Twelve string Thunderbird

[Basvarken]

Today I completed the build of a twelve string Thunderbird.
The Brooks TB-12

Specifications:
- Mahogany body wings
- Nine ply Mahogany/Walnut set neck. Neck through
- Opaque white (blonde) high gloss finish
- Abalonoid binding
- Ebony fretboard
- Circle position dots
- Jumbo frets
- 34" scale
- Buffalo horn nut
- Three ply black/white/black pickguard
- ETS twelve string brass bridge set
- Two spokewheel double action trussrods
- Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck
- Lace Alumitone Bass Bar in the neck position
- Lace Alumitone DeathBar in the bridge position
- Allparts stacked pots (volume/tone volume/tone)
- Mullard capacitors
- MEC on-on switch for coil split (humbucker-single coil)
- Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners
- Gotoh Stealth ST 31 guitar tuners
- 2 xPure Tone Multi Contact jack output
- d'Addario EXL 170 - 12 strings
- Weight: 4.2 kg

Electronics circuit were done by my good friend Bas Becu (BQ Music)

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

 

[micguy]

It certainly looks cool, but 12 tuners and an oversized headstock on a Thunderbird - My left shoulder hurts just looking at that.

 

[Basvarken]

Like all builds, it starts with finding the right slabs of wood.

Mahogany Khaya body wings

Made a laminated neck blank of Mahogany with Walnut strips

Routed a slot for the carbon reinforcement strip in the middle of the neck

Glued it in and scraped it flush

Then routed the two truss rod channels

Chiseled the part where the spoke wheel goes out by hand

 

[Basvarken]

Bought a nice pre-radiused fretboard at Holz Faszination in Germany.
Drilled holes for the position markers.

Glued in the position markers that I made out of an aluminium tube and black inlays dots

After I sanded the inlays flush to the desired radius, I recut the fretlines to the right width and depth.

I always file off the top edges with a triangular file to make the fret seat properly

Then hammered in the frets

Also made side position markers

Made some filler with ebony sawdust and glue to fill the little gaps on the side of the fretboard

And cut out the truss rod acces slot

 

[Basvarken]

After I glued the fretboard on (sorry no pix)
I started shaping the neck

Building a bass like this requires some thinking ahead. I drilled holes for the pickup wires in the lower wing, prior to glueing it to the centerpiece

Then glued the upper wing

Routed the body shape (again sorry no pix)
And routed the pickup cavities

Then the tricky part of routing the binding profile. The body can't be detached, so I had to come up with a plan.
I made and extra template with a profile that compensates the raised center piece.
So the router could route up to the neck.

Found out I had drilled the output holes too early. So I temporarily filled them up ;-)

The glued the abalonoid binding in place

 

[Basvarken]

Carved the belly cut on the back of the body

I cut a piece off the giant buffalo horn that I sawed in pieces last summer.

And copied the brass template that ETS made for me

Test fitted all the tuners before I started the pore filling

 

[bholder]

Wow that's gorgeous!

 

[Basvarken]

I used Z-poxy as a porefiller on this one. Works great if the wood does not have to be stained.

After I sanded it smooth, I sprayed the white blonde nitrocellulose.
My goal was to keep the nine ply laminate of the neck visible

Then did a very thin coat of pale yellow to make it less white

Scraped the binding clean

And I cut a pickguard at the FabLab

After lots of sanding and a few top coats of clear finish, I polished the finish. And mounted the hardware. Bridge set was custom made by ETS Hardware in Germany. It took forever, but it was worth the wait.

Stringed her up for the fist time

And decided against the white pickguard. Opted for the black one that I also made.

 

[Basvarken]

It certainly looks cool, but 12 tuners ad an oversized headstock on a Thunderbird - My left shoulder hurts just looking at that.

The bass weighs 4.2 kilograms.
And the tuners are very lightweight.
No neck dive!

 

[Killing Floor]

I always enjoy your build threads. Beautiful bass here. That MOP binding is really sharp. Well done as always.

 

[Beej]

Very nice! This was a perfect read over morning coffee.

 

[TFM94]

Beautiful! When I saw the first picture in your first post I thought: "Okay, It's just another TB-12, just white instead of black." Turns out it's a super intereseting build process with great solutions and detail. I love the stepped binding!

 

[Basvarken]

Beautiful! When I saw the first picture in your first post I thought: "Okay, It's just another TB-12, just white instead of black." Turns out it's a super intereseting build process with great solutions and detail. I love the stepped binding!

Yeah, the big difference with the previous TB-12 is that that one had a glued in neck. Whereas this new one is truly neck through (like a proper Thunderbird ;-) )

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Today I completed the build of a twelve string Thunderbird.
The Brooks TB-12

Specifications:
- Mahogany body wings
- Nine ply Mahogany/Walnut set neck. Neck through
- Opaque white (blonde) high gloss finish
- Abalonoid binding
- Ebony fretboard
- Circle position dots
- Jumbo frets
- 34" scale
- Buffalo horn nut
- Three ply black/white/black pickguard
- ETS twelve string brass bridge set
- Two spokewheel double action trussrods
- Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck
- Lace Alumitone Bass Bar in the neck position
- Lace Alumitone DeathBar in the bridge position
- Allparts stacked pots (volume/tone volume/tone)
- Mullard capacitors
- MEC on-on switch for coil split (humbucker-single coil)
- Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners
- Gotoh Stealth ST 31 guitar tuners
- 2 xPure Tone Multi Contact jack output
- d'Addario EXL 170 - 12 strings
- Weight: 4.2 kg

Electronics circuit were done by my good friend Bas Becu (BQ Music)

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

Wow! Congrats! Love the binding, classy.

Just a pair of quick question. How many FT/LBS of tension do you have with a 12 string as opposed to a 4 string, and does it require a stronger truss Rod, and or other reinforcement for the additional stress. Thanks.

 

[BrickBatMansion]

I would play the sh!t outta that thang................beautiful work sir!

 

[Gorilla Fingers]

That's... That's just mint, man.

 

[Basvarken]

Wow! Congrats! Love the binding, classy.

Just a pair of quick question. How many FT/LBS of tension do you have with a 12 string as opposed to a 4 string, and does it require a stronger truss Rod, and or other reinforcement for the additional stress. Thanks.

As you can see in the specifications in the opening post and in the build report below, the neck has two truss rods and a carbon reinforcement strip.

 

[Scarysharkface]

Today I completed the build of a twelve string Thunderbird.
The Brooks TB-12

Specifications:
- Mahogany body wings
- Nine ply Mahogany/Walnut set neck. Neck through
- Opaque white (blonde) high gloss finish
- Abalonoid binding
- Ebony fretboard
- Circle position dots
- Jumbo frets
- 34" scale
- Buffalo horn nut
- Three ply black/white/black pickguard
- ETS twelve string brass bridge set
- Two spokewheel double action trussrods
- Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck
- Lace Alumitone Bass Bar in the neck position
- Lace Alumitone DeathBar in the bridge position
- Allparts stacked pots (volume/tone volume/tone)
- Mullard capacitors
- MEC on-on switch for coil split (humbucker-single coil)
- Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners
- Gotoh Stealth ST 31 guitar tuners
- 2 xPure Tone Multi Contact jack output
- d'Addario EXL 170 - 12 strings
- Weight: 4.2 kg

Electronics circuit were done by my good friend Bas Becu (BQ Music)

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

That's beautiful!

John

 

[micguy]

No neck dive!

I don' t know if that's luck, skill, or denial, but whatever it is, go with it.

 

[Basvarken]

I don' t know if that's luck, skill, or denial, but whatever it is, go with it.

None of the twelve string bass guitars that I have built, suffer neck dive. So it can't be just luck ;-)