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Features Overview
Neck through,
32” scale,
Headless,
24 fret,
Custom inlay,
Ebony fretboard,
5 piece Maple/Walnut neck,
Figured Black Walnut top,
Mahogany wings,
Delano SBC pickups,
Delano 2 band preamp,
Pickup switches,
ABM hardware,
Schaller straplocks (3!)
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The customer was after a headless medium scale neck through bass in the style of the Status Kingbass instruments, except with a nice woody feel instead of the graphite neck usually found on the Kingbass. So in place of the graphite, we have a 5 piece Maple and Walnut laminate neck. The fretboard is Ebony and features a mother of pearl inlay of a W (the initial of the customers surname) in a Charles Rennie Mackintosh inspired font.
The slim Yew body has some great character to it which is quite typical of Yew, with some knots here and there and great figure all over. It also features some nice flowing carves which not only look beautiful but also improve comfort. On the rear of the bass a wooden cavity lid of Walnut and Wenge compliment the neck woods nicely.
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Gold ABM hardware throughout gives a luxurious look, complimenting the maple and contrasting nicely with the black walnut.
The bass features two Delano pickups - a quad coil in the neck and dual coil in the bridge. Each pick up is wired to a three way switch which gives plenty of different options. The neck pickup can be split between series (all 4 coils), cross-coils and reverse cross coils, these cross coil options give a convincing approximation of a p bass sound. The bridge pickup can be split between series, single coil (for jazz like tones) and parallel. We also have the Delano Sonar 2 band preamp with active/passive push-pull and a passive tone control. All of these options make for a very versatile sounding bass!
Wal Inspired Build
As you can probably tell, the customer wanted a body shape which is inspired by a Wal MK II except with a slightly longer top horn. Rather than be confined to the Wal inspiration, I was keen to give it a bit of a Manton touch (with the customers approval) in the form of some of my favourite woods and some nice accents.
34” scale
Bolt on with threaded inserts
24 Stainless steel frets
Richlite fretboard
Cuban Mahogany neck
Carbon fibre reinforcement
1pc Mahogany body
Flamed Shedua/ovangkol top
MEC pickups
Schaller 3D bridge
Passive-CTS pots
Features Overview
The bass was specified with a narrower string spacing (17.5mm) and the neck has been kept to its minimum width up at the higher register.
The body is a single piece of Honduran Mahogany with a flamed Shedua top, again with black accent in between to give a clean contrasting line.
The basses built around 76 had a different body shape from later years, in that it was more offset and featured a different cutaway. Also they were made with either a scroll (like this one) or more of a knob on the top horn like one of Les Claypools early basses.
Less is often more, so we have just 3 woods displayed in different varieties. On the top we have some extremely rare Flamed Honduran Mahogany, which is absolutely stunning and near impossible to get hold of. Then the back and central piece is plainer Honduran Mahogany with Zebrano for the highlights.
Features Overview
34” scale
Bolt on with threaded inserts
London Plane top
1 pc Honduran Mahogany back
Cuban Mahogany neck
Carbon fibre reinforcement in neck
Front and back headstock veneers
Richlite fingerboard
Binding material fret position markers
Luminlay side dots
Tusq nut
Passive CTS vol/tone/varitone
Schaller 3D bridge
Approx weight 8.5lb
As mentioned above the body shape is inspired by the Wal MK II, except it features a slightly longer top horn. The fretless is very similar to the previous fretted bass in most ways except with a different top wood (London Plane) and chrome hardware instead of black. The neck and body were both cut from the same board as the fretted and the Cuban Mahogany neck was shaped to the same specs, which should make switching from one to the other feel quite natural. The fingerboard features some really smart looking position markers at the request of the customer which are actually made from binding. The neck also has Luminlay side dots for those darker gigs.
The controls on it are volume, tone then a Varitone…so lots of different tones are available from the single pickup.
24 fret
34” scale
Cuban Mahogany/Zebrano neck
Titanium reinforcement
Ebony fretboard
Flamed Honduran Mahogany top
Honduran Mahogany body
Honduran Mahogany pickup covers/knobs
Armstrong jazz inspired humbuckers
Varitone
Kahler Tremolo
Hipshot tuners and extender
Schaller strap locks
Newtone strings
Features Overview
The Cuban Mahogany neck was built in the same style as CT with a tapered central laminate and Zebrano binding which is both part of the fretboard and the neck itself. It also features titanium reinforcement, for added strength.
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Very lucky to have had the opportunity to build this one! Carl Thompson has always been a huge inspiration for me so when the customer said he’d like a 1976 inspired CT build I jumped at the chance. The basses built around 76 had a different body shape from later years, in that it was more offset and featured a different cutaway. Also they were made with either a scroll (like this one) or more of a knob on the top horn like one of Les Claypools early basses.
Less is often more, so we have just 3 woods displayed in different varieties. On the top we have some extremely rare Flamed Honduran Mahogany, which is absolutely stunning and near impossible to get hold of. Then the back and central piece is plainer Honduran Mahogany with Zebrano for the highlights.
28.5” scale
22 fret
Maple neck
Maple fretboard
Lightning bolt inlay
Coloured front and side dots
Satin black headstock face and custom decal
Hipshot Ultralite tuners
Alder body
Frosted pickguard
Herrick pickups
Arcade kill switch
CTS pots
Hipshot B bridge
Features Overview
The Maple neck features coloured front and side dots, plus a lightning bolt inlay at the 12th fret.
The body is alder with a transparent frosted pickguard allowing us to introduce a little bit more colour with the use of coloured wires and cable ties!
The build process was a bit different for this one, where I built the whole thing from scratch as usual, then I sent the body off to @studio.marush who painted the beautiful colours. Then the body was sent back to me to clear coat in semi gloss lacquer and assemble.
There is a YouTube video of this bass on my channel where you can hear it in action.
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I have a standard model range of instruments which I work from, but I will also take on 100% bespoke/custom work….such as this bass, which was pretty much entirely designed by the customer….as you can tell he likes bright colours and we have fitted them in wherever we could.
The body is based on a Fender Supersonic, which is sort of like an upside down (or reverse) Mustang. To go with this look the customer chose my Paradigm headstock, except in reverse.
The bass features colourful hand wound P/J pickups by Herrick, a rotary chicken head pickup selector on the bottom horn and an arcade kill switch on the upper bout. Hardware is by Hipshot with their Ultralite tuning machines and B style bridge.