The Brooks EB-TB-IV build is done!

[Basvarken]

Completed the build of the Brooks EB-TB-IV today.

- Neck through with mahogany body wings
- Nine ply mahogany/walnut neck
- Ebony faceplate on headstock
- Tobacco burst gloss transparent acrylic finish
- Rosewood fretboard
- Jumbo frets
- 34" scale
- Handcut bone nut
- Three ply white-black-white pickguard
- Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop
- Spokewheel trussrod
- Thunderbird style pickups nickel.
- Hipshot Ultralite tuners
- Output Pure Tone
- d'Addario EXL170BT Balanced Tension strings
- Strapnuts: Dunlop Straplok Nickel Dual Design
- Weight: 3.5 kg


I'll post pics of the build process in posts below

 

[Basvarken]

As always the build starts with same blanks.
I had my limber supplier make me a nice neck blank. He made it to the exact specs that I asked for (nine ply khaya mahogany with walnut strips in between.
Plus two khaya body wings.

Ordered parts and hardware.
Initially the customer and I agreed upon a single pickup bass, so I ordered just one Thunderbird humbucker.

Routed the slot for the spokewheel trussrod
And chiseled out the spoke wheel part.

Next I prepared the fretboard for the inlays

Glued the inlays in

After I had sanded the inlays flush to the radius of the fretboard, I prepared the fret slots for the frets.

Cut the fretwire a little oversized to the width of the slots. And taped off the fretboard for protection.

Hammered the frets in

Cut off the excess ends. And filed them.

 

[MattZilla]

bromagawwwwwd!

Bro! Oh! Magod!

Oh Myeeee Gyaaaaad!

bro?

ohmygadbro.

Double Thundercut. It is my new favorite bass ever.

eta- Please don’t make one with an antique white top and blocks & binding. I don’t want to be selling stuff to buy a bass I don’t need.

 

[Basvarken]

Cut out the truss rod access slot

And made the truss rod cover from a matching piece of rosewood

Planed the centerpiece to the desired neck/body angle

After the angle was done I roughly sawed the neck shape, in preparation to glue the fretboard on.

Shot in a staple and cut it off just a little bit proud of the surface. This helps to prevent the fretboard from sliding off center when glueing onto the neck.

The glued the fretboard onto the neck. Using inner bicycle tubes for a clamp.

Drilled the holes for the side markers

Glued the side markers in

Filled the gaps underneath the fret tangs with a past of Titebond and rosewood sawdust.

 

[Basvarken]

Shaped the neck profile

Prepared the ebony faceplate for glue up

Cut out the moustache (or open book) shape with a jewelers saw, before I glued the faceplate onto the headstock

Glued the faceplate to the headstock

Drilled the tuner holes

Didn't drill all the way through to prevent tear out. And to keep the diameter of the holes on the other side slightly narrower than the front. I've learned that the Hipshot Ultralites barely cover the entire width of the holes.

Shaped the volute

Shaped the headstock outline

 

[Basvarken]

Routed the pickup cavities.
As you can see the customer had decided he wanted two pickups instead of just one.

Glued the first wing on

And then the other

Drilled the bridge stud holes

Roughly cut put the body shape, prior to routing it along the template

Routed the body outline

Didn't risk to route too close to the neck join area.
So I had to clean that up by hand.

Starting to look like it

Routed the controls cavity

Drilled some holes.

Ready for the finishing process

 

[Basvarken]

Cut the top nut for a piece of bone

Filled the pores with Rustins porefiller

And then took to staining the bass
First a coat of yellow to give to that golden glow under a certain lighting and angle.
I use Clou waterbased stain.

Then did the edges with a light mahogany stain and feathered it out with a dry brush.

Stained the neck and headstock

And the last phase was to stain the sides of the body a very dark mahogany color mixed with dark walnut

Then sprayed with sanding sealer

And then started to build up layers of clear. With lots of wet sanding in between

When the surface was completely smooth I applied the decals to the headstock

Customer found out it is the 100th bass guitar he has ever owned. So he asked me to add the number 100 somewhere

And I live in Velp ;-)

 

[Basvarken]

Laser cut the pickguard. Customer wasn't sure about the pickguard. I gave him the choice between none at all, White or Vintage White.

In the end we chose for Vintage White

When the bass was wet sanded to grit 2500 and polished with Meguiars I mounted the hardware and pickups

It's hard to capture the color of this bass. Looks different in each light

Final step was soldering the electronics

 

[Basvarken]

Also made a few pics of the bass without the pickguard

 

[spiritbass]

Amazing! I love the design.

 

[J Wilson]

BasV, I am constantly amazed at the grasp you have of Gibson's classic design cues, and for the life of me, why someone from Gibson does not contact you to prototype designs of your work as production pieces for them is beyond me.

Another exceptional project in the can, Congratulations. Bee-U-Tee-Full work as always. A double cutaway LP Junior/Special shape on a TBird neckthrough with the OG TBird chrome pickups in 34" scale.

WAY better than anything those guys in Nashville have come up with, just like the rest of your builds. Plus Thank God you skipped the three-point bridge !

JW

 

[rocmonster]

I would so rock one of these!
Great work!

 

[sylvanbass]

Good lord you have a gift my friend! Absolutely beautiful!

 

[BunchyMutt]

Interesting tip about the staple. Thanks. And beautiful work

 

[blacktocomm]

I would rock that bass hard.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

Completed the build of the Brooks EB-TB-IV today.

- Neck through with mahogany body wings
- Nine ply mahogany/walnut neck
- Ebony faceplate on headstock
- Tobacco burst gloss transparent acrylic finish
- Rosewood fretboard
- Jumbo frets
- 34" scale
- Handcut bone nut
- Three ply white-black-white pickguard
- Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop
- Spokewheel trussrod
- Thunderbird style pickups nickel.
- Hipshot Ultralite tuners
- Output Pure Tone
- d'Addario EXL170BT Balanced Tension strings
- Strapnuts: Dunlop Straplok Nickel Dual Design
- Weight: 3.5 kg


I'll post pics of the build process in posts below

I would absolutely rock that!

The Bar Band Bassman

 

[Killing Floor]

Dripping rock’n’roll like all your builds. Wow.

 

[Lammchop93]

That is one of the coolest basses I’ve seen in TB. A work of functional art.

your work is very impressive!

 

[RedVee]

Excellent

 

[DJ Bebop]

Very nice!
But the possibility of neck dive scares me.