My custom bass (any ideas)

[johnputnam42]

this is my Idea for my bass let me know what you think.  
 
Exploiter
Signature electronics ( 2 pickup with a 3 way)
 
lights controls - custom routing for the led and lazers in the back to remove confuson from the front of the bass
 
knobs - each pickup has a: bass/treb stacked pot, Mid/mi freq. stacked pot, and a push pull vol for that pick up (pull bypass eq for that pickup)
 
so  6 pots, 1 3-way toggle, mabye one or 2 of the Filters (what do you think)  
 
 
 
 
6 string  
Right-handed  
Extra long scale - 36 inches  
Ebony neck laminates  
Ebony fingerboard  
Fretted  
Comfort fingerboard taper (wide)
Alembic Dragon inlay  
Front Laser LEDs  
Side LEDs in green  
Europa inline peghead  
BODY FEATURES  
Bubinga top  
Bookmatched top  
Mahogany body  
Bubinga back  
Chromalusion finish  
Exploiter body shape  
HARDWARE FEATURES  
Recessed silver logo w/shell  
Bridge block  
Bird tailpiece  
Wood truss rod cover  
Continuous wood backplate(s)  
Gold plated hardware  
Gold Schaller machine heads  
Gold strap locks  
 
ELECTRONICS FEATURES  
custom electronics  
 
 
 

[valvil]

Welcome John,
 
quite a bass you've been thinkinkg about.
 
Something that jumps to mind right away...
if you're gonna have a chromalusion finish, the bubinga back laminate is a total waste, since it does not really affect tone and it's gonna cost you extra ( unless you want to start from a series bass).  
The stacked pot idea is something we have to run by Ron, but if it is possible, I believe it would mean that Ron would have to design new circuits, which in turn means finding new components, testing them and so on. Since Ron is always superbusy, it would most likely take a long time to realize.
 
If you want the dragon inlay on the fretboard, I guess it might be possible to incorporate front laser leds in the design, but I'm not sure, Susan 's the ultimate judge of what can and cannot be done. If you want it on the body instead, then no problem.
The rest is all easily done, though it would take a bit of time for it even without custom electronics.
Our selector switch is a 4-way type (bridge, neck, both, standby).
 
 
Valentino

[rockandroller]

Sounds like a really cool project... but Chromalusion finish  doesnt seem to jive with either
 
Bookmatched top
or  
Continuous wood backplate(s)
 
 
(unless Chromalusion comes in a transparent variety, its seems all that nice woodgrain would be going to waste!)
 
I can see using Bubinga for the top & back, sheerly for its tonal properties...
 
i think the EQ bypass would be handy, especially if you have one or two filters for 'overall' master tone shaping

[johnputnam42]

The 4 way switch does not matter i like that any what much better. I think that the Chromalusion finish will not work well with what I wanted, really I was hoping to emulate the looks of a warwick bass color i.e the Bubinga color and grain if I could just get the body make out of Bubinga i would not want any top or back lam.

[bracheen]

Solid Bubinga would be pretty heavy.  A six string bubinga Thumb bass is 10.8 lbs according to Warwick's catalog.  An extra long scale Exploiter would be larger I think.
 
Sam

[johnputnam42]

I think the weight would be ok as long as it sounded good which i am sure it would. this is the headstock i would like on top of the 6 string wide neck

[mica]

I would advise against a solid Bubinga body, only for the sake of your back. A guy that used to work here made himself a solid Bubinga Series II and whoa was that heavy (maybe even heavy enough for Rami) I think it was about 14 pounds, and it was only a 5-string.  
 
Continuous wood parts can't be made on a solid instrument, so maybe we could do something like this bass and start with a thick Bubinga body, resaw it to hollow it out then add some thin accent laminates between the core and the faces. Ebony or Maple would make a nice contrast, Purpleheart would look more subtle.
 
For the peghead shape, we're unable to use another maker's design, but we could design you something uniquely yours (or are you the designer of this shape?).  
 
If you want laser LEDs on the front, they would look good for the eyes of the dragon, but I can't quite figure how else to incorporate them in the design. Maybe backlight some white pearloid for the fire breathing part or make a whole new design.  
 
The electronics you've asked for are things that aren't really in the normal realm of Alembic. For mid range controls, you'll need to specify the range you define as midrange. None of our controls are concentric or push-pull, so these will be custom made items. Have you already tried some Alembic electronics? Which ones did you play? This will help us give you better advice.
 
Even as a 6-string extra long scale, the bass should balance fine, which makes the heft a bit easier to bear.

[johnputnam42]

well here is the scope,  
 
I have 3 basses right now,  a series II in maple 5 string all is stock but with a 35 in neck. a Ric 4001, and I warwick thunb 6 string, I was hoping to combine the best features of basses.
 
as far as the headstock goes what I did was take the custom Ken Lawerance/ james Hetfeild Explore headstoc and reversed it. so I guess it is my own. (james' the point goes down not up)
 
can i get electronics other than Alembic. they are fine and all but if it would be a burden to bulid I can always get EMG to do it for me. (they sponser me) not to put down Alembic in any way

[johnputnam42]

with the Fret board I am not really sure what to do there, I would like somthin that makes jaws drop, And the lazers would only make it better,
 
I would want the side LEDS (fret markers), right now I put glow in the dark Paint on. not very cool lookin  

[johnputnam42]

I guess what i was trying to do was this:
 
make and awsome
lead/solo bass in the bridge pickup  
a pounding huge low end p bass on the neck  
 
all in a soild piece of warm dark rich wood color with lots of grain, and 1 or 2 pieces of glitter to catch peoples eyes when i am soloin and not so much that it is destracting when i am playin rythm