Winter Build Off 2025 - 39er for Dicksbass.com

[Alex Xander]

Today I routed the stainless reinforcements and trussrod and glued on the fretboard. I do this in one step and use a fairly thick structural adhesive called Techniglue. I'm not sure if it's available outside Australia.

I mentioned before that yarran is a heavy wood.

Try this on for size - an uncarved 4 string neck blank that weighs 1.6kg/3.5lb. It's already at the finished thickness. I think at most I might lose 500gm in the carving, but I think that is being very optimistic.

Being headless, and also having my signature mile-long upper horn, I am not concerned about balance.

I'm going to bet that this will be a fairly bright sounding fretless with a substantial amount of sustain.

Im not looking forward to levelling this board or carving this neck. My tools aren't either

 

[Alex Xander]

Very frustratingly, @dickwagor s bass had been held up for almost a week in USA customs. The reason for this isn’t exactly clear at present, but it does look like customs are ready to release it.

The”twin” had had some progress. Double P pickups routed (for black Dimarzio Relentless) and the neck is in place.

As this is a bass for me, I thought I’d do something a little different with the neck screws.

One might be worried about the creation of a plane of weakness, however given the neck is flat sawn, I’m minimising the risk. I would not try such an arrangement on a quartersawn neck.

All five holes got a liberal dose of wax prior to threading and there’s zero sign of its structural integrity being compromised.

I got notification today that the ACG EQ01 preamp has been shipped (from the UK to Oz), and the second set of pickups should be here early neck week.

It may be a rush to get this over the line before the finish date.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Very frustratingly, @dickwagor s bass had been held up for almost a week in USA customs. The reason for this isn’t exactly clear at present, but it does look like customs are ready to release it.

The”twin” had had some progress. Double P pickups routed (for black Dimarzio Relentless) and the neck is in place.


View attachment 7163995

As this is a bass for me, I thought I’d do something a little different with the neck screws.

View attachment 7163996
One might be worried about the creation of a plane of weakness, however given the neck is flat sawn, I’m minimising the risk. I would not try such an arrangement on a quartersawn neck.

All five holes got a liberal dose of wax prior to threading and there’s zero sign of its structural integrity being compromised.

I got notification today that the ACG EQ01 preamp has been shipped (from the UK to Oz), and the second set of pickups should be here early neck week.

It may be a rush to get this over the line before the finish date.

Ooouuuuffffff ! This pickup routing makes me scared about blowing out my cab speakers !

And that wood figure on top of the body……………. !

 

[Alex Xander]

The second set of Relentless pickups arrived today.

I suspect that tonally, this will be an absolute sledgehammer. Nothing polite, nothing subdued. In your face midrange. The ACG EQ01 will give it the ability to go from in your face to flat out offensive.

I also spent yesterday carving the neck.

I have no words to accurately describe how hard Australian desert timbers are, other than to say that this neck took twice as much blood, sweat and swearing than the solid ebony necks I’ve done. The reward should be a neck that sounds like a graphite one (something uber stiff) as along with the ridiculously hard yarran, I’ve put stainless reinforcement in this neck and an epoxy bedded trussrod.

This whole build is on steroids. A stark contrast to @dickwagor ’s despite them being of mostly the same wood and being twin reverse P pickups. Richard’s is polite; build two is its very rude cousin that doesn’t get invited out much.

 

[Gervais Cote]

The second set of Relentless pickups arrived today.

View attachment 7166859
I suspect that tonally, this will be an absolute sledgehammer. Nothing polite, nothing subdued. In your face midrange. The ACG EQ01 will give it the ability to go from in your face to flat out offensive.

I also spent yesterday carving the neck.

I have no words to accurately describe how hard Australian desert timbers are, other than to say that this neck took twice as much blood, sweat and swearing than the solid ebony necks I’ve done. The reward should be a neck that sounds like a graphite one (something uber stiff) as along with the ridiculously hard yarran, I’ve put stainless reinforcement in this neck and an epoxy bedded trussrod.

This whole build is on steroids. A stark contrast to @dickwagor ’s despite them being of mostly the same wood and being twin reverse P pickups. Richard’s is polite; build two is its very rude cousin that doesn’t get invited out much.

OMG !

Neck, body, pickups and tuners are totally INSANE on this bass !

And the more I look at it, the more I see this in my mind :

 

[Alex Xander]

Can someone help nudge me in the direction of a decision here…

I’m considering not using the ACG EQ01 preamp on this bass. As many of you will know, it is the Rolls Royce of preamps and I would love to use it where a piezo bridge is one of the pickups.

What I’m considering instead is a modification of a wiring I’ve done on a double P before where the coils for each set of strings get switching, independent of the other strings.

Two 4 way rotary switches. One for the EA coils, one for the DG coils. Each switch allows for neck coil/bridge coil/both in series/both in parallel for each coil set. It would allow 16 distinct switching options.

What do people think?

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Can someone help nudge me in the direction of a decision here…

I’m considering not using the ACG EQ01 preamp on this bass. As many of you will know, it is the Rolls Royce of preamps and I would love to use it where a piezo bridge is one of the pickups.

What I’m considering instead is a modification of a wiring I’ve done on a double P before where the coils for each set of strings get switching, independent of the other strings.

Two 4 way rotary switches. One for the EA coils, one for the DG coils. Each switch allows for neck coil/bridge coil/both in series/both in parallel for each coil set. It would allow 16 distinct switching options.

What do people think?

That’s funny, I was going to suggest individual on/off switches for each pickup half with everything wired in series partially joking as I’m sure everything on would be a huge, muddy mess. Your idea is probably more practical. Go for it!

 

[Lo-E]

With that pickup configuration I like the idea of having the option of neck pair/bridge pair/both pairs/middle pair (reverse P). That could be accomplished on one rotary switch with series/parallel duties assigned to another. Could be a lot of fun.

 

[Alex Xander]

That’s funny, I was going to suggest individual on/off switches for each pickup half with everything wired in series partially joking as I’m sure everything on would be a huge, muddy mess. Your idea is probably more practical. Go for it!

The last double P I did this on put all four coils in series when they were all on. It wasn’t a bad sound at all. The kicker is those pickups were much more polite than the Relentless.

With that pickup configuration I like the idea of having the option of neck pair/bridge pair/both pairs/middle pair (reverse P). That could be accomplished on one rotary switch with series/parallel duties assigned to another. Could be a lot of fun.

I’m going to have to site down with a rotary switch and see if I can nut that out. The first bit of switching you describe sounds like a very good option.

 

[dickwagor]

Hey all, got some time in the bass after negotiating customs for a minute. This is a great bass and all the ergonomics totally make sense. Really digging it as I get it adjusted to the Iowa winter climate

 

[Alex Xander]

With that pickup configuration I like the idea of having the option of neck pair/bridge pair/both pairs/middle pair (reverse P). That could be accomplished on one rotary switch with series/parallel duties assigned to another. Could be a lot of fun.

After a lot of swearing and scribbling, I’ve arrived at the conclusion that the described switching cannot be accomplished with a 4t3p rotary switch, which is what I have on hand. Either that, or I simply don't have the smarts to work it out.

 

[Lo-E]

After a lot of swearing and scribbling, I’ve arrived at the conclusion that the described switching cannot be accomplished with a 4t3p rotary switch, which is what I have on hand. Either that, or I simply don't have the smarts to work it out.

Haven’t worked it out in a while…. I know I have figured it out in the past. I suspect you’d need 4 poles, though.
I’ll scratch my head over it for a while.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

So that's Dick and friend/relation/younger self with time machine, some bass player from Krypton, some bass player from Krypton again, then a couple more pictures of Dick...

 

[Alex Xander]

Today I got the tuners mounted, ferrules in the headstock and fretboard levelled.

The bridges that I'm using will clamp the string at the bridge end, meaning the ball can go at the headstock. I will give it a bit more shaping, but I kinda like the micro paddle.

I also settled on electronics. The two P pickups will go to a 4 way rotary switch for neck/bridge/both in parallel/both in series. From there they will go into an Underhill Paradactyl 3 band parametric EQ. The cavity still needs a clean up, but there's room everything.

Acoustically, this bass has a ridiculous amount of sustain. I really hope that follows through electronically.

 

[Beej]

Great stuff. I really like your entire overall approach to building.

 

[Peter Wood]

Today I got the tuners mounted, ferrules in the headstock and fretboard levelled.

View attachment 7171150

View attachment 7171151


The bridges that I'm using will clamp the string at the bridge end, meaning the ball can go at the headstock. I will give it a bit more shaping, but I kinda like the micro paddle.

I also settled on electronics. The two P pickups will go to a 4 way rotary switch for neck/bridge/both in parallel/both in series. From there they will go into an Underhill Paradactyl 3 band parametric EQ. The cavity still needs a clean up, but there's room everything.

View attachment 7171153

Acoustically, this bass has a ridiculous amount of sustain. I really hope that follows through electronically.

I like this. I will say though, I think the "micro-paddle" looks like an after thought. If you're able to shape it somehow it will lessen that effect. I get why it's there. Headless instruments are pain to put on a hanger/hanging stand and the nut position is weird for the hand. Been there myself. I just think that headstock could be a lot better.

 

[Alex Xander]

I like this. I will say though, I think the "micro-paddle" looks like an after thought. If you're able to shape it somehow it will lessen that effect. I get why it's there. Headless instruments are pain to put on a hanger/hanging stand and the nut position is weird for the hand. Been there myself. I just think that headstock could be a lot better.

Thanks for the feedback, Peter.

I'm certainly open to ideas.

The current one is simply to put an aggressive roundover on the top with a subtle roundover on the sides, and maybe a concave edge on the sides. Nothing is set in stone until the first cost of oil is applied.

My thinking is that if the paddle is small enough, the shape isn't so important. There's no shortage of stress on those ferrules with the strings doing a 90 degree turn on the headstock, so I can't remove too much.


I did this on a recent headless but something just didn't sit well with me about it. It may fit better on the body style of this build.

 

[Peter Wood]

I think something like this would look a lot better but also keep the functionality. Yellow lines show the shape.

 

[Alex Xander]

I think something like this would look a lot better but also keep the functionality. Yellow lines show the shape.

View attachment 7172104

What I ended up doing wasn't too dissimilar to your suggestion. I kept some beef in the pointy end as the forces there are fairly complex, being a ferrule and a 90 degree change in angle.

Anyone stateside interested in some Yarran or one it's close cousins as an ebony substitute?

I couldn't be happier with how this neck turned out.

Luminlay 4mm dots at 3, 5, 7 etc, 2.5mm dots at every other position.

 

[Why Nautilus‽]

Sleek! That dark look of the wood is very appealing.