Bubinga Body - Roasted Maple Neck Double $$ Jazz Bass

[BeagJon]

I've been pondering building a bass for over 10 years that would combine every feature I wanted from every other model I've come to love. It combines my love of Bubinga from my Warwick playing years, Fender shapes, and now a Wal-Bass-ish sound courtesy of an impressive electronics package offered by Nordstrand.

So this is our sound >>>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5B9SQlixp0

The whole build sheet is as follows
Bubinga Jazz body with Double Musicman Routs
Roasted Flamed Maple Precision Neck (I like em chunky, TuskXL, 6100 frets)
Nordstrand JC-3b Preamp
Nordstrand Big Blademan 4 multicoil pickups
Badass III String-Thru Bridge
Ernie Ball Custom Guage 45-105
Copper Tape interior
Black Tele Jack
Black Neck Plate
Hipshot Ultralight Clovers (black)
Hipshot Ultralight Detuner (gotta Drop D for those Tool sounds)

In my excitement I've decided to begin prepping the body/neck finish. So far I've sanded each piece with 220, 400, 600, 800 then 1000. I didn't want to get into the super glossy territory and cause the neck to gain any stick-tion. The colors and grains have darkened quite nicely and I'm very excited for what's to come.

P.s. - Anyone have any knob recommendations? I'm planning on just flat black metal but we'll see what happens.

 

[elstoof]

Look forward to seeing it finished, good luck getting those Tool sounds out of it. I’m a huge fan, Justin Chancellor’s Birdseye Wal inspired the finish on my thinline tele build

 

[BeagJon]

Look forward to seeing it finished, good luck getting those Tool sounds out of it.

I'm trying not to give away full pics until we're closer to completion

Justin had the same exact electronics kit custom made into a Bubinga Warwick as well. This gave me the faith to start running my debit card back in Nov. I was just a bit over the Warwick shapes and their custom shop is probably a billion times more expensive than Warmoth. Super happy with my choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgUI37lLfMo

 

[BeagJon]

I was a tad worried the 24 Fret overhang and the use of two Musicman Humbuckers would cause interference, but we're in there like swimwear!

Also any thoughts on each Tuner I've posted?

Looking at Gotoh or Hipshot Ultralite. Trying to find the best 14mm Black Clover tuners.. I would prefer them to have a flatback vintage style, but I don't think I can get that with clovers to fit a 14MM rout.

 

[elstoof]

I like the look of the Gotoh personally, any particular reason you went for a 14mm bore?

 

[BeagJon]

I like the look of the Gotoh personally, any particular reason you went for a 14mm bore?

No particular reason beyond having the ability to oversize them myself IF I had to... figured I could cut more material out but never put it back. That said, not exactly looking to rout them out further right away. Maybe if compelled in the future.

 

[Rick]

I don't know about the route size but hipshot makes a key like the gotoh

 

[BeagJon]

I don't know about the route size but hipshot makes a key like the gotoh

Yah I had meant to post the hipshot pic with the cloverhead.

 

[BeagJon]

I got the pickups in and went ahead and mocked them up. I wasn't initially a fan of the 24 fret overhang as I thought it threw off the overall Fender Shape, but after adding pickups (and their vertical blade style magnets) I'm loving the continuation of the vertical lines thematically.

I lapped the bridge, not that this is needed or even recommended but because I was bored and had leftover sandpaper on my desk.

 

[JPOL007]

Very Nice  :icon_thumright:

 

[BeagJon]

These boys arrived to the party a few days ahead of time.

 

[BeagJon]

We did it boys. I've been too busy playing to take actual pictures, but I found myself arriving home today with a little sunlight. Also a little roasted maple-porn.

I came to these forums a total nub, but the guides showed me the way. I've still got a few screws to replace (was overzealous with the screwdriver) but I'm thinking this one's about whipped... now to shop for a case.

 

[SPLGEO]

Awesome, I hope to have my bubinga body in 2 months or so. Great inspiration, awesome build. How do the pickups sound?

 

[elstoof]

Super sweet

 

[BeagJon]

Awesome, I hope to have my bubinga body in 2 months or so. Great inspiration, awesome build. How do the pickups sound?

You know when Tool went on tour and you got those live cuts of Schism where there was impossibly too much presence to Justin's tone? That's exactly what happens if I pull the Mids knob out (1k) and turn it 100% forward. I can make near exactly the tool live sound with a few other pedals, but beyond that I'm trying to make every Wal-sound I can. The Blood Sugar Sex Magik tone is also on point.

I get lost in the knobs every now and again with all the options I've got (4 of the knobs push/pull lmao) so I spend a lot of time on it just finding inspiration in new sounds by shaping tones all over the place. I've been able to dial in normal everyday bass tones and fake the P funk a tiny bit, but as soon as you push the volume knob up and perhaps into an overdrive circuit this guitar goes bananas. It pushes so much raw audio out from the preamp compared to every other bass I've ever owned. I guess that's why they also install trim knobs in the preamp? hah

 

[SPLGEO]

Very cool,
I've been doing some research into the preamp. I've noted some things about it.
In the video where Carey talks about the bass, Justin was going to try out. He stated that it's their normal preamp, except for a 500k volume and trim pots on the series-parallel switches. He also mentions something abou the mids being 1k down, because of the Wal pick-attack. I wounder how much difference there is between the JC and a normal 3B preamp. The 500k volume makes sense to me that it would be brighter. I always liked playing with different pot resistances in amplifiers I built. Howard Dumble did this in his OD section to customize the tone. I am kind of debating on buying the JC preamp or buying the regular one and adding the known tweaks to it. I am still a good amount of time away from building my Bubinga build. If I dont like the Fishman pickups in my bass, I might get the EMG35 sized blades and the preamp for my current build.
From my understanding there are three trim pots on the JC preamp. Two for the series/parrall balance and one for any gain increase on the preamp. Maybe adjusting these could help tame it. Yet, on the other hand they are discribed as being LOUD according to the website.
Very awesome build. I am glad you are enjoying exploring the tone possibilities. Rush's The big Money also has a great Wal tone too. Great pictures, love that Bubinga color.

 

[BeagJon]

Very cool,
I've been doing some research into the preamp. I've noted some things about it.
In the video where Carey talks about the bass, Justin was going to try out. He stated that it's their normal preamp, except for a 500k volume and trim pots on the series-parallel switches. He also mentions something abou the mids being 1k down, because of the Wal pick-attack. I wounder how much difference there is between the JC and a normal 3B preamp. The 500k volume makes sense to me that it would be brighter. I always liked playing with different pot resistances in amplifiers I built. Howard Dumble did this in his OD section to customize the tone. I am kind of debating on buying the JC preamp or buying the regular one and adding the known tweaks to it. I am still a good amount of time away from building my Bubinga build. If I dont like the Fishman pickups in my bass, I might get the EMG35 sized blades and the preamp for my current build.
From my understanding there are three trim pots on the JC preamp. Two for the series/parrall balance and one for any gain increase on the preamp. Maybe adjusting these could help tame it. Yet, on the other hand they are discribed as being LOUD according to the website.
Very awesome build. I am glad you are enjoying exploring the tone possibilities. Rush's The big Money also has a great Wal tone too. Great pictures, love that Bubinga color.

Is there any drawback to just letting this puppy run as hot as she can then tame it back with volume pots etc? I def do have the limiters inside the preamp. I never was able to find pictures out in the wild so I'll attach some if I can. I'm not sure what I'm dealing with in terms of the actual trims. If this is a plastic knob inside a plastic housing then I know it can't last forever. I installed it as it arrived, no tweaks.

The bass is very aggressive in terms of attack. It wants to come alive. It also wants to amplify every tiny little inconsistency or mistake... probably noise gate/compressor time? Or technique time, lol.

A healthy amount of sunlight really makes the grain explode. It's a bit tamer indoors.

 

[SPLGEO]

As long as the bass isn't causing any unwanted issues, such as overdriving effects, then I'd run it the way it is.

The bass is very aggressive in terms of attack. It wants to come alive. It also wants to amplify every tiny little inconsistency or mistake... probably noise gate/compressor time? Or technique time, lol.

What you described here I found to be very true during my amp-building day of the "magic" amps. Amps like Dumbles and Trainwrecks are amps the player cant hide behind. To me it's not that they amplify your mistakes, they amplify your nuances. These are what make you sound like you. 

 

[BeagJon]

As long as the bass isn't causing any unwanted issues, such as overdriving effects, then I'd run it the way it is.

The bass is very aggressive in terms of attack. It wants to come alive. It also wants to amplify every tiny little inconsistency or mistake... probably noise gate/compressor time? Or technique time, lol.

What you described here I found to be very true during my amp-building day of the "magic" amps. Amps like Dumbles and Trainwrecks are amps the player cant hide behind. To me it's not that they amplify your mistakes, they amplify your nuances. These are what make you sound like you.

Yep! And if I'm not mistaken, 'handicapping' myself to learn with this much nuance will only enforce better playing?

 

[SPLGEO]

Yep! And if I'm not mistaken, 'handicapping' myself to learn with this much nuance will only enforce better playing?

Yep, it's a fantastic experience. Hearing all of the details of the pick scraping against the round wound strings. All of the ghost notes coming out. Playing through something like that will make you a better player for sure.