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The Über-Jay Mark2

#321
do you get your wood from one specific dealer or from many
because im horrified by the price of stewmacs body blanks.150 bucks for
one slab of african mahagony.is this a reasonable price or what?

pm me if you get it from one place i want to see other places prices.
 
#323
bass rocks said:
do you get your wood from one specific dealer or from many
because im horrified by the price of stewmacs body blanks.150 bucks for
one slab of african mahagony.is this a reasonable price or what?

pm me if you get it from one place i want to see other places prices.
Click to expand...

I get Asian woods mostly locally and other woods from Gilmerwood. They post pictures of the exact blank on their website so what you see is what you get - which is good. Final cost also depends on where you live - in my case shipment is the killer.

True, some great looking woods can be outrageously priced. It's a matter or availability and desirability. There's little you can do about it.

Good news is, choosing expensive wood isn't necessarily the only way to build great looking basses. To me, the right combo is.

I've seen great looking tops wasted on basses that, IMHO, lucked personality as a whole. Whereas, I've seen inexpensive woods turned into a great bass.

Once the wood's properties are right for the task, then it's just a matter of thinking a bit out of the box.
And THAT's where the real fun begins :D

cccy said:
So very kind of you man.
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You're welcome. Let me take a few more pictures and I will email them to you 100% free of charge ;)
 
#327
Stumbo said:
How about this for tone switching: Link Removed
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Hey Stumbo... that looks interesting... do they make it for bass too? I could only find options for Strats.

Ok, I've been slow and lazy lately. I must confess, I've been more busy finalizing template and details for the next build.

The bass is now stringed and the strings do add to the final look, especially at the headstock ;)

IMG_7674_2.jpg


I will definitely try the black strings sometime in the future, even just for once. I think it'll look very cool.

Total weight is at 2.2 kg - that should be 4.85 pounds?

The only thing that I haven't done yet is to hand it over to the guy who does the soldering for me.

I have been playing it unplugged and I'm loving it. Switching back and forth between the Mk1 and 2 (both unplugged) I do notice some fundamental differences.

The Mk1 (no chambers, Rock Maple neck with 1" Ebony lam) sounds tighter and snappier, with a slightly more mid-treble skewed voice.

The Mk2 ( Chambered, BE Maple and tapered Padauk lam neck) sounds more resonant with more...er... air and an almost acoustic quality to it. It sounds great with slap. Interesting test ;)

Next, struggling with little things as usual.... two sets of knobs I had made - both in brass. The first one is the same design as for the Mk1. The second one is a classic dome shape, slightly downsized.

Any preference?

IMG_7666_2.jpg


IMG_7671_2.jpg


Weather isn't great for pictures today.... or maybe I'm too lazy :rollno:

thanks for reading this far :bassist:
 
#333
Thanks guys, your comments made me see what I couldn't.

I like the size of the knobs in picture #1. But I somehow tend to prefer the shape of #2 for this build....so?.... :rollno:

So I have to order even smaller dome shaped knobs.... @&!!∞¢! ... But definitely worth trying ;)

BTW, I wish this build had the same Barts and OB eq. as the previous build. Would have been interesting to compare the two basses with the exact same electronics..... oh well ;)
But those Lace do look cool :D
 
#334
Omnipharious said:
.....The smaller ones for some reason look too much like nipples to me.
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:D that would be a reason to go with them now, wouldn't it? :D

MarkA, wraub and voodoo92... thank you for your kind words. I'll do my best to upload final picture this week. Sound clips....not sure when but definitely yes.
 
#335
Those pickups look sweet, I was a little reserved about them when I first saw them but the steel bars (is that correct?) look brilliant in the knob photos.

And for the record I prefer knobs #1 by a long shot, they contribute really nicely to the elegant and sleek look of the bass and have more "space" around them than in shot 2.

This bass look great, and insanely light :eek: I want one!!!!!!!!
 
#337
BarkerBass said:
Those pickups look sweet, I was a little reserved about them when I first saw them but the steel bars (is that correct?) look brilliant in the knob photos.

And for the record I prefer knobs #1 by a long shot, they contribute really nicely to the elegant and sleek look of the bass and have more "space" around them than in shot 2.

This bass look great, and insanely light :eek: I want one!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Hey Barkerbass, thank you. I know man, those p-ups are tricky to match because they look great but... lets face it... they can be a bit tacky :D

When I saw them I knew I had to have them for another build that's waiting in line - a cherry red body with the usual Ü variations on the J theme ;)

Having the p-ups there proved way too tempting, so I decided to try them on this one. At first I really didn't like them at all. Then I realized that they could have become the signature touch of the build only if nothing else had gotten in the way.
So I killed most of the chrome and it worked.

Now I have to get a new set for the Cherry Red.... :eyebrow:

ps: that's not steel. It's a nickel chrome finish. I'm not sure what the metal is. But the technology behind it is very interesting and they are stupidly light. Check their website here
 
#338
Omnipharious said:
I seem to have missed a lot of this thread, are those Lace's Aluma-J's?

And I quite like those bigger, less spaced knobs also because you can karate chop them, and run your hand up or down them and turn them all at the same time :ninja:
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LOL.... so...should I go for the nipples or for the karate chops? ahhh decisions :D

Yes, Lace Aluma J.
 
#339
miziomix said:
LOL.... so...should I go for the nipples or for the karate chops? ahhh decisions :D

Yes, Lace Aluma J.
Click to expand...

Also, your bridge looks nice and smooth around the knobs, so if you try the karate chop, you probably won't cut your hand like I just did demonstrating the karate chop to myself. Apparently the hex adjuster that sticks out of the saddle can become somewhat jagged.

DSC04417.jpg
DSC04421.jpg


Karate chopping is no longer recommended. Go with the nipples.
 

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