The Last Bass Outpost

Getting Hard.

Spalted Alder is very similar in density to Basswood, this piece anyway.  Minwax Wood Hardener is a precatalyzed resin in acetone for rotten woodwork to prepare it for being filled and painted. Really works great to toughen up the spalt. Penetrates and dries in 2-4 hours, 10 minutes to touch.

White wood ready for finish. Rosewood board.



Top and sides done, ready to flip over on 'stand' screwed into bridge holes.



raw and first coat started.



10 minutes later.



10 minutes after that.



Veneered headstock was a test, that's two coats of nitro 15 minutes apart over the cured and sanded to 220 Minwax.

Pearl dots pulled, black dots installed, fretboard ebonized with Fiebings. I love the no face dots look. Probably has something to do with being in Kindergarten and endlessly drawing railroad tracks...they were right, something wrong with me!



Next step is sanding hardened body and shooing clear.

Nice work!
Another advantage of the acetone is that you don't get any glue remains on the wood. So no problems with staining.

Thanks, Rob.
I watched a few videos before deciding acetone was the way to go for that reason.  I've used a needle bottle to cement clear acrylic and thought it might work.  Capillary action sucks in the acetone without the mess a brush makes.

That explorer is gorgeous! 

Odd pickups with offset polepieces on the P/J fiver.  I assume those were specified by the customer... What are those and do you know what's the rationale behind the design?

Thanks!

This was just a body/headstock refin for a good customer. Pickups are Nordstrands.   Description from their site:
"The tonal nature of the NP5 is akin to that of its brother, the NP4. The reason for this close comparison in tone is a derivative of their angled pole design, which gives these pickups the totally loaded coil girth important in facilitating the hard hitting vibrational tenacity they have come to be known for. The NP5 produces a voice that is resonant of all the best aspects of precision-style playing, but is then able to go above and beyond the traditional P pickup with an aggressive, note sustaining integrity that will carry your sound farther than any standard P could ever dream. Although this pickup’s tone is not an exact clone of our standard NP4, it will certainly provide a flavor of P-style playing that is both nostalgic and edgy; putting forth a sonic kinesis that will prove any player’s loaded slap as poignant, dominating, and sometimes even profane."
...or your money back

 

Makes sense.  FYI, the tapewounds wouldn't be an issue.  I only use them on certain basses, so I'm not committed to them.  If an idea pops up and you need a guinea pig for an experiment, please feel free to reach out!

Will do!

I've played Cruise basses of that era with and without the 2Tek and it really brings things to life. I hate nasty artificial sounding high end and mids in bass tone and good bridges can make for an articulate bass that doesn't make me cringe and still has tons of low end. I'm fearful that I may be stuck on neck-through. My pawnshop Peavey Grind NTB is one of the nicest basses I've ever played and it's a Chinese bottom-of-the-budget-barrel bass. Although I DO like the Thunderbird Studio 5'ver, which is set neck...

Warmoth is te exclusive dealer for the 2TEK. Current version has less mass in the 'fingers', lightening holes drilled in it.  That's unfortunate IMO, thyey're not going to convince possible customers on the basis of that.  You're either in or out on the original design for players who know the bridge so why drill holes in a critical part that might affect the tone?



If I built necks I'd definitely build neck through basses compared to set necks. Not much difference in labor and more perceived value. 

I had a friend  build the 12er neck, he also built me a 32" I'm going to use for a personal 12er if I ever decide on a body.

Awww man that's going to set off my bridge obsession again!  Must not drill big hole in EB4L.......

You're lucky, it only works on a 1-3/4" thick body!

With apologies, my Don, but what goes in the gaping hole where the bridge lives on the P...?

Has a 2Tek bridge, similar to this one on my Hamer Cruise...it was a 90s thing.  They've recently been reissued.  Might try to find a victim customer for one.




The massive individual string thru bridges are screwed to the base plate.
 
Meanwhile BgrBtm is moving along.  Here it is with an H-22 which was an influence along with the Rick 360.





Going to get double binding to set off the crazy spalted alder grain.

BiggerBottom, 16" lower bout. Customer OK'd it but wants to keep the 4+1 headstock.  No problem, there's always photoshop.



Headstock roughed out.