Bass VI style Fretless, with Sustainiac

[amigarobbo]

:bananaguitar:I now haz the (expensive real Fender) thimbles and (cheap and cheerful Chinese) control knobs, the two big ones for volume and tone, and the little one for the Sustainiac.

It was surprisingly easy to get my hands on a small white knob.

Er... err...

 

[amigarobbo]

I haz ordered the body and neck in Satin Shell pink with bloodwood fretboard fingerboard!

I've been busy!

:cool01:

I never did that video for the Burgundy mist XII did I?

 

[Rick]

Shoot ... I can't remember is that Burgandy Mist 12 done?

 

[amigarobbo]

Oh, yeah, ages ago. It's not left the stand since I've built it, I just freakin' love 12 string geetars, they're like a different animal, like going from acoustic to electric, same yet very different.

Not sure if I I prefer it to the Rickenbacker though  :icon_scratch: Ah, they're both good.

 

[amigarobbo]

Did I mention I went for the shell Pink in satin finish? With the headstock/back of the neck done as well. Finger board is unlined Bloodwood. I did ask, but they don't do a version with the dot markers on every fret not just 3,5,7,9,12 etc. which is fair enough. The scratchplate I'm thinking of plain white in a matching matt finish.

Is now a good time to say my first bass was metallic pink?

Sold both of 'em. the fretless Shergold was the greatest mistake.

 

[amigarobbo]

I haz an email from UPS saying there will be a delivery from Warmoth on Monday.

:turtle:

 

[rgand]

Cool. Looking forward to potos when you get it.

 

[amigarobbo]

56K modem users beware:


It's here!













:turtle:

The lights not good, but it's more that pink as seen on the headstock than the slightly greyish pink of the body photo.

 

[Logrinn]

Sweet!
ccasion14:

Looks great. Do you have a pickguard for it yet?

 

[amigarobbo]

I'm going to have to get one custom made, I'm going for a matt singe ply White. With a rounded bevel.

The electronics required for a Sustainiac is also beyond my skill, so I'll be having to hand it to trained personal.

I'll put the tuners on, and set up the bridge, slap the neck on, and get it all working, acoustically.

Bit worried about how I'm going to get the thimbles in for the bridge to be honest, I don't have a press, and it looks tight.  :help: Maybe I can get away without them for a time, and get them fitted by experts?  :icon_scratch:

 

[rgand]

Cool!  :icon_thumright:

Congratulations. Looking forward to this build.

 

[amigarobbo]

I know what you're thinking, what does it look like compared to a 'real' Fender (pawn shop) VI? And how's it going?






:sad:

I don't know how I did that.

 

[amigarobbo]

Well, it's kinda finished.

Results have been mixed.

Update to follow,  :turtle:

 

[mayfly]

But what does it Sound like?!?

 

[Rick]

It looks great!  Probably sounds like thunder.

 

[amigarobbo]

Well, it's a funny little thing, I've tuned it in 4ths, bottom 4 strings tuned down a half step, and the top b and e strings as normal. So I'm playing like an extended bass, I guess you could play it more as a skinny string guitar, but chords are, err.. what's the word? fun?

The problem is the Sustainiac, what I wanted was a clean sound, electrocello' or tenor bass with yé oldé bow style sustain but it aint working. Lots of pulsating fuzz, squeals, and assorted odd noises. Normally I'd be down to the old Throbbing Gristle vibe, but IT'S NOT WANT I WANTED!!!  :laughing8:

Possible the Sustainiac is faulty, but I think it could be the pickups are too close together, or it doesn't like the claws on the pickup, could be a fault with the install, but the guys who did my other Sustainiac install, and that's fine, and I've had a quick fiddle with it and that didn't help, at all.  :evil4:

Actually, having gone back and checked the YouTube vids with a bass Sustainiac and they're all a bit like that, I assumed it was through choice but I'm starting to think otherwise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNTKJq16b00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkqAfAzxaWk

Also the natural sustain is GR8 anyway, so I don't know if I really need it anyway.  :icon_tongue:


Oh, and the Sustainiac pickup sounds good too, it did cross my mind to get a matching Bass VI neck pickup and maybe put the bass Sustainiac into a NEW bass where it's further up the neck, with frets and some beefy Stingray style pickup in the bridge.

Nawh, that ain't happening.

Also, I really like short scale for fretless, helps with the getting the fingers in the right place, maybe I've got little hands or something, you can get away with being a bit sloppy/not as stretchy with a fretted one.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

This is so full of coolness!

 

[Logrinn]

I agree, this is very cool.

Where did you get the blank upper control ”plate”?

 

[amigarobbo]

I agree, this is very cool.

Where did you get the blank upper control ”plate”?

https://jacksinstrumentservices.com/custom-scratchplate-cutting.html

It's part of the err.. design brief. it's got little bolts going into inset screw grips instead of screws, for the battery replace.

I need to get a new battery for it, and video it somehow.


Forgot to change the battery, and I lashed this up in less time than it took to film it.


[YouTube]VTg1Iig3U2k[/YouTube]

And I forgot to breath in.

Lockdown-tummy,  :sad:

 

[bholder]

Hey, sorry for the old thread revive, but any new news on how this turned out? Did you ever get the sustain driver behaving the way you wanted?

I've got parts sitting in my cart here for building something very similar. Only diff is I want GraphTech Ghost piezos in the bridge.