Special Edition build-off: OctoPhoenix

[ctmullins]

Here we go!

This has been on my mind for a while.

Six years ago I built a pair of Thunderbird-inspired basses (original build thread here - ThunderTwins! ). One a five-string, and one an eight-string. They turned out gorgeous. They also turned out incredibly heavy, and not well balanced. Oops. They’ve been hanging on the wall ever since.

Gorgeous or not, if it’s a wall decoration, then it’s a waste.

Time for a re-birth.

Step one is to liberate the neck.

 

[Dark Horse]

This is a reworking I fully approve of !!!

 

[ctmullins]

Breaks my heart, I tell ya. There was some gorgeous flame maple in the body.

 

[Scoops]

Here we go!

This has been on my mind for a while.

Six years ago I built a pair of Thunderbird-inspired basses (original build thread here - ThunderTwins! ). One a five-string, and one an eight-string. They turned out gorgeous. They also turned out incredibly heavy, and not well balanced. Oops. They’ve been hanging on the wall ever since.

Gorgeous or not, if it’s a wall decoration, then it’s a waste.

Time for a re-birth.

Step one is to liberate the neck.

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Breaks my heart, I tell ya. There was some gorgeous flame maple in the body.

Man!

That took some large spherical objects that really don't fit into any jammy pants

 

[ctmullins]

*spit*

I have mine tailor-made, dontchaknow!

 

[Scoops]

*spit*

I have mine tailor-made, dontchaknow!

Maybe perhaps the same tailor as Dolly Parton

 

[ctmullins]

A couple of years ago I glued up some sapele and rough-cut something vaguely Ripper-shaped.

I also have a couple of figured maple drop-tops left, from a pile of them I bought years ago. This on top of the sapele brings my body thickness to about 1.4”. Just right. Plus it will hide the planer skip on the sapele.

Sapele and maple neck, sapele and maple body. Hmmm, this might be fate...

 

[SLivinghouse]

Are you going to chamber it just in case? Not that we wouldn't mind seeing part III of this series in a couple years.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

AGAIN with the Jammy Pants reference. Y'all need to get some Duluth Trading Post Firehose pants like me. Just putting them on makes me feel productive. I gotta say, it's painful watching that original bass get cut up, but I guess if it's a wall hanger.....

 

[ctmullins]

Are you going to chamber it just in case? Not that we wouldn't mind seeing part III of this series in a couple years.

An excellent question. The answer depends on the relative weights of body and neck. I want the two to have the proper ratio for balance (something like 2:1, body to neck, I think), and I want the total package to be Goldilocks too.

I’ll weigh them later today.

 

[ctmullins]

Talking pickups over in @Dark Horse’s thread, so let’s do it here as well.

I have a bit of a pickup fetish. I regularly comb the classifieds looking for good deals on interesting pickups, and have done so for years. I need a twelve-step program....

I have on hand

• Two Wilde P46 (would be mounted in reverse-P mode)
• Two Wilde L90
• Three Delano SBC
• Two Aguilar DCB
• Two Duncan SJB-3 (Quarter Pound Jazz)
• Two Duncan SSB
• Two Lace Alumitone Bass Bars
• One EMG 35P
• Two EMG 60X
• One DiMarzio Model One (horrible on its own; must be combined with something else)
• Two DiMarzio D-Activator X
• One Peavey T40
• Two SGD ND3
• One Rickenbacker HB1, and a second rewound by Jerry Sentell with AlNiCo poles
• A few more that escape my memory at the moment

8-strings can be shrill and twangy, so I don’t want anything that will emphasize the highs over the lows. Other than that, it’s a blank canvas. One, two, three, or even four pickups, space permitting.

 

[ThePublic]

Pick ups, go with what you will, but if you preamp it and are worries about highs, find a Sadowsky preamp and you ought to have no worries dialing in what you want.

How are this Alumitones (so curious) btw?

 

[ctmullins]

Ah, preamps. I have a bit of a preamp fetish too. In my stash:

• John East BTB-01
• Aguilar OBP-1 (apparently similar to the Sadowsky)
• EMG BTC
• EMG VMC (for possible use with the BTC)
• Audere Classic four-band
• ACG EQ-01 (saving for a really special build)
• Passinwind PW3B-LPF

Or just passive is good too...

 

[ctmullins]

An excellent question. The answer depends on the relative weights of body and neck. I want the two to have the proper ratio for balance (something like 2:1, body to neck, I think), and I want the total package to be Goldilocks too.

I’ll weigh them later today.

Goodness.

The unloaded neck is right at 2 lb, which is in the ballpark for a balanced instrument. Eight Sperzel tuners will add 12 oz to that.

But the body is nearly 7 lb unloaded! Wow. I knew it was heavy just by picking it up, but wow. That’s gonna need some weight relief. But not too much.

 

[Fender_Bender]

Sapele is generally quite a bit heavier than mahogany.

 

[Danukenator]

It takes stones to cut into a finished project (even if it's a beautiful dud). Kinda' liberating to remember almost any project is salvageable.

Looking forward to following this!

 

[Axstar]

Talking pickups over in @Dark Horse’s thread, so let’s do it here as well.

I have a bit of a pickup fetish. I regularly comb the classifieds looking for good deals on interesting pickups, and have done so for years. I need a twelve-step program....

I have on hand

• Two Wilde P46 (would be mounted in reverse-P mode)
• Two Wilde L90
• Three Delano SBC
• Two Aguilar DCB
• Two Duncan SJB-3 (Quarter Pound Jazz)
• Two Duncan SSB
• Two Lace Alumitone Bass Bars
• One EMG 35P
• Two EMG 60X
• One DiMarzio Model One (horrible on its own; must be combined with something else)
• Two DiMarzio D-Activator X
• One Peavey T40
• Two SGD ND3
• One Rickenbacker HB1, and a second rewound by Jerry Sentell with AlNiCo poles
• A few more that escape my memory at the moment

8-strings can be shrill and twangy, so I don’t want anything that will emphasize the highs over the lows. Other than that, it’s a blank canvas. One, two, three, or even four pickups, space permitting.

I would use the Dimarzio Model One to fully capture the low lows from the strings, and something else to capture the trebly stuff. I would consider a stereo wiring harness with a bass-cut feature for the treble pickup, ala Rickenbacker!

 

[Dark Horse]

I’ll bet using the two wilde reverse p pickups with sound really good. That’s just a gut feeling or hunch.

 

[Dark Horse]

And I have an idea about that, but I need to draw it out.

 

[Dark Horse]

Ok, wacky idea:

Using the two P pickups.....

Set ”A” would be the set for the E/A string, and would go to one pan pot

Set “B” would be the set for the D/G strings, and would go to another pan pot

That way you could dial in variable brightness for your ENA strains, and your DNG strings. Need to brighten up your lower end? Pan the E and a strings toward the bridge a little more. Need to fatten up your high end? Pan the D/G strings more towards the neck.

just a weird idea ...

Please excuse the crappy drawing. It’s on an envelope, at a stoplight while in my car.