[Bass of the Week] Dave Johnson Spirit

See the business listing for this bass builder here

Dave Johnson, who gave us many thank-yous as you’ll see below (to which we say thank you right back, and that we were happy to assist,) built quite the exotic for his bass build.

Dave writes:

I began building this bass in July, 2014, after realizing that my 1978 Gibson was getting along in years. As I searched for a replacement, it became clear that what I wanted would be amazingly expensive. I decided to explore building my own, with my wife telling me to “spare no expense, as it had to be cheaper than buying one”. I drew the design, made a mock-up out of Styrofoam, until it just felt right. In addition to being a musician, I am an avid woodworker. I chose Bubinga for the body, neck through-spline, and head overlay. Bird’s Eye Maple provides the remainder of the neck, with a Wenge fingerboard. A think stripe of Maple and Wenge wrap around the body. Carbon Fiber splines run the length, from head to tail. Using a stress modeling computer, I have figured that about 800 pounds could be placed on the 12th fret with .005″ of flex. The inlays are Prism Abalone and Blue Pa’ua. The finish is 8 coats of West Systems 105/207 Special Clear Epoxy, with 12 coats of Mohawk Piano Lacquer. The body and head are gloss, the neck is satin.

(Shout out the BBG guys – Max and everyone else) – I didn’t have a clue what electronics to order – only that I wanted the bass to have the flexibility to sound like whatever I want it to sound like at that moment. They suggested a Michael Pope 2stk.1 preamp, with Bartolini P25CBC pickups. The pickups are wired with switchable series/parallel/single coils. A Babicz Full-Contact Bridge, Gotoh Tuners, and Optima Unique Strings (all gold-plated) round out the build.

What does it sound like? Whatever I want it to sound like. Which is exactly what I wanted it to sound like. Other than being a very heavy instrument, I am very happy with how this came out. I’m so appreciative of the BBG guys for their help. And one note – I scratched my head for a week trying to figure out how to shape the fingerboard. I invented a jig which mills a perfect fingerboard with any radius (including compound – bigger radius at the body than the head) and any thickness (including tapered – thicker at the body than the head), on any fingerboard for any instrument from a mandolin to a 35″ bass, and will be readily accessible to anyone who wants it, either as a built jig or through a set of plans. It does away with radius block sanders, CNC machining, or expensive belt-sander jigs. Works perfectly every time. I have not yet received confirmation of my provisional patent, so I can’t release it yet, but I will do my best to give BBG first option when it rolls out.

Well done, Dave! Glad to see it completed!

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