the Bat Bass

[BluesBear]

You could try Invalid Link Removed.

I've used it several times. It's easy to use and gives you a very durable finish. It's also much easier to use than tung-oil or boiled linseed.

 

[Omnipharious]

I agree, I've seen, and heard some very good things of Tru-Oil. But I have to say, I don't think I'd buy it from that site (they said standard shipping for me would be $12, with a $3 special handling fee, all for a $12 bottle of oil!)

 

[James Mobius]

I read some reviews of tru oil which suggest it can run unless you turn it after 10 minutes. I might as well use poly if I'm going to worry about drips and runs. d: might just use some spray on poly. I have a hard time keeping coats thin enough due to impatience. but I think I will probably take that route. getting it in all the cutaways will be fun. guess I shall have to wear long gloves, and turn it a lot, I have it hanging in my spray booth now.

 

[BluesBear]

I apply TruOil with a rag so there are no runs. You just keep applying and rubbing it in as you go. I don't know anyone who uses the spray.

 

[James Mobius]

I've been experimenting with metallic paint and glitter glue for the headstock, turns out I will actually have to buy some glitter, the glitter glue doesn't have the visual density I seek.
saw Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten last night, got to hand them my CD, woo!
"brief" review by me, here: Victor Wooten Band and Stanley Clarke show - TalkBass Forums

 

[Max Pratt]

Sounds like glitter glue would be a bit unproffesional looking aswell, anyways you guys kno if varnish or interior laquer works as a finish? And if so hoq many coats?

 

[James Mobius]

Sounds like glitter glue would be a bit unproffesional looking aswell, anyways you guys kno if varnish or interior laquer works as a finish? And if so hoq many coats?

Max I think you should look for a thread on finishing, I know there are some and you're more likely to get a reply that way, a lot of people who might be able to help you might not check this thread out. I'm not really worried about how professional my bass looks, I'm just having fun making it, and experimenting. also running out of patience, gotta wrap this up already so I can play the damn thing!

 

[James Mobius]

2 coats of poly on it! @_@ the maple really sucked it in, some areas were dry to the touch in minutes, literally, tho the mahogany was still all wet. did have to stand there catching drips for a while, (curse my baroque design sensibilities!) d: but I was mentally prepared for that. might mount it upside down for the next coat even though that's work, lol. (cor I'm lazy.)

It's really not looking as purple as I'd like, now it seems too magenta, tho it looks closer to the red end of purple when it's wet, sigh. I'll just live with it. I need to be playing it. I could sand it all off and start over but that's way too much time and work, next time I'll do more testing on scrap wood, live and learn.

my real problem is, sometimes I realise I like having made art more than I like actually making art. I can see the finished result in my head, actually doing the work to get there is busy work, but until my telekineses or a genie in a bottle manifest for me, I guess I'll have to buck up and get off my lazy butt and make it happen. I like to complain too, it seems, sorry! woe is me, I live in a major city with access to exotic woods and good paying work opportunities and I'm about to go to my mum's house for a hot home made lunch, I have it so bad, break out the tiny violin. truth is I'm very very blessed and do appreciate that. I don't love the smell of poly though. xp hope everyone is having a great weekend and generating sawdust!

more pics will be up tonight probably.

 

[miziomix]

I was actually puzzled until I noticed you were going to use those Hipshots. 2 strings with 3 open string positions. Now THAT's a cool idea

 

[James Mobius]

sorry no updates, been working a lot, I have been taking pics, but haven't typed up my notes... no pun intended, notes, get it? d: at the moment it's mechanically a functional fretless bass, still have to elevate the nut, make one that is, using the old one, also I wired it wrong somehow, all it does is hum a bit : / more pics and details of my misadventures in luthiery will manifest here as soon as possible. it looks gorgeous anyway, like a hunk of purple marble!

left to do: make the nut, rewire it, install pick up screws, might have to put a block under the pick ups to raise them! there's still a couple of rough spots, I guess I will try to shine them up, they're bothering me a bit.

 

[BluesBear]

James, I was thinking about your difficulty in getting just the right shade of colour on your Bat Bass.
Warmouth, right down the road from me in Puyallup WA, has a couple of guys who are brilliant when it comes to wood stains. They can create any colour you can imagine.
I feel certain they would help you get it exactly the way you want it.

 

[James Mobius]

got really close to Purple heart!

Starting to finish

Invalid Link Removed

Starting to look like a bass! or, like Halloween. my favourite holiday anyway.

Trouble rears its inevitable head...

Steampunk! Very happy I thought of this, it's practical too, I can see the capacitor, so I know which is the tone knob.

ooh shiny!

I'm not completely lazy...

currently a mechanically functional fretless

look at this edge, looks like purple marble. I'm in love.

looks good from any angle!

the glitter completely hid the dowels that filled the E and G tuner holes, another practical upshot of mad science.

 

[James Mobius]

James, I was thinking about your difficulty in getting just the right shade of colour on your Bat Bass.
Warmouth, right down the road from me in Puyallup WA, has a couple of guys who are brilliant when it comes to wood stains. They can create any colour you can imagine.
I feel certain they would help you get it exactly the way you want it.

thanks for the suggestion, I bookmarked their site, I'm happy with it now though!

I appreciate all the suggestions from everyone, the input and interest, sincerely. I still have to make the nut to raise the action, and I have to rewire it, it only makes a humming sound when I plug it in , and less noise when I touch the bridge, so a grounding issue, could be the 30 year old wires I used? probably not, I tested them for continuity, I think I flipped something, possibly the schematic, lol. I'll figure it out. might add hipshots at some point but for now I'll stick with whats on it, I've kept the cost to just about $200 in materials, for a bass I think I would have expected to pay something like $1,500 to have built for me, I feel pretty good, also very proud I made this bloody thing, even if it isn't quite there yet.

there will be more updates and photos, might actually finish it up tomorrow! probably not completely, but who knows. no, I do. I know. I have to buy a can of spray poly that's actually high gloss, not semi gloss (oops) for a few spots, check out my page about this project on my site for more details about it if you're curious.

the Bat Bass MobiusBandwidth.com

(It'd probably help, if I updated that page now! d: )

 

[James Mobius]

I was actually puzzled until I noticed you were going to use those Hipshots. 2 strings with 3 open string positions. Now THAT's a cool idea

If you were puzzled as to why someone would build a 2 string slide bass, check out Mark Sandman of Morphine, that's why I'm doing this project. As for the hipshots, I may add those later, gonna just learn how to play it as is for now (as soon as it's done!) I do play 6 string bass normally by the way. I own a couple of 4 strings but I haven't gigged with them since, the 80's.

 

[James Mobius]

made the nut, it's now a mechanically functional slide bass, just have to rewire it so it makes some sound when I plug it in, that'd be nice. aside from a hum I mean. you know why transformers hum? they don't know the words! hah! joke from electronic school...

definitely have to make blocks to raise the pickups with.

 

[James Mobius]

...Alive I tell you! yeah so, turns out, there's a ground wire that is supposed to connect the chassis of each potentiometer, somehow I didn't see that line on the schematic, I was so intent on making sure the wires I had installed were correct, ... you ever look for your glasses only to find them on your face? it happens. anyway, I got it working saturday night, and jammed with my drummer sunday morning, he loved it, and suggested I let him not only play it, but write all the tunes for it, that I would then learn. I declined his generous offer. I also immediately wrote a tune on it, which sounds right between Sandman's style, and my own melodic sense. I hope to not only help preserve his music and keep it alive, but also his concept of this instrument, by writing more material for it.

It sounds FAT! just plugged in directly, it sounded amazing, really just like Mark's bass, I was ecstatic. I will shoot some video so you can hear it, try to get to that this week. I brought it into Mr Music in Boston where Mark used to shop for slides and strings, to show it to them, plugged it in and fired it up. a punk kid checking out a bass looked at it and his jaw dropped, people came around to find out how I was getting that sound. I feel like taking it to guitar center to "check out amps" with it. (read: show it off).

success!

I still have to do a couple of things, there are 2 rough spots I need to smooth out, there's a hole now, where I don't want one, since the upper strap knob is in the neck join plate, gotta fill that with something, I didn't put any string trees on it, but it seems fine without them so far. the strap is too long, but if I shorten it with the built in plastic buckle, the devil lady on it will be hidden, and that's no good (it's covered in tattoo style art, by "lucky 13") so I'll have to un-stitch it from the other end and shorten it there. there's also a little hum still that goes away when I touch the bridge. gotta check the ground wire to that I spoze. what causes that? curse of the Mothman bass? lack of shielding?

when the electronics didn't work, a voice in my head said I could take it to Mr Music and have them fix it, but I had to do this myself, and I'm happy I did, it wasn't that hard really. I know it doesn't compare to the high level of luthiery of some of the craftspeople on this forum, but I'm very proud, and very happy, and psyched to get started on my next build! (as soon as I finish fixing my old acoustic, and make a new saddle for the bouzouki I made).

picked up a Casket case, gig bag (coffin case knock-off company), very nice gig bag I must say, it just fits. also they always give me a discount at Mr M since I've been shopping there for, 3 decades. @_@

watch this space for video, and a few more pics in the not too distant future!

the Bat Bass MobiusBandwidth.com

 

[Max Pratt]

Hey man this looks amazing, but i recomend you make a little bat shaped truss rod cover for that lottle bit at the base of the neck

 

[James Mobius]

Hey man this looks amazing, but i recomend you make a little bat shaped truss rod cover for that lottle bit at the base of the neck

Thanks! I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about it. and that's an interesting idea, it'd have to be pretty thick tho, the rod is not flush below the surface of the top of the bass, so it'd have to have a little arc carved into it to accommodate that. I don't really mind the way it looks though.

I am having so much fun playing this thing! tried wearing the slide on my pinkie, that lasted 5 minutes, too painful, it's a heavy brass one, wearing it on my ring finger lets me use my pinky to mute though, you can also mute behind the slide, which reduces the vibration of the strings but in a different way. learning a lot, and I have a new appreciation for the inventor of the 2 string slide bass, Mark Sandman. it's a pretty damn cool thing, and sounds amazing.

I just can't play it for more than an hour because the poly is still out-gassing and it irritates my throat. d:

back to transcribing Morphine tunes... video soon!

 

[Omnipharious]

Awesome bass man. I have to say, I thought it was a dumb idea at first, because it just seemed like you were lowering the functionality of the bass, but I think it's pretty cool now that I've actually listened to Morphine.

And the thing looks cool as balls.

 

[BartoliniBoss]

it's too late to stop at this point, the voice compels me... @_@

got some "purple" TransTint dye and did some tests on maple, to mix small batches I had to learn; there are 6 teaspoons in an ounce, and 32 ounces in a quart, supposed to mix one ounce of dye to one quart of water or denatured alcohol. So I mixed 2 small batches, one with twice as much dye as the other, this didn't really seem to affect it noticeably, however I noticed it's not so much purple, as blue. I am not happy about this, I want purple!

...

I am about to build a jazz bass, and the guy I am building for wants it to be "deep purple & orange"...

I've found some stains that come in red and blue, so I'd have to mix the two to arrive at purple.

Your bass looks freaking awesome, but it isn't purple enough, for me... Is this the most purple wood stain you've ever seen?

In the past, I have used "food coloring", but only on small projects. The color has always been deep and vibrant. I am however, VERY not at all sure I want to use the application on a bass body.

Have you ever seen or heard of using food coloring as a wood stain?