Hi friends and family,
I am publishing the progress on one of my new Guitar Builds. I’m still waiting on some parts. The pickups and the Hipshot De-Tuner are on backorder. In the meantime, I finished what I could without them.
This is a Fretless Precision style bass. It has a ‘Guitar Fetish’ Paulownia Body, a Warmoth Fretless Maple Neck, with Rosewood Fingerboard and Maple Fret Markers, Babicz Bridge (super light and stable), Schaller BM Light Tuners and a Hipshot De-Tuner.
The new, already stained and polished Paulownia body from GuitarFetish.com is SUPER LIGHT. 3-1/2 Lbs. I haven’t mounted the Strap Buttons yet, because I will want to place them for optimum balance. I think the neck, even with the super light tuners will be heavier than the body with electronics and bridge installed.
The Warmoth Neck I found on eBay, used, and in need of some TLC. I had to sand it down completely, fill some holes on the headstock, then refinish it. After staining a light, Amber/Brown for a Vintage look, I used a cool technique using Tung Oil, thinned down with Mineral Spirits and rubbed on with cotton cloths. It made the neck very smooth yet, with a woody feel to it. I will use this technique from now on.
The electronics are pretty special; The Pickup is a Nordstrom Angled, Alnico III Magnets. The Controls set up as Stacked Volume and Tone with the Tone Capacitors switchable between .47 Microfarads and 100 Microfarads and a Stellartone Varitone Tone Control Bass Triple-Six Control. You can use the regular tone control, switching between two different tone options or use the Varitone tone options. The Nordstrom Alnico III Pickup is pretty special. It has a mellower tone than the normal Alnico V magnets. Better for Fretless tones. The Varitone Control is a wonderful invention that gives you six different tone options, each one is very useful to cut through the mix of pretty much any band. I consider the Varitone indispensable. It will be in all of my bass builds from now on.
I will update you when the rest of the parts come in (it’s been six weeks, already) and the bass is finished. I sent a picture to BestBassGear.com asking them if they could identify what is missing on the bass. This is after receiving two notes from them saying the parts would be in in a few days . . . I will probably post some video/sound clips of me playing it so you can hear the awesome sounds I’m anticipating.
Thanks for reading. Skip the technical/geek parts if you like and enjoy the pics.
Love to all,
David T
p.s. Comments are very much appreciated.You can write comments below each story.