Gecko 5 - Medium

[cmalidore]

And so this journey comes to a relative completion.  I wanted to put it up in the WIP area during creation but really didn't have much time over the last month so I guess I'll have to do that on the next bass (already got the body ).

Body:  Alder with Flame Maple top
Neck: Wenge with Pau Ferro Fret board.  The neck came courtesy of Tubby.Twins

Pickups are off of Sgd-lutherie, who has a fantastic product.  And my controls are of a Volume Tone Tone, configuration - the secondary tone however is geared more as a mid-range scoop, as I'm a big fan of mids.  I've also wired in a kill-switch as I don't like changing my settings anymore than I have to when I find something that works really well for awhile.  It makes for a nice quick off when needed during band practice.  I'll be changing it out to a different switch later, but this is what I had on me at the time.

Probably not a conventional configuration, but it fits my needs quite well

 

[m4rk0]

that looks fantastic!!

 

[Nando Vallart]

Cool!

 

[blue313]

I really have to get a pau ferro fretboard.

Nice Gecko!  :icon_thumright:

 

[cmalidore]

It's a snazzy lil workhorse - I love it  :headbang:

Blue, I totally recommend a Pau Ferro fretboard, go for it!

 

[tubby.twins]

Sure is beautiful!  I've been waiting to see the finished bass.  The neck sure looks familiar...

Which types/apertures of SGD pickups did you choose?  Did you wire the coils in series or parallel?

 

[cmalidore]

I've given the neck a good workout already as well - comfortable to no end. You've got good taste in necks, good sir!

I went with a narrow neck/wide bridge set so that I could get a good growl but with that punchy high end.  Talk about tonal clarity, the mix gives you a lil bit of everything.  Though if I use them again I may go all wide next time for a more traditional all around beefiness.  I wired in parallel, though I generally have little preference between the two

 

[MUYFUE]

That's a very attractive color!

Very nice bass!

 

[line6man]

Awesome!
I love the look of the Turquoise against the Pau Ferro board!

 

[Mor Paul]

I approve.

 

[Edin]

Cool!!!

 

[cmalidore]

line6, man I had to HUNT like hell for that stain too.  Apparently my area doesn't value a color that isn't a natural wood. Go figure!

 

[line6man]

line6, man I had to HUNT like hell for that stain too.  Apparently my area doesn't value a color that isn't a natural wood. Go figure!

Well, it was certainly worth the effort for the end result...
That finish came out beautifully, great job! :icon_thumright:

 

[cmalidore]

So, a small update - this critter is now rewired.

My wiring skills aren't horribly good - so I used these semi-shoddy skills as an excuse to try out an Audere Preamp on the SGD pickups.... gotta admit I like the sound.  So this is now an active bass with the neck pickup in parallel and the bridge pickup in series.

The body is showing the bumps from gigging pretty well, so this will never be the cleanest looking instrument, but it's definitely looking loved... which I don't mind.  For my first Warmoth I always felt this would be more of an instrument for learning how it all fits together... fairly experimental for me.

So far I've done a lot of live gigging with it for metal, and it's performed admirably, and recording with it has gotten quite a bit of positive feedback from engineers.  So I'd say that over the last year (nearly a year at least) it's definitely done me proud .

 

[da shrop]

Sweet looking axe there man - and super cool to go somewhat unconventional.... to me that's so much the allure of building a custom guitar!

 

[stubhead]

What dye is it? I've got a vision of a teal/aqua/whatever Jazzmaster rattling around in my head, but one obstacle has been the dreary task of mixing green, yellow & blue stains over and over till I hit the right color.

 

[cmalidore]

Woops, sorry for the late reply!

It's a Minwax water based dye, not sure of the exact name they called it to be honest..... I walked up to the kind folks in the paint department at our local store, pointed at the sample, said "that one!" and ended up with a nice lil can of teal waiting to be smeared on some Warmoth.  I'm not horribly good when it comes to this sort of thing, so I wanted to do as little mixing as possible.