Seattle, WA area

[SkuttleFunk]

time for another batch of bodies to start production. here I have a couple bookmatched tops being glued to body blanks:

- superb Western Maple burl onto a 2-piece Alder body core

- an incredible Redwood burl (birdseye) top onto a flame Western Maple body core with black accent veneer in between. a couple days from now I'll add a similar bookmatched set and accent to the back side for a nice sandwich body lay-up

Fernando - feel welcome to drop in anytime and select a top or body core set that you like best to take home with you. if you fly that far for a visit, it's the least I can do  :icon_thumright:

all the best,

R

 

[Nando Vallart]

hehehehe love this idea

Have you gone to Mr Larry Davis' warehouse lately? remember you talking about going there... how the things are going there?

 

[SkuttleFunk]

thanks to my insanely crazy day-job workload this summer, I never made it down to his place :sad:

I am soooooo bummed

R

 

[Nando Vallart]

I'm also all days running after the clock :tard:

 

[SkuttleFunk]

I cut an ear off the redwood/maple/redwood sandwich to validate that I had uniformity in how the veneer line expanded when exposed to the Tightbond Original ... looks good to me

all the best,

R

 

[Nando Vallart]

Pretty good to me!

 

[SkuttleFunk]

made some time to focus on the M-Series this past week. the prototype will make its first public debut this weekend. here it is just before I added the Nordstrand preamp

with the results being exactly what I was aiming for, I now have this model in the early stages of production. first production run will be four 5-strings (3 righty, 1 lefty) with one of these making it to NAMM in January. here's two of the three righty bodies and the top for the lefty body. the fourth body (still being glued-up) is a 5A spalt Koa top on Mahogany - this is most likely going to be the NAMM unit

Amboyna burl on Swamp Ash (and the mating Birdseye / Pau Ferro neck)

spalt Maple on Swamp Ash

figured Maple top that will be added to a Mahogany body core (and another 5-string M-Series body core peeking out from behind)

all the best,

R

 

[SkuttleFunk]

and the finished bass as it left my shop for its first live performance

on the stage it was a total success IMO. the balance is spot on, with the headstock raising ever so slightly. super easy access to all the upper frets, and no feeling like you need to reach across the Atlantic to get to the first fret.

I'm looking forward to playing the first production unit later this year to see how the difference in woods impacts everything

all the best,

R

 

[Nando Vallart]

Rod, you're REALLY wanting to get these basses lost in a fatty-burglar's action, don't? :toothy12:

Man, LOVE them ALL!! That Amboyna is something else and I want it soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SkuttleFunk]

I have given security a note to be extra wary of anybody heard speaking Portuguese in my neighborhood  :toothy10:

here's an image of the Maple burl over Swamp Ash body from an earlier post. in this shot it's almost complete, but there was still several hours of work remaining to be done ... I'm actually done with it now and have it packed for a trip to the paint shop

I'm really liking the non-ruled surface detail on the forearm contour. it's really comfy, yet my arm doesn't slip around like the tradition ruled surface contour used on mass production guitars/basses

all the best,

R

 

[Nando Vallart]

It's a looker!

 

[SkuttleFunk]

and back from the paint shop with a nicely applied gloss finish :glasses9:

here's a sneak peek at the Redwood body blank with the neck pocket cut and top wiped with a little Naphtha to hight the Redwood burl figure

the shop is going to be a busy place the last half of Dec 2010  :blob7:

all the best,

R

 

[Wyliee]

and back from the paint shop with a nicely applied gloss finish :glasses9:

It needs a Turtle in the neck pocket.......... :icon_jokercolor:

 

[Nando Vallart]

Rod, you're mean! :sad:

 

[SkuttleFunk]

really?  :icon_scratch:

  and here I thought mean would be more like uploading an image of a stack of burl topsets cut from that large slab I posted earlier :laughing3:


(o ... maybe this post is also mean  :toothy10

nope ... on second thought mean would be telling you I'm sending you some burl Maple, providing a tracking number with the shipment going to your land address while you're on an extended work mission ... and then having the box contain only printed images of burl Maple top sets ... now that's mean!!  :cool01

all the best,

R

 

[SkuttleFunk]

I rough cut the body outline for the Redwood/Maple/Redwood bass last night. here's a quick peek at the freshly cut edge wiped with a little Naphtha to highlight the figuring. this will only get better looking as the body is detailed, sanded, and eventually finished

all the best,

R

 

[Nando Vallart]

AAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGH :sad:

 

[Cagey]

Damn. That looks good enough to eat!

 

[SkuttleFunk]

here's a side-by-side of Redwood burl (left) and Amboyna burl (right) just in case you've ever lost sleep wondering how they visually compare one to the other

the Amboyna burl topped body is just missing its rear gut-cut contour, pickup cavities, trussrod adjustment slot, and control holes before it's ready for final sanding and a trip to the paint shop. the Redwood burl topped body has just been rough cut at the bandsaw and will be completed and readied for the paintshop next week

also in the works this week is an epoxy pour on a 5-string lefty fretless neck. this one has been a real toughie, complicated by the significantly old Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard - there were literally hundreds of grain pores that needed filling with CA prior to the epoxy pour to avoid any air bubbles appearing in the grain. I have my shop heated to 75 this week so I can pour and let this cure at the optimum temp as recommended by the product manufacturer

here's that neck masked and ready to receive its epoxy

all the best,

R

 

[Nando Vallart]

Amboyna looks grrrrreat!!! I hope I can use it someday!