Now for something a little different.... To be honest I have been agonising over the decision to start this thread and share with you all what I have been doing lately, I have decided "what the hell!" As a keen amateur furniture maker/wood lover for many years I decided in November 08 to start what was to be a long time ambition - building a "hippy sandwich" construction style of bass inspired by the legendary Alembic (with a little taste of another hero of mine - Carl Thompson) Let me share with you; From old furniture projects I had some Mahogany, Oak, Chestnut and black Walnut off cuts lying around my workshop - perfect! I started by laminating the neck/headstock pieces and central body - centre being Quarter sawn French oak flanked by two pieces of quartered Mahogany - then joining the headstock (peghead to our US members) to the neck with at the appropriate angle with a dowel re-inforced "scarf" joint....turned out really strong!! Next I routed the channel for the truss rod and fitted it! Now was time to fit the Amboyna wood fingerboard (fretless)to the neck - simply trimmed to size and then glued!! All I had then to do was veneer the fornt of the Headstiock with a thin 2mm layer of my nice Walnut! Next I hand cut a nut from mahogany, sounds like a bad idea? Well it adds a lot to the woody tone my friends!! Neck & head complete!!! Next the body - I had the central "stripe" already glued up (quartered french oak/Mahogany) it was time to make some "wings!!" I started by cutting my 18mm thick Mahogany core to shape, then laminated the "tops" to the centre of the sandwich - the rear; 8mm thick Chestnut the front; 9mm black Walnut!! Now all I had to do was glue the "wings" to the central stripe!! I had a body!! Next I routed out a large, and extremely tight, housing into the body to receive the neck. My intention was at this point to make the bass a "set neck" but I eventually decided a bolt on would be REALLY strong with such a large, tight, housing on the body!! Voila!! Next I routed for the single humbucking pickup, fitted it and fitted the bridge and tuning pegs!I now routed the cavity for the electrics and made a cover out of Chestnut to fit the controls too. This kind of gave the bass the old japanese Distillate look (see the showcase Distillate section.) Now it was time to make and fit the walnut dummy pickups/fingerblocks. This gives the bass the true Alembic look and also acts as great thumb rests and aids the execution of the modern "Matt Garrison" damping technique! Next? I hand carved the lettering "OM" from my remaining Walnut for the headstock, glued them on then simply added the side dots on the neck. Now came the sanding, sanding, sanding phase(the bane of a woodworker!) Finally lots of coats of wood oil (a la the "brown" bass!) I still have to do the wiring, the bit I really dread (Im a woodworker not an electricain) but here are the results so far anyway!! All this sound easy? Not really...I havent mentioned the hours and hours of labour, excitement and strife etc!! I am delighted so far, the neck is extremely strong and straight & strung with a nice set of Labella strings the action /setup is perfect, it plays wonderfully well and the tone is SUPERB!!!!! I cant wait to hear it amplified! I have never built an instrument before, I have not read any literature on doing so either...I just used common sense from my experience as a Bassist and a woodworker - so satisfying to combine both of my real loves!!! I just looked at lots of pictures and took any online advice I could find onboard!! Tools used; table saw, chop saw, 6" bench planer, electric router...and anything else I could get my hands on! Anyway, give me some feedback and be gentle! I dont know how any of my fellow members, Mica, Ron or any of the family (gulp!), feel about someone at the club copying an Alembic - I hope I dont get ran out of town!!!!
