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Ristola Club

#81
NickyBass said:
Check out the bridge that David King is making for me:

nickybridge.jpg


It still needs some finishing, but it's looking great so far.

This may not end up on my new Ristola, but I'm going to give it a test run on another bass for a few months.

The bridge is WAY more precisely machined than a Hipshot. The parts are all .001" clearence. Hipshot's parts are more like 20 times that. That should make a tonal difference in itself.


Oh, the wood is African blackwood. David says that it's about as hard as aluminum but it sounds more like ceramic when you tap it.
Click to expand...

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

DAMN!!!!!!!!!! Wow man, we are certainly raising the bar on these next two basses!!!! Wowweeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#82
NickyBass said:
Check out the bridge that David King is making for me:

nickybridge.jpg


It still needs some finishing, but it's looking great so far.

This may not end up on my new Ristola, but I'm going to give it a test run on another bass for a few months.

The bridge is WAY more precisely machined than a Hipshot. The parts are all .001" clearence. Hipshot's parts are more like 20 times that. That should make a tonal difference in itself.


Oh, the wood is African blackwood. David says that it's about as hard as aluminum but it sounds more like ceramic when you tap it.
Click to expand...

A lot of clarinets etc are made of that stuff - it's VERY dense and has superb tonal qualities. Very cool!
 
#83
Hey Nicky, I picked up my pickup casting from Jon today and saw yours as well. They're going to turn out really well. I also played one of Jon's basses (which are fabulous by the way) with some Kent Armstrong dual coils. Clean, warm, punchy, balanced and very true to the tone of the instrument that they're in. I'm looking forward to trying them out. If they end up not working than Jon can get custom Seymour Duncun's now and I'll try those.
 
#84
Yeah, Dave, that is the perfect wood for this project. I think that it will turn out great. Just the pics alone have already surpased my expectations. Once I get it, I'm going to give it a test run on another bass for a few months to see if it is sturdy enough, and sounds good.

Andy, Jon told me that mine should be finished today. I have to admit, I'm not sure exactly what it is and what Kent is going to do with it ;) , but I feel confident that they both know what they're doing.
 
#85
NickyBass said:
Yeah, Dave, that is the perfect wood for this project. I think that it will turn out great. Just the pics alone have already surpased my expectations. Once I get it, I'm going to give it a test run on another bass for a few months to see if it is sturdy enough, and sounds good.

Andy, Jon told me that mine should be finished today. I have to admit, I'm not sure exactly what it is and what Kent is going to do with it ;) , but I feel confident that they both know what they're doing.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it will be fine, Nicky. Bass bridges have been made out of hardwoods for hundreds of years and held up just fine.

180px-Bridgedetail.jpg
 
#86
NickyBass said:
Yeah, Dave, that is the perfect wood for this project. I think that it will turn out great. Just the pics alone have already surpased my expectations. Once I get it, I'm going to give it a test run on another bass for a few months to see if it is sturdy enough, and sounds good.

Andy, Jon told me that mine should be finished today. I have to admit, I'm not sure exactly what it is and what Kent is going to do with it ;) , but I feel confident that they both know what they're doing.
Click to expand...

By the way Nicky, not knowing it was yours, Jon told me that a customer of his emailed that photo of your wooden bridge to him for him to see.....it was funny that he was telling me, I knew what it was and that he's making your pickup casting.

The pickup casting is solid wood. What will happen is Kent will make a mold of it which he can then use to make the plastic covers for the pickups. They should come out really nicely.
 
#87
emjazz said:
By the way Nicky, not knowing it was yours, Jon told me that a customer of his emailed that photo of your wooden bridge to him for him to see.....it was funny that he was telling me, I knew what it was and that he's making your pickup casting.

The pickup casting is solid wood. What will happen is Kent will make a mold of it which he can then use to make the plastic covers for the pickups. They should come out really nicely.
Click to expand...

Cool. Someone wanted Jon to build them that bridge? I can't wait to try it out.

Dave, I'm sure that it will be fine, but it's just something that I've never tried before. It would be nice to have a 'trail' period with it. I think the main thing is the thickness of the bottom plate. David beefed it up a bit, and I know that he would never build something that he didn't think would work.
 
#88
Oh, and I haven't really discussed the bridge at length with Brian. I mentioned it to him in passing. I don't know if he would even be into the idea--but it was something that I wanted to try anyway. If not on the Ristola, then the bridge will serve me well on another bass.

Btw, Brian glued up my neck a few days ago......
 
#89
NickyBass said:
Oh, and I haven't really discussed the bridge at length with Brian. I mentioned it to him in passing. I don't know if he would even be into the idea--but it was something that I wanted to try anyway. If not on the Ristola, then the bridge will serve me well on another bass.

Btw, Brian glued up my neck a few days ago......
Click to expand...



Jon mentioned it being difficult to ground a wooden bridge....I'm sure that David has thought of that though.

....very nice on the neck being glued up!!!!:hyper:
 
#90
Andy, David painted the bottom with a shielding paint. It works great. No hum.

Compared to the Hipshot, the wooden bridge has a quick 'bloom' and a compression to the decay. It has a lot less mass, so it responds differently to touch.

It is super super well made. I cannot believe how great it turned out. I'm going to spend more time with it before I make any decisions.

woodbridge.jpg
 
#93
I need some advise.......

What I want from this bass is an updated classic. I want a slightly mellow / old school tone, but I want modern playability, looks and feel with a slight slight bit of compression. Originally, I figured that I'd go with two pickups, but mostly, I play either P basses or favor the neck pickup. I thought that two would be more versatile, but now that I'm thinking about it, it would probably be counter-intuitive to what my tonal goals are. With one pickup, we can have more space to place it in a sweeter spot.

I think that the features that I picked out will really nail the feel and playability. I know Brian's work well, and I know that he can really get the right placement for me.

Here is what I came up with:

alder.jpg


Thoughts?
 
#95
NickyBass said:
I need some advise.......

What I want from this bass is an updated classic. I want a slightly mellow / old school tone, but I want modern playability, looks and feel with a slight slight bit of compression. Originally, I figured that I'd go with two pickups, but mostly, I play either P basses or favor the neck pickup. I thought that two would be more versatile, but now that I'm thinking about it, it would probably be counter-intuitive to what my tonal goals are. With one pickup, we can have more space to place it in a sweeter spot.

I think that the features that I picked out will really nail the feel and playability. I know Brian's work well, and I know that he can really get the right placement for me.

Here is what I came up with:

alder.jpg


Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Hey look, it's an Anthony Jackson bass! ;)

I think you're on the right track Nicky. You may want to consider putting a pickup right behind the one you have placed there. It'd give you a punchy tone if you want it but you'd still be able to place the other pickup where you want. Put them right next to each other....althought I do think that the one pickup idea would work just fine.

Have you thought about some sort of finish, like a 59 burst or something? That could work nicely.

I like what you have here. I think you'll get what you're looking for with what created in the mock up.

What are the best qualitites of the best basses that you've played/owned? Will this bass cover the gigs that you intend it for?

As for the Naimish bridge, I'll let you know about it when I get mine installed.
 
#97
Yeah, I was thinking Anthony Jackson after I finished. You know what they say about great minds......

I was considering another pickup right next to the one there, but that can always be added later, if I feel that it's needed. I doubt that I would 'need' another pickup there, but it's nice to have the option.

I am using Kent's pickups. I am having two made right now---which would work out well since I can swap them out and see what I like best.

One is a split coil bar. And the other is a dual coil bar. Both have alnico mags.

I thought about doing a finish. There are way too many options...It's so much easier to pick up a finished bass and say 'yay' or 'nay.' And each option has a million different ways to approach it and only one final outcome.

I also want to take into consideration what Brian is comfortable putting his name on. This bass will be around for a long time with his name on the headstock. I don't want him to compromise. I think he will dig the idea. I haven't talked to him about it because I'm sure that I will have a million other questions by the time glue-ups start, so I'll wait until I know exactly what I want.
 
#98
OK, now you have me thinking. This is good....or dangerous....

My favorite basses, and what I like about them:

*1959 P Bass.
-The tone. Man this bass has THE tone.
-The fingerboard. Sounds stupid, but this board is so responsive.
-The feel of the neck. Not only because it is broken in, but it feels harder than other maple. Hard to describe.
-The dynamic response. Even when I dig in, it produces a pure tone.
-The weight. Nice lightweight.
-The simplicity. Very straight forward, but does what it needs to do very well.
-This bass is in another league than other P basses that I've played. It is amazing. If people could play and hear this bass, then everyone would love P's. I can play all over the neck and every note is pure and true. Upper register work never gets too muddy.

Dislikes: not a 5er. That's all.


*Ristola fretless (Kicking myself)
-The build quality.
-The feel. Super nice neck. Easy to move around on.
-I could set the action anywhere from super low, to medium high. It felt great to hold.
-Superb playability. Not that the P Bass was hard to play, but the Ristola was a dream.
-The weight.
-The overall input in the build process and the relationship developed through working with Brian.
-The details. This is important to me.
-The tone. While it was very different than my P Bass, it was a great fretless tone that worked very very well for what I was going for.


Dislikes: I no longer own it. That is all.

*CB Basses. I've owned a few and I really dig the impeccable build quality, the choice of woods and the finish. The finish is one of my favorites. I also dig the contouring. The edges and cutaways are a great touch. I LOVE the neck joints that Cliff does. They are so elegant.

*Warwick Corvette 5. Ok, this one is more nostalgia. I played the snot out of that bass. I dug the neck. I know alot of people dislike Warwick necks, but it felt great to me. I liked the two peice bridge, but I don't think I would want that on a new bass. I think it was more the look that I liked than the function. Well, there isn't much from that bass that I would want on a custom, but it was one of my favorite basses...not sure why.

There are other basses that I really dig. Pete's work is fantastic. Rob Allen is doing some extremely cool work. AC, Sadowsky, Nordy--there are a ton of great builders, and I've played alot of their instruments. I think that the design that I came up with is a 'melting pot' of all my favorite features. (Or lack of features, haha)
 
#99
I think the only thing that I personally could see doing would be to place that dual coil right behind the split coil. That way, if you need it, it's there. If you don't then you just turn the volume down. Routing a pickup route after the fact on an instrument that has a hard finish is very tricky.

...however, I do think that if you do go with one pickup, it'll sound great. Either way, you've got a hell of a bass coming. I hope our basses are finished at the same time so I can check yours out before it heads out to you. I really look forward to seeing how this single cut comes out.
 
#100
I guess that there isn't really an advantage to NOT having a second pickup there. Though, I do dig the simple, clean look of the bass. I have a feeling that I'll keep changing things up until he's packing it up to ship it off--"oh, wait Brian, before you ship it, do you think that you can add these wooden tuning peg knobs?!?!?!"

I guess that's just because I'm so excited about the whole process and the end result. Man, there are seemingly endless possibilities here. How am I supposed to choose.
 

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