Koa Thinline Bass Progress

[ByteFrenzy]

So the first three applications of linseed oil are done, the first one warm for better penetration. The last one is taking more time to dry, so that means it has penetrated as deeply as it will go and it's time to move on to the Tru Oil to form the surface layer. I am really happy with the way the Koa top and peghead are starting to show their figuring.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

The neck fitted to the body - nice tight fit as usual from Warmoth, not too tight though...

 

[ByteFrenzy]

different view of the body...

 

[Kostas]

That's a beautiful bass.

What wood is the neck?

 

[NonsenseTele]

I want... :sad:

 

[ByteFrenzy]

That's a beautiful bass.

What wood is the neck?

Thanks, I actually like it a lot myself too.

The neck is plain maple (but the good people at W threw in some birdseye anyway as a bonus) with a Pau Ferro fingerboard (and, obviously, the Koa veneer peghead).

By the way, I forgot to mention that the straight-out-of-the-box pix are... you guessed it...

 

[DangerousR6]

Dayuuuuuuuuum Rene, that's beautiful bass....That one gonna have the gold or black plate on it.....I'm guessing gold... :dontknow:

 

[ByteFrenzy]

Nope... the black one. I had to go black HW because the Goth 206 was available only in black. My J-bass has gold HW:

(NOTE: this is not the Koa Thinline - it is my other Warmoth, a J-bass)

that's where the gold plate is going on, and I wanted something different for this build. Still having serious doubts, though... As I'm adding more coats of Tru-oil the Koa is going darker so the black won't contrast as well. My initial idea was Zebra and maybe that would have worked better. Ah well, there's always a next build just around the corner.

 

[willyk]

That looks outrageous.. love it!  :headbang:

 

[Liam]

That looks absolutely incredible!

Great work!

 

[blue313]

Sweet Bass!!  :toothy10:

Looks like DR's on that, what do you think of those coated strings?

 

[DocNrock]

Gorgeous bass!

 

[ByteFrenzy]

Looks like DR's on that, what do you think of those coated strings?

I kinda like coated strings. I have DR's on my J-bass and on my Traben I have Elixirs - they were the only strings I could readily get my hands on that would fit a 35" scale string-through-body bass. It's hard to compare, the two basses themselves are so different that there's really no way to know what exactly is the effect of the strings. I do have the impression the Elixirs may be more durable, on the DR's there is already a spot where the finish has worn of under the string retainer after releasing tension and bringing them up to tension again. Of course they do look mighty cool.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

Update...

Finish on the body and neck is done. I've installed the hardware minus the electronics and the nut. Next up is putting the neck on the body with my nice custom neckplate :headbang: and fitting the nut, and putting the electronics in place. Pictures of the current situation:

Back of the headstock:

Back of the headstock showing some more of the birdseye on the neck:

Front of the headstock:

Rear of the body:

Front of the body:

Anyone have experience with the Gotoh 206? I'm not so sure I like it all that much hands on. I have the impression that the mounting screws are not exactly flush with the base, hindering the movement of the saddles. Right now I don't have the fifth screw in, the one in the centre rear, but I need to put it in place before bringning the strings to tension. Maybe it's just that you have to loosen the locking screws on the saddles a bit more so you can actually lift the saddles over the edge of the screws, but I don't look forward to doing that with strings installed. In retrospect I would have gone with individual saddles if they'd offered routing for them at the time. Would probably have gone for gold instead of black too...

 

[DangerousR6]

Man that's gonna be a sweet as bass there Rene..... :toothy10:

 

[ognolman]

Man, that's incredible...  Congratulations!

You're making me want to order another Warmoth!!  But I can't!  I've got to sell some of these things before my wife get's upset.  And I still have another waiting to be finished, so I better move some of these things.

JBD

 

[jimh]

The Walnut on that front os lovely.

I'm gonna do a Walnut front tele.

I love that bass......Great stuff

 

[DangerousR6]

The Walnut on that front os lovely.

I'm gonna do a Walnut front tele.

I love that bass......Great stuff

I think that is Koa Jim, not walnut.......

But you can still do a walnut tele....I've been contemplating doing a black korina top tele. I'm not much of a tele fan, but I'm diggin the one I want to build.... :laughing7:

 

[SlingBass]

'Bout time for another update, don't you think? Gorgeous woods - enjoy :icon_biggrin:

 

[ByteFrenzy]

'Bout time for another update, don't you think? Gorgeous woods - enjoy :icon_biggrin:

Didn't have time for a photoshoot yet, and I know the response to posts without  :kewlpics:
so I preferred to keep up the suspense, but, if you insist...

Everything is assembled and I'm relatively happy with the general setup. I'm struggling a bit with the Gotoh 206 bridge. With the saddles lowered to the point that the action is ok, the set screws stick out the top much too far for my liking. I also had a bit of trouble with the PU, it didn't have mounting screws or springs/rubber tube/foam included so I had to resort to my spare parts collection, and the screw holes in the PU seem to be a bit tight for standard screws, meaning that PU adjustment gets somewhat more complicated. Funny, I'm pretty sure my J pickups which are also from SD did come with screws. The final bit of frustration came from the string retainer. The gold one I purchased for my J Bass was slotted for the strings on the underside, and this black one isn't, so the G string has a tendancy to jump out from under it when tightening it. Could have to do with the way the string ends are finished. I put Rotosounds on, where the ends are finished in a red fabric wound spirally sort of way. I might change to a roller retainer.