SBO 23 - The Long Black

[ctmullins]

The six-string is indeed more practical.

Which is why my vote goes to ten-string!!!

 

[Jon Clegg]

Ten string is decadent (or decadjent for any metal-heads); go for it.

 

[Beej]

I'd probably do the 6 with piezo added, but the 10 is too much fun not to seriously consider.

The 10 will have fewer practical applications, which to me, means less playing time, and I like my instruments to be played, so there's that.

 

[Lo-E]

The 10 will have fewer practical applications, which to me, means less playing time, and I like my instruments to be played, so there's that.

Oh, sure, if you’re into that sort of thing….

 

[BAG]

Whereabouts "out in the bush" are you Alex?

 

[Alex Xander]

I think a 6 string tuned F#-G is more practical than the 10. Though the Thought of a doubled low F# is intriguing...

I vote for the 6 string. Which ever you choose, that's some amazing woods for the build!

I vote 10-string because it’s completely bananas!

This exactly!

The six-string is indeed more practical.

Which is why my vote goes to ten-string!!!

Ten string is decadent (or decadjent for any metal-heads); go for it.

I'd probably do the 6 with piezo added, but the 10 is too much fun not to seriously consider.

The 10 will have fewer practical applications, which to me, means less playing time, and I like my instruments to be played, so there's that.

Oh, sure, if you’re into that sort of thing….

It seems there’s enough peer pressure here to build a totally impractical 10 string

Fear not, those who like instruments with practical applications; I have another body that will get shaped later this week.

This blank is glued up. I ended up skipping the camphor back and using a thicker piece of rose mahogany.

In an effort to make things a little more interesting in the epoxy pour, I textured the mahogany between the two pieces of gidgee using an angle grinder and a flap disc.

It currently has epoxy in it, curing. It’s still cold here, so it might be a few days before I can get some photos of it.

 

[Why Nautilus‽]

So excited to see the ten!!!!!!! I wasn’t quick enough to vote but let me tell you that’s gonna be so sick.

re: low c# string, I had an 11 string with one for a while. It’s more of a supplemental tone than a specific one. But it’s a lot of fun!

Someone has made a low G# which I would love to “hear” someday.

Maybe if I could get one of those super fantastic massive speaker cones.

 

[Alex Xander]

So excited to see the ten!!!!!!! I wasn’t quick enough to vote but let me tell you that’s gonna be so sick.

re: low c# string, I had an 11 string with one for a while. It’s more of a supplemental tone than a specific one. But it’s a lot of fun!

Someone has made a low G# which I would love to “hear” someday.

Maybe if I could get one of those super fantastic massive speaker cones.

I make my own speaker cabs, as well as basses.

These cabs are quite good with a Low f#, and offer genuine sub 40hz performance, which despite advertising “specs” saying otherwise, isn’t a particularly common thing.

An 18 with a very large 2” compression driver

And this 2x12 mass loaded transmission line

 

[Why Nautilus‽]

Wow! You do a lot of cool stuff.

If you decide to start selling or building for sales keep me in the loop!

 

[Videojunkie]

Have you played with speakers in a push/pull arrangement? When I was in high-school, I made a series of speaker cabs that used dual woofers in that arrangement, and got impressive results. I used the double 18 (which we jokingly called God in a Box) with an SVT head for the first few years I played bass before I got my GK rig.

2x 18" woofers, 1800W of power handling, and the cabinet was tuned to about 15hz. With the SVT pushing it, it didn't have to work hard to move a LOT of air! Not bad for a cabinet that was barely 24 x 24 x 30!

 

[Alex Xander]

Have you played with speakers in a push/pull arrangement? When I was in high-school, I made a series of speaker cabs that used dual woofers in that arrangement, and got impressive results. I used the double 18 (which we jokingly called God in a Box) with an SVT head for the first few years I played bass before I got my GK rig.

2x 18" woofers, 1800W of power handling, and the cabinet was tuned to about 15hz. With the SVT pushing it, it didn't have to work hard to move a LOT of air! Not bad for a cabinet that was barely 24 x 24 x 30!

Do you mean an isobaric configuration, where the two speakers are coupled together (ie like a clamshell), or where you have two speakers that are both sharing the box volume, but one has the magnet facing out to reduce distortion?

I have tinkered with both. The isobaric stuff was a lot of fun, getting such low bass out of relatively small enclosures. I have not tried on for a bass cab, though.

 

[Videojunkie]

We did isobaric, 2 cones coupled in the same volume (2 chamber cabinet, 1 speaker facing front, 1 in the center division, And a ported rear chamber. ) We played with both 15s and 18s, and the 18s would really punch you in the gut.

|------\=/-| Front Speaker
|-/=\------| Midplane Speaker
|--------P--| Ported space...

I've also made acoustic suspension cabs, and those get large quickly!

 

[Alex Xander]

I took the gidgee and rose mahogany blank out from under its cover today, only to find that a damn insect managed to find its way in!

I think the offending insect and it’s tracks can be removed without losing too much thickness on the top. The gidgee is insanely heavy (just shy of twice as dense as maple!), so trimming a bit won’t be a bad thing.

The texturing under the epoxy seems to have done the trick. Subtle enough that it doesn’t stand out and seem unnatural, just fancy enough to give a featureless piece of wood some character.

 

[TerribleTim68]

I always laugh watching YouTube woodworkers doing epoxy resin pours. No matter how hard you try, inevitably a bug lands in it during curing.

 

[daveman50]

It's not a feature, it's a bug.

 

[Alex Xander]

I always laugh watching YouTube woodworkers doing epoxy resin pours. No matter how hard you try, inevitably a bug lands in it during curing.

I wasn’t laughing too hard…

It's not a feature, it's a bug.

Bravo, sir. Bravo!

 

[Alex Xander]

I didn’t lose much thickness at all getting the insect out.

I’m now in two minds as to whether I will hollow out underneath the knots, or whether to fill them with epoxy. A third option might just be to stain them black and leave as is.

Any thoughts?

In related news, I have inexplicably reached a point where I feel like I have too many basses. Time for some long blacks to go to Reverb!

 

[ardgedee]

Natural soundholes?

 

[Alex Xander]

Natural soundholes?

That is as the original idea, but I didn’t hollow out the underside before glueing things together. Perhaps I have a long and messy date with a die grinder ahead of me.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Yeah I'm torn really. On the one hand, natural sound holes seems cool. But if you didn't hollow it out underneath, I don't wish that on you. I also question the shape of them sounding cool. Are they too big? Are they weird shaped? Will that affect the sound? I don't know. On the other hand, an epoxy resin pour might look cool too.