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Wow. A "Modern-Player-Classic-Vibe" Tutmarc! That's EXACTLY what I would like to own!
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Yep, I guess that's what it is. I had the whole thing together for a couple of days, then took it apart again for final finishing and tweaking. Other than that, the setup is coming along as expected. Always starts out awful and gets better over time as the new parts settle and you get everything dialed in. Plays pretty good already. With a new build, I usually get to a plateau pretty quickly, and then let it sit for a few months. Once everything has stabilized, I go for the final setup. My benchmark for basses is a '90s Japanese P that I have, and likewise for six strings it is 1985 Japanese Squier Strat.
The guitar pickup works great, no issues with the width, the E and G strings catch enough magnet to sound fine. The mode switch went in after all. Series mode gives a strong Precision sound. Parallel mode is a lighter Jazz sound. Single-coil is in-between, closer to the Jazz sound, but punchier. You could omit the non-humbucking single coil mode and not really miss anything, but I had the special switch lying around and I wanted to use it for something. It is quiet in all modes. That's pretty good for a cheap pickup that is not even supposed to be in a bass. It is also a very hot pickup - 5.5k per coil, so series mode roughly equals the impedance of a P-pickup. In nearly the same position with similar width, it is no wonder it sounds like it does. A 683 cap lets you really dig deep with the tone control.
The ergonomics are not great. Plays a lot like a Steinberger, all the same flaws - the body is just too small. Thankfully, walnut is pretty heavy, and weighs it down a bit. Takes some getting used to though. I ended up needing a shim for the neck, not the bridge as I had expected. I'll never buy another bridge like this - it is a real bother to set up, with 16 tiny set screws just waiting to get lost. You can't get at the intonation lock screws without removing the strings. Leo's bent steel bass bridge is still the best design ever.
Tuning up is interesting. Even with Tutmarc's reversed-taper headstock, I managed to give each tuner a fairly straight string pull to the nut, and at the same time maintain nice even spacing of the posts and knobs, and keep all of them clear of each-other. It's a clever arrangement, but upside-down inside-out backwards from anything you're used to. The plastic nut cracked, so I am going to make a brass one, and the flat headstock badly needs string hold-downs.
The first pickguard delaminated along one edge and I scrapped it. Cheap Chinese material. Luckily I had enough to make a second, which worked out fine. I also got a Hofner pickguard and some smaller pieces from the same blank, and I am working on a matching headstock logo from the remaining scrap. So I guess I got my money's worth out of it.
So all in all, I'd say it working out pretty well. I'll post some pictures when it is ready for prime time.
Mine is in black.
