DG11.05.08
2008-05-17 []Bass Guitar for Ed.
The specs are: Standard 34 inch scale, multi laminate neck through, four string. Book matched top and back, Ebony fingerboard and Schaller hardware. Not sure yet, but possibly a single Bartolini or EMG pick up.
All the Tone Woods used in this Instrument are Australian, except for the Ebony fingerboard. I’m going to put the proper botanical names of the wood used in brackets behind the common names, just in case anyone wants, or needs to know.
Australia is home to some great timbers, and as the supply for the more traditional woods from Central and South America become harder to source, there’s a fair bit of interest in what we have down here, though there’s quite a few of our species on various CITES lists as well.
Some Australian makers like Maton have been using the likes of Queensland Maple [ Flindersia brayleyana ] for almost half a century, and as such, have a good knowledge base about different Australian woods and their tonal properties in comparison to the more traditional woods. There’s also a lot of small builders continually experimenting with "new" woods.....here as well as overseas, tradition is slowly being put aside as some of these "new" woods are found to be even better than the traditional ones we’ve been using.
Maple Silk Wood Slab 4 meters x 850 mm x 55mm, it’s almost a shame to cut something like this up, it would make a great kitchen bench top, or a nice table.
Highlighted Figure from the left hand side of the slab in the above picture.
The selected billet for the Top book match of Ed’s Bass.
The neck laminates are Rose Mahogany [Dysoxylum fraseranum ] x 5 mm center strip, with pinstriped Black Bean [Castanospermum australe ] x 5 mm strips each side of that, and Maple Silkwood [ Flindersia pimenteliana ] as the main bulk of the neck. Pinstripes are .6 mm Silver Quandong [ Elaeocarpus grandis ].
I think I’m going with dual truss rods in this one as it will connect to the body at the 20 th fret, and will have quite a slender profile.
The body wings will be Black Bean core x 20 mm, Silver Quandong accent laminations x 3 mm, with book matched Rose Mahogany on the back, and book matched Maple Silkwood on the Top.
The Rose Mahogany for the Back and the book matched Maple Silk Wood for the Top.
Gluing the Black Bean body wing core to the neck.
Top and back of core after gluing.
Top glued to core and highlighted to show figure, and a close up of the body laminations.
Headstock end of the neck before adding headstock angle and the little wings for a bit more width for the headstock itself.
Angled and wings on, ready for a Rose Mahogany lamination that will incorporate the volute.
Rose Mahogany and Quandong lamination in place on back of the headstock. The Volute will come a little later, when I’m shaping the neck.
Truss Rod channels and adjustment housing detail.
Gluing Black Bean fillets in over the rods.
The Bass in a special router jig, the surface of the neck has been leveled ready for the fingerboard to be attached. I’ve done a little bit of shaping to the body.
Ebony fingerboard attached. I was going to put a white binding around it, but changed my mind in favour of using pin striped Rose Mahogany.
Close up of the edge of the fingerboard, slotted and ready for the binding.
Close up of binding, and before inlaying ED on the 12 th fret.
Ed, inlaid in white mother of pearl, I’ll put the frets in when the Bass is much closer to finished.
A bit of shaping of the volute on the back of the headstock, I won’t finish it until the front lamination is glued on.
Here’s the back, I decided to stain the Rose Mahogany, mainly just to really deepen it up. I quite like the contrast between the deep red and the white of the Silver Quandong accent lamination.
This is the front after a bit of shaping, pick up route is still to come, also the cover for the Truss Rod adjustment cavity is still to be made and fitted.
The Headstock from two different angles, just to get a take on how alive the Figure is in this wood.
Close up of the Top before and after the Pick Up cavity has been routed, Truss Rod adjuster cover is in place too.
The Frets are installed, leveled, beveled and crowned, and the Nut is in and slotted.
The finished Bass sounds absolutely fantastic, the combination of woods works really well. The density of all three woods, Black Bean [Castanospermum australe ], Maple Silkwood [ Flindersia pimenteliana ] and Rose Mahogany [Dysoxylum fraseranum ] complement each other nicely. I’d highly recommend them to anyone who wants to use some quality Australian Tone Woods.
The total weight of the Bass is 3.85 Kg, Body thickness is 38 mm’s, and total length from the top of the headstock to the strap lock at the other end is 1085 mm’s .... very light, evenly balanced, and comfortable.
The single EMG humbucker is placed forward to pick up the deeper resonance of the strings, and is simply wired for volume and tone, with 500 k Ohm pots and a .047 µF orange drop Sprague capacitor.
Questions, comments or suggestions .... email me via the Contact page.
Source: daintreedesign.com.au