Tom's Headless 5 String Bass - #033

[Phil]

This design was worked up from scratch with Tom based on his ideas of what it should look like. The body is Bubinga with a Burl top (was is Walnut?? ), Wenge neck and Birdseye Maple fretboard. The headless hardware are Hipshot's.The pickups are Nordstrand/Dingwall FD3's with a Darkglass Tone Capsule preamp, black hardware. And now for a few build pics

The Bubinga body being glued together.



Walnut burl top being bookmatched




Lining up the top and body to prepare for gluing the top.




Starting to build the neck




Fretboard slotting


Checking nut clamp, fingerboard position before gluing board on neck.



Routing the neck contour and the recess for the nut clamp




Cutting body routs and dry fitting the neck.




More to come in a couple of days.

[narcdor]

I admire your judicious use of clamps. Also that bubinga body and top are really nice.

[drbass]

Beautiful.

FD3s, and DG tone capsule, hmm? Little bit of Dingwall coming through . I am really happy with the FD3/Glockenklang combo in my six-string builds, don’t think this will disappoint.

Looking forward to more pix.

Regards,
Michael

[PilbaraBass]

very cool, Phil! Love the headless SC design... love the electronics idea, too...

As you know, burls are tricky to identify due to lack of characteristic grain patterns, but based on colour alone, I'd agree that it's walnut. And if you look at the grain radiating out next to the front pickup, it really looks like walnut.

[Phil]

Thanks Kerry yes it is Walnut I finally had a look at my paperwork Its actually not a single cut though, zoom up on the glued top photo with the pencil lines, you'll see its shape.

[PilbaraBass]

^ahhh...missed that pic... sorry... I like that, too...

[bigswifty]

I love seeing build photos, this looks great!
Mike

[basshack]

That's going to be very pretty Phil. Love your work!

[Phil]

Next batch of pics.




Rough cutting the neck contour on the router table.




Shaping the neck





Shaping the body





Drilling the headstock end with a template.





Filling the cracks in the top with a mixture of Wenge dust and glue.



Prepping for the lacquering process.

[ozrider]

Very nice

[Classic5]

That's looking terrific. Love the maple board and wenge neck combination, and the maple board with the walnut top

[slowlearner]

Interesting. Outside your usual box. I like it. How heavy is that body?

[Phil]

I'm not too sure, I'm not at home to weight it. It's not that light but not as heavy as I thought it would be when I pulled that Bubinga blank out of the shipping box, that blank was like a boat anchor.

[Soong]

That top is insane!

[slowlearner]

I'm not too sure, I'm not at home to weight it. It's not that light but not as heavy as I thought it would be when I pulled that Bubinga blank out of the shipping box, that blank was like a boat anchor.

Bahahah!

And to go with your new bass, you need this...

https://www.boatsales.com.au/boats/deta ... ss=Premium