This week’s selection is from Tuur. He was looking for a minimalist design and asked his friend and builder Craig Lawton to help him out. Here’s the story in his own words:
We wanted to build a bass with a most minimalist design with simple bold colours and no clutter. The idea was that rather than building a bass that can do almost anything, it would simply do one thing and do it well. No endless amounts of knobs to tweak the sound, just one tone control and a mini toggle to make a few adjustments if needed. The tone also has a push-pull switch to turn the bass on and off, as there is no volume knob (who needs a volume control anyway!).
The SignaTuur has a basswood body with a surf green nitro finish. The neck is from maple with a Rocklite fretboard and a matching headstock. Strings are LaBella DeepTalking flats.
Regarding the electronics: it’s a Kent Armstrong Claymore soapbar pickup, placed slightly towards the neck to get a fuller sound. It has a 3-way mini toggle to switch between series, parallel and coil tap wiring, and a general tone knob that has a push pull to serve add a kill switch. I mainly use the series wiring as it just sounds massive. For the rest of the hardware I’m not too sure. I think they’re generic parts found on various online shops. One cool feature is the electronics cavity cover, which is magnetic so no screws involved at all!
It has an amazingly deep sound, especially with the pickup in series mode. With the tone rolled off, it may even be too much bass to handle within a band! It plays lovely with an ultrafast smooth neck and it’s a pleasure to look at too…
Here’s the Spec list:
Basswood 2-piece body
Rippled Sycamore neck
ROCKLITE® Ebano fingerboard
Kent Armstrong Claymore Soapbar pickup
Mini-toggle switch for series/split/parallel)
500k push/pull knob for tone/on-off (no volume!) with .047 ceramic tone cap
Gotoh machine heads
Gotoh Hardtail bridge (string-thru option)
Green abalone side markers
Nitrocellulose finish
Scale length: (35”) 890mm
Nut width: 45mm
Number of frets: Fretless
Fretboard radius: (14″) 355mm
String spacing at bridge: 76mm
Overall length: 1135mm
Body width: 335mm
Body depth: 40mm
See Pictures:
Great job!!!!
Simple and sweet.
Would love to hear this bass.
The view from the rear is great too, just as much as the front. Especially the angled curve at the top of the head and the wooden panel….aaaand the black hardware. Is the neck pre-built? Is the body? Is it all? And just altered? I ask not because it cheapens, (as it in no way does!) but out of interest. It is beautiful regardless. Wonderful. Tasteful.
Hey Clickbait Bill.
Thanks for the great comments.
The bass was built entirely from scratch, with no pre built parts etc…
My client gave me his preference for shapes, finishes etc… from which I sketched out a few early designs, then we worked very closely on tweaking the final curves before ‘signing off’ the design.
The neck was hand carved and in fact only a few power tools were used for the whole build.
I updated my client with plenty of photos during the built process which certainly added to the excitement of handover day.
We’ll hopefully have sone audio/video posted very soon.
Cheers,
Craig
I think it looks great! Congrats!
I rarely comment on the customs featured on this page, most are so far out of my reach it seems silly to comment at all. But this one, simplified down to the minimums, pickup placement just perfect, every detail expertly crafted and every design element reduced to it’s functional best is one of the most beautiful instruments I have ever seen. I’ll bet it’s an absolute dream to play, and a truly artful thing to listen to. Hat’s off to Craig Lawton, fabulous job!! dw
I agree…love it
Very very nice!
Perfect…love the no volume! Practical and beautiful…ebony, no lines. Sweet.
Hmmm… the email said “Read More, See the Pics, and Watch the Video…”.
So where’s the video? I want to HEAR it!!! 😉
crud. i forgot to include it in the post. Give me a few and check back. Sorry about that!
Just wondering with the single control knob,is the tone a preset frequency filter or a direct from pickup set up?
How can you connect with the builder for commissioning a build?
Hi Rex.
Craig, the luthier here.
You’re very welcome to check out my Instagram and drop me a line there.
Search for Lawton Guitars.
All the best.
Very nice indeed and in my favorite guitar color too. Love the simplicity and the clearly well thought out body shaping. (Given the lack of an extended upper horn, is neck dive an issue when standing? Though I’ll bet it is very comfortable when seated.
Nice job, you’ve made me think about my soon to start fretless build….
Ya know, it’s really not fair to show us this beauty without also posting a video, so that we can see how sweet it sounds as well. Great job… I look forward to hearing this baby!
Now that is one beautiful stripped down bass. I’d love to hear it.
Nicely done!
Handsome!
Would love to hear it. Looks great.
Sorry about that! I just added the video at the bottom of the page.
man, this bass just flat out kills. perfect design and execution.
Nice and straight forward. Love the timber used for the neck. Control box same timber?
It certainly is. With some 2mm magnets securing it in place, and keeping the look minimal