Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

hy,
finally got round to finish my fretless bass

body is chamberd one piece european walnut
top is tiger myrtle (from australiantonewoods - thanks mate!)
Ovangkhol neck with ebony fretboard
splitcoil Jazzpickups wound by me, they sound a bit "rounder" than standard ones but still typical jazz
Schaller 3D piezo bridge
Schaller mini tuners
control cavity cover is cut from the back for grain through effect
volume/volume/volume/tone passiv controls (piezo is buffered)
Fodera inspired headplate inlay - J for Josh
no dots or any of that crap, not needed anyhow
special compensated nut, that was tough to do...
bridge stringspacing is 19mm, bridge is not adjustable

my own bodyshape, originally drawn with pickguard
another bass is in the build

usually I prefer opaque instruments, but it just didnt feel right with this top
and since it didn't turn out too much like a mueslicaster (if you know that term) I named it "cereal"

logo is a nod to fodera, who I adore a lot

as a buffer for the piezo I used the one from cafewalter.com
sounds pretty neat with the bridge, none of the well known problems

what I still nedd to do is change some screws for black ones and get a proper black jack
so far I just painted it black and that aint a longterm solution at all...

best
j

just realized the wood was fron australianguitartonewoods, aka j.f.custom, not Tim
just to clarify

Love it can I ask what you used between the top cap and the body to get the black line that bit I like a lot ,cheers John.

Very very classy. Not a big fan of tiger myrtle but I love that top, the combination of wood colours and finish. Just makes you want to pick it up. Hope it sounds as good as it looks. Well done!

thanks!

used 0.5mm black fiber as the middle layer

Wow, flash!

Always nice to see where the timber ends up. You did it justice and I'm exceptionally glad you did NOT opaque paint it

Looks great

Oh and good effort for going the extra mile and winding your own pickups too.

Cheers,

Jeremy.

Great I finally found a place in OZ for the fiber sheet,I gotta make a Bass some day.

Hi Josh,
Great looking bass ate. Congratulations, its all class.
Hope your keeping well.
Cheers
Alan

seeaxe wrote:Very very classy. Not a big fan of tiger myrtle but I love that top, the combination of wood colours and finish. Just makes you want to pick it up. Hope it sounds as good as it looks. Well done!

Took the words right out of my mouth Richard (great minds and all that!), not a fan of Tiger Myrtle but this just looks all class, I do love European Walnut (and use it and American Black Walnut a lot in my furniture projects) and I think the semi gloss/oiled look really adds to it rather than a gloss.