Specs
30 inch scale 6 string Carl Thompson tribute
33mm thick body shrunk to about 80% of a normal bass size
Neck through body
Washburn 6 string humbucker
Black hardware
Generic 6 string bridge from Aliexpress
Wilkinson tuners
No controls
100% macassar ebony construction
Here's my Plan B entry in the event that my overly ambitious 10 string fretless doesn't get done in time. I find that having two basses to work on at once makes the process flow a bit better. While waiting for glue to dry in one build, I can work on another.
I jumped online today and ordered hardware for this one. Right now, all I have is wood and templates.
With that said, here's a bare bones start...
Since buying a big load of macassar ebony last year, I have wanted to build a 100% ebony bass.
Here's one of four boards I bought
The end grain is simply stunning. This lump of wood would almost certainly be better put to use in the hands of a chopping board maker, but that ain't me
I have been worried that a solid ebony bass would be way too heavy (even by my standards), and I have missed my short scale Mensinger Cazpar 6 string since selling it a while back.
Solution - a short scale bass with a tiny body.
I figure it is probably a right of passage for an amateur luthier to pay homage to Carl Thompson, so what better time than now.
I roughed the body wings with the bandsaw, then promptly destroyed a pattern following router bit trimmer to shape. This wood is hard! Smoke from a sharp router bit hard.
I'm in love with the grain in this stuff
After destroying some more router bits putting a roundover on the wings and a 45 degree chamfer in the scroll, this is where I got to today.
Notwithstanding destroying tools, this should be a fairly straightforward build. There's nothing especially complicated about it, just some fine timber with a shape unashamedly stolen from the Stradivarius of bass guitars.
30 inch scale 6 string Carl Thompson tribute
33mm thick body shrunk to about 80% of a normal bass size
Neck through body
Washburn 6 string humbucker
Black hardware
Generic 6 string bridge from Aliexpress
Wilkinson tuners
No controls
100% macassar ebony construction
Here's my Plan B entry in the event that my overly ambitious 10 string fretless doesn't get done in time. I find that having two basses to work on at once makes the process flow a bit better. While waiting for glue to dry in one build, I can work on another.
I jumped online today and ordered hardware for this one. Right now, all I have is wood and templates.
With that said, here's a bare bones start...
Since buying a big load of macassar ebony last year, I have wanted to build a 100% ebony bass.
Here's one of four boards I bought
The end grain is simply stunning. This lump of wood would almost certainly be better put to use in the hands of a chopping board maker, but that ain't me
I have been worried that a solid ebony bass would be way too heavy (even by my standards), and I have missed my short scale Mensinger Cazpar 6 string since selling it a while back.
Solution - a short scale bass with a tiny body.
I figure it is probably a right of passage for an amateur luthier to pay homage to Carl Thompson, so what better time than now.
I roughed the body wings with the bandsaw, then promptly destroyed a pattern following router bit trimmer to shape. This wood is hard! Smoke from a sharp router bit hard.
I'm in love with the grain in this stuff
After destroying some more router bits putting a roundover on the wings and a 45 degree chamfer in the scroll, this is where I got to today.
Notwithstanding destroying tools, this should be a fairly straightforward build. There's nothing especially complicated about it, just some fine timber with a shape unashamedly stolen from the Stradivarius of bass guitars.
