Brooks Thread

[uwe]

Oh, I didn't know it was here ... 

[uwe]

What is that song again you're playing? Led Zeppelin? Sounds familiar ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSngzjqMF38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noTV6s8JzTM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyuiAvSCD4c

[Basvarken]

Per request of Uwe I'll post pics of the entire build process here.
It's copy/paste from a thread in Talkbass where I've already shared this.


Had my wood supplier make me a nice ply neck blank of White Limba (akaKorina) and mahogany veneer strips in between





Plus two slabs White Limba for the body wings




A nice start for this project




Routed the trussrod slot. And cut out the part for the spokewheel

[Basvarken]

Sawed the headstock angle




Drilled holes for the position markers




Glued the postion markers in and sanded them flush to the radius of the fretboard




Hammered the frets in




Cut out the opening for the trussrod access




Made the trussrod cover to fit the access slot





Fretboard ready to be glued onto the neck




Checked the neck/body angle before I glued the fretboard on




Sawed the rough shape of the neck





Glued the fretboard onto the neck

[Basvarken]

Fretboard in place




Filled the little gaps under the frets with a mix of rosewood sawdust and wood glue




Glued the first body wing on




And then the other wing




Sawed the outline roughly (sorry no pic)
Then routed along the MDF template for the first outline





Second step was to route the outline for the recessed "armpit" of the V




Used the same template for the pickup cavities and the controls cavity





Then shaped the neck and heel

[Basvarken]

Drilled the bridge stud holes




And the holes for the string through body ferrules




Shaped the headstock and the volute




Starting to look like a bass





Put the ground wire in and hammered in the inserts for the bridge studs




Forgot to do the side position markers before I glued the body wings on. Luckily the wings are not very wide at the end of the fretboard, so I could drill holes there without a problem...




Made the side dots





Scored a nice water buffalo horn for the top nut





Cut the topnut

[Basvarken]

Made the control plate / pickguard





Made the faceplate for the headstock and glued it on




Drilled the tuner holes






After that the bass was ready for staining.
First did a layer of yellow (still think this would have been a great colour for the end result too)





Then did the reddish mahogany stain




And a darker layer





Stained the recessed bit in the "armpit" dark.
And sprayed a few coats of clear

[Basvarken]

More layers of clear






Put the decals in place





After lots of layers and lots of sanding in between she was ready for final sanding and polishing





Made the black spacers that go under the nickel pickup rings




And then mounted all the hardware

[Basvarken]

This bass is quite large. A standard case won't fit.
The Warwick Rockcase for BC Rich The Beast fits.
I made a special insert for  the V body shape to keep it in place.

[uwe]

I'm citing Edith's - daughter of a locksmith - comment on your work, Holländer, "Der kann was!"

And she says hi too!

[uwe]

I love its length, short scale Flying Vs are really a crime. It looks extremely elegant and sleek, not so much just "large". And the winged body extends the center of gravity so far back, it balances perfectly! It's the way a proper Flying V should be done.

It's also much lighter than I expected, yet not too light to seem insubstantial.

[exiledarchangel]

"The armpit bass"

[uwe]

You mean I should play it like Dave Davies?

https://youtu.be/UUALoD2E70s

Or like "I need to take a leak real quick"-Michael Schenker and his legendary Flying Pee?

[exiledarchangel]

I hope you got free deodorant with that!

[uwe]

Now that you mention it, I did wonder about the talented netherluthier's case candy ...

https://www.songmile.com/de/product/sr-rob-14-roll-on-bottle/