Five Pound Bass

Started by dadagoboi, June 06, 2010, 03:31:18 PM

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dadagoboi

June 06, 2010, 03:31:18 PM
In fall of '08 these two basses were the inspiration for this project.  As usual I was motivated by anger.

Orchid is an "ergonomic" boutique bass.  Anger that an ergonomic bass weighs over 10 lbs.  (aesthetics aside, I did like the knob placement :)



...and Lace's Helix w an Alumitone PUP, a bass that I thought had a fresh look.  Anger at that because nobody at Lace bothered to make sure the neck pocket depth was shallow enough to get decent action with the bridge they chose.  Obviously no bass player on the design team.


So I decided to build my own ergo bass.  For me No 1 in that dept. is weight, followed by balance, ability to play sitting down or standing up and comfortable to hold.  Also sound and looks had to be up to snuff.  The passive lace fills the sound requirement for me.

I had an Ibanez TR50 just waiting to be butchered for the cause.  Caution, I work ugly!



Here's what my first proto looked like next to a Squier Jazz



Some shots from last week







I've spent a lot of time since finalizing the proto in Oct 08 deciding what to do next.  This is the beginning of the current build, all 5 lbs of it.  Neck pocket and PUP route.

dadagoboi

#1
June 06, 2010, 03:33:56 PM
Whoops, PUP and neck rout

dadagoboi

#2
June 07, 2010, 06:27:15 AM
Body roughed out.  3.2 lbs.  Glued up Lowe's 2x4's.  Don't laugh, the first Fenders had pine bodies.  Wire passage goes from endpin jack/strap peg thru pup route to stackpot cavity. It's basically a cut down jazz body.



Heel contour is nicked from an Ibanez TR Expressionist.


This is the Lace Alumitone, weighs around 2 ounces, passive.  Fights above its weight.  Talkbass has a thread on it.




I hope to post some sound clips after this build is completed.  With the wood/pup/weight and individual bridge variables it might be interesting.  The prototype gets a good range of tones from almost mudbucker through P to Jazz.
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