonky looking bass, with a less than useful sound because of pickup placement, you are the one that is going to take the heat for building a dud.
 
#79
Hopkins said:
You are a brave man, I wouldn't give a customer full control over a build. I will give them their choice of pickups and color combos, but would never give them control of the design. If they come up with a wonky looking bass, with a less than useful sound because of pickup placement, you are the one that is going to take the heat for building a dud.
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The Sonum Experior takes care of the wonky sound part. A customer can use the Sonum to play around with pickup placement to their heart's content, and when they finally choose pickup placement it's based on them living with it for a while. The prototype serves the same sort of purpose. Instead of saying "Oh my - the neck dive is going to drive you crazy" we can really test things out and tweak the design to address any concerns that come up. I have had customers that told me "Just build me a bass - you are the one who knows what you are doing", and on the other side of the spectrum are customers like @rondodunbar who have a vision that they want to have realized.

@rondodunbar has been awesome to work with, and all along the way the collaboration has been an amazing experience. I know there will be problematic customers - it's part and parcel of doing business. My job is to do everything I can to make sure they are thrilled with their instrument. I am up front with my expectations, time lines, and limitations. So far it has worked out very well for everyone involved.
 
#80
michaelwayneharwood said:
The Sonum Experior takes care of the wonky sound part. A customer can use the Sonum to play around with pickup placement to their heart's content, and when they finally choose pickup placement it's based on them living with it for a while. The prototype serves the same sort of purpose. Instead of saying "Oh my - the neck dive is going to drive you crazy" we can really test things out and tweak the design to address any concerns that come up. I have had customers that told me "Just build me a bass - you are the one who knows what you are doing", and on the other side of the spectrum are customers like @rondodunbar who have a vision that they want to have realized.

@rondodunbar has been awesome to work with, and all along the way the collaboration has been an amazing experience. I know there will be problematic customers - it's part and parcel of doing business. My job is to do everything I can to make sure they are thrilled with their instrument. I am up front with my expectations, time lines, and limitations. So far it has worked out very well for everyone involved.
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Rondo, wants a pretty classic design that is hard to go wrong with. I was talking more about an off the wall body design that a customer may cook up. I've been there on an early build, it was an upside down Jazz shape that the customer was extremely excited about. After playing it for a while he was asking me to build him another body for it. Even letting a customer use your mule to test pickup placement isn't a guarantee. They may choose an extreme bridge or neck position that they love in their bedroom, but hate in a band mix. Part of being the builder is letting them know what works well and what doesn't work so well. You just have to be careful I guess, one bad design, customer inspired or otherwise can devalue your brand.

I'm sure you point out anything that is an obvious design mistake, I was just pointing out that its a pretty fine line that is easy to fall to one side or the other. Giving a customer too much input, or not giving them enough are both not ideal situations to be in. I personally will take their ideas and come up with a 2D CAD drawing and finalize it before any sawdust is made. I would prefer to use one of my proven designs though, and let the customer choose the electronics and finish.
 
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