Winter NAMM 2012 - let the building work begin!

[Rodent]

the road to Winter NAMM 2012 has begun ...

not too bad for half a day's work ... neck pockets cut, pickup routes cut, and body perimeters rough cut. I even managed to get a new neck pocket template (not shown) detailed and ready to use I'll save routing the top routed control cavities and detailing the body outlines for another work day



in the back row ... (L) 4-string lefty Swamp Ash body with single MM pickup route, (R) 4-string righty Alder body with P pickup route

in the front row ... (L) 5-string righty Alder body with single P pickup route, (R) 4-string righty with dual soapbar pickup routes


enough bass building for the day - it's time to light the grill and prep some fillets ...

R

[fivebass52]

Even the wall outlet is impressed with your output for the day!

[Rodent]

and now that 5-string body first seen in the image above has a fully detailed perimeter



because the Alder has such even grain I'm leaning towards finishing this one with a vintage 3-tone burst, and compliment it with a Maple/Rosewood neck and Tort scratch plate. if I was instead to have chosen a solid color body, the Birdseye/Pau Ferro neck shown here would have been very appealing

this specific bass will be passive V/T with a single P pickup and 34" scale ... this model will also available in both 35" scale and lefty

all the best,

R

[Rodent]

bodies heading out the door to the paint shop ....


Swamp Ash 4-string - pre-finished weight is just a hair under 4.125 pounds





Western Red Alder 5-string - pre-finish weight is 4.25 pounds





Amboyna burl on Swamp Ash 5-string - pre-finish weight is 4.0 pounds





Koa on Mahogany 5-string - pre-finish weight is 5.0 pounds




all the best,

R

[AzWhoFan]

Love that Koa top. Definitely on the psychedelic side of things!!!

[Rodent]

next phase was to gather all the electronics and hardware ...



I pick-up all the bodies and necks from the paint shop this Thursday, and then have two weeks to get everything assembled and set-up before it's time to load them into cases and into the van that's driving everything down to SoCal

all the best,

R

[fivebass52]

Go Man Go! That's a long drive for you! At least a two-day drive, maybe three, even with someone to share the driving with. Lived in Santa Rosa, Ca. area before moving to Hawaii, and know the I-5 corridor well. Hopefully the weather will be easy on ya.... especially the fog below San Fran...

[Rodent]

all the necks and bodies are here!

here's a peek of one of the basses from above




the figuring in the wood came out perfect. there's an elegence in its simplicity

all the best,

R

[Rodent]

another pair of NAMM basses for your viewing pleasure - CAR (Alder body with M/R neck) and Seafoam Green (Alder body with Maple / Pau Ferro neck)



these will be completed in the coming two weeks

all the best,

R

[fivebass52]

Looking good rod, and looking forward to seeing the completed basses. I especially want to see the Amboyna burl when it's done...

[andrew]

here's a peek of one of the basses from above




the figuring in the wood came out perfect. there's an elegence in its simplicity

all the best,

R

Oh yeah, I like that.

[bhunt1]

What are the controls on the lefty with the MM p'up? Looks like it's active electronics, will it have coil switching?

[pjmuck]

Seafoam green. Drool.

[Rodent]

Seafoam green. Drool.

the vintage blonde lefty 4 I posted a thread on was originally going to be my SFG unit for the show, but the birds on the headstock were just too nice to cover with paint so I swapped the finish colors between the two

SFG is by far my preference between it and the paler foam green

all the best,

R

[Rodent]

What are the controls on the lefty with the MM p'up? Looks like it's active electronics, will it have coil switching?

Vol + active Treble + active Bass

no coil taps on this unit. it'll be wired up and voiced just like the original MM SR's of the late-70's

all the best,

R

[Rodent]

necks fresh from the paint shop and ready to have their frets leveled



(top to bottom)

- birdseye / Pau Ferro, clear satin
- Maple / Maple, vintage tint satin
- flame Maple / Rosewood, vintage tint satin
- birdseye Maple / Rosewood, vintage tint satin
- Maple / Rosewood, clear satin with matching CAR headstock
- flame Maple / Rosewood, vintage tint satin
- flame Maple / Pau Ferro, vintage tint satin with matching Seafoam Green headstock
- flame Maple / Gaboon Ebony, clear satin
- Maple, vintage tine satin

it's going to be a long night ...

all the best,

R

[Rodent]

today was a full day of fretwork - leveling, detailing, polishing - and then a lot of time with several grades of steel wool detailing the fretboards before they were oiled. as of tonight all the necks are now detailed and ready for final assembly



tomorrow is going to be another busy day!

all the best,

R

[fivebass52]

You're a hard-working guy Rod! And based on your attention to detail, you're going to have a lot of beautiful players in your booth next month! I admire the passion you put into your basses! OK, enough exclamation points! Oops....