This week’s Bass of the Week comes from Wayne Stewart.
I built this from scratch. It is burled redwood, maple and mahogany. I had Carvin build the neck to my specs as it is a through neck design. The bass is totally passive with custom wiring to have volume on both pickup with a master tone. Also, the rear pickup is wired on a pull switch for operation by itself for a bright punchy sound. Awesome bass with the best tone ever and stays in tune without changing. I had a great time creating it.
I had been searching for materials to use on my design and found the Redwood at Luthiers Mercantile International, Inc. They since do not have a supply of burled material, so I was fortunate to have found the wood I wanted. Redwood is very soft, and burl is very delicate, so I chose mahogany to enhance the low end tone and maple for a clear top end. Carvin makes great necks to your specs and I wanted a through neck design with no inlays. So I opted for their maple neck with ebony fingerboard and dots on the side to leave the fretboard plain.
I think the balance is just right as it is very full deep solid bass with good definition. I further enhanced the top end with some trick wiring to isolate the bridge pick up through the tone control. The bass is passive and the pickups are fabulous. Strong and clear. I chose one volume control for each pick up with a master tone control like a Jazz bass wiring. The humbucker pickups are wired in series for the max.
As far as the build goes, I used TiteBond III glue and it was perfect for the different woods. I laminated the mahogaqny and maple together and did all the inside work before fitting the neck. After fitting the neck I worked on the pickup placement and then the routing of wire channels before working the redwood onto the face. After it was together I fill the redwood with epoxy resin and sanded it all off to fill the voids. I then began the finish work. I have 30 coats of sprayed lacquer with 10 wet sandings. One sanding every 3 coats. This took a while and took even longer for it to cure. Almost 6 months to get really solid. Lacquer is very soft for a long time and you really can’t polish it until it gets hard.
While this was drying, I spent my time making jigs and fixture to locate the bridges, designing the head stock and locating the tuners. I got all my hardware from Best Bass Gear. Those amazing Delano pick ups, Gotoh tuners, individual through the body bridges, ebony volume knobs, volume pots and capacitor. I sected DR Black Beauties strings to maintain that blacked out hardware look I wanted. I didn’t want anything to distract from that fabulous redwood top. I topped it off with Dunlop recessed strap locks so that only my strap will fit on it. To access the electronics, I build a matching redwood cover with a magnetic clasp.
I play through a Carvin BX500 class D head and their BRX10.2 cabinet. Also use a Line 6 Pod XT with their bass expansion pack. I play with the volumes on full through a Lines 6 pedal. I like smooth jazz but play lots of great rock too. I also write my own electronica type songs, with an occasional sappy love song. The bass stays tuned throughout the gig and has been excellent in every application. I had a great time creating it and want to build a matching guitar but I can’t find any more burled redwood.
Featuring:
Great Job
Very nice work. Labor of love no doubt. The wood grain is beautiful and so is the finish, wow.
An exercise in patience, waiting on that lacquer to cure, right? But well worth it!
Very nice job on the bass! Looks Killer!
Amazing job! When you say Carvin will build to your specs, are they flexible with the overall thickness? I think Carvin’s quality is top notch but I never got along with their thin profile necks.