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The Knuckle Quake 39.5" Scale Bass Thread

#122
Skip sent me some work-in-progress pics for my Knuckle Quake 6. The curly maple is looking very nice.

Front close up:
BodyFrt.jpg
 
#126
edbutler3 said:
Rear close up:

BodyBk1.jpg
Click to expand...


What's going on at that "neck joint" [sic] ? These basses are true through-body construction, no? Yet that appears to be a joint or a seam or some sort of routed edge where the neck meets the body...i.e., the whole continuous smooth gently flowing lines of a traditional neck-through instrument seem missing, replaced by what appears a conspicuous interruption. Is that intentional/purposeful? Or am I completely mistaken about these basses being neck-through?

btw, gorgeous piece(s) of wood, are you going to leave it natural or paint/stain it?
 
#127
Hoover said:
What's going on at that "neck joint" [sic] ? These basses are true through-body construction, no? Yet that appears to be a joint or a seam or some sort of routed edge where the neck meets the body...i.e., the whole continuous smooth gently flowing lines of a traditional neck-through instrument seem missing, replaced by what appears a conspicuous interruption. Is that intentional/purposeful? Or am I completely mistaken about these basses being neck-through?

btw, gorgeous piece(s) of wood, are you going to leave it natural or paint/stain it?
Click to expand...

Of course I'm not the builder, so I don't know for sure, but I think the neck starts out as a rectangular block as wide/thick as the body and is carved down to size. I wondered about that "neck joint" too when I first saw the picture, but after comparing the front and back shots and mentally lining up the fret locations with the cutaway "horns", I'm pretty sure the upper frets will be just as accessible on this bass as on any others I own. In any case, I hardly ever go above the 15th fret, so it's not a big concern for me.

Regarding the wood finish, that was the main reason I asked Skip to send me the pictures. We had discussed the option of adding a bit of transparent amber coloring to the finish if the natural wood turned out too pale, but after seeing the pictures I think the depth of color is perfect already.
 
#128
Hoover said:
What's going on at that "neck joint" [sic] ? These basses are true through-body construction, no? Yet that appears to be a joint or a seam or some sort of routed edge where the neck meets the body...i.e., the whole continuous smooth gently flowing lines of a traditional neck-through instrument seem missing, replaced by what appears a conspicuous interruption. Is that intentional/purposeful? Or am I completely mistaken about these basses being neck-through?

btw, gorgeous piece(s) of wood, are you going to leave it natural or paint/stain it?
Click to expand...

Having played The Hammer's bass, the "joint" is a carved ridge that follows the contour of the body. It doesn't get in the way at all, and it's actually pretty cool in person.
 
#133
chuck3 said:
Holy mackerel! How do you have it tuned? :eek: :hyper:
Click to expand...

F# B E A D G

That low F# string is a monster. I'm finding the extended scale easy to deal with (I've got big hands luckily) but I'm having more trouble than I expected getting used to using the notes below the low B. I'm sure it will start making sense to me after a little more time. I recall having a similar experience when I got my first 5-string back in the late 80s.

My band is temporarily on hiatus due to an injury, so I haven't had a chance to play along with drums and guitar yet. I think it will start to come together for me once I can do that.

But I can say one thing for sure -- this bass has the best B string I've ever heard by a long shot. The 37" Dingwall B is probably close, but this thing is amazing. The B feels just like an E string, tension-wise. And the custom wound Nordstrand pickups are by far the best passive pickups I've ever heard. (Much better than the actives in my old bass, which was no slouch itself.) The neck pickup is very deep, with a bit of P-bass grind, and the bridge pickup has a very aggressive midrange bite that sounds like it would cut through a heavy mix very well. Notes just spring out of this thing as though you already had very high quality compression in the signal path (but without actually running a compressor.) I don't know if it's the scale length or the carbon fiber in the neck that does that. Probably a bit of both.

You can't tell from the pics, but the neck is actually very slim from front to back, which is a nice improvement from my previous main 6-string.

Skip has the whole "neck dive" thing totally cured in this design. The bass balances perfectly with the neck raised to a 45 degree angle, just the way I like it.

I've also got it wired in stereo, which sounds amazing through headphones (like for a recording setup). But that's kind of a complicated deal, so I won't go into it unless somebody is interested.
 

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