Marc's "Simple" Bass

[mica]

Here's your bass with the sealer coats:    (note: resized MONSTER picture - look on next post)  The holes are drilled for the electronics, but I'm afraid you really can't see them in this shot.     We're getting into the detail on the knobs. Here's some mock ups to show you where we are:    

  Above: three styles compared. We're trying to illustrate some of the extremes for the cutouts around the knobs to get an idea of what will suit you.    

  Above: Style #1    

  Above: Style #2    

  Above: Style #3    I'll reserve my comments for preferences/ideas until I hear what you like.    For those watching, the knobs are simple cyllinders of Ebony with Mahogany indicator dots. We're going to try to do the collet style on the pointer knobs, Marc. If it doesn't work, we'll do the standard mounts.   (Message edited by mica on June 18, 2004)

[mica]

Sorry about that monster pic before. Here's one that you can see on the screen:
 

[marcm]

hi mica
 
i love the body!  the 'suspension bridge' actually provides a bit of an elbow contour, a design feature that was part of the specification before mike came up with his cool idea
 
style #1 is my favorite of these three choices.  i'd like the carvings to be relatively shallow, and i like the way the knobs are obviously offset from the center of the carving.  could we preserve those two attributes, but make the carvings somewhat smaller, closer in diameter to style #3?
 
another version i'd like to see in mock-up, if possible, is an 'eyebrow' cut above the knob with a flat 'mesa' rather than a 'bowl' or 'crater':  as if the carving tool (sander, grinder, what do you call it?) was held parallel to the back of the bass and lowered straight down until it bit into the slope far enough to make a circular flat about the diameter of #3, with the knob offset below center in the flat.  that's what i imagined when you called it an 'eyebrow' carving.  do you think that's worth looking at?  it might not turn out to be as aesthetically pleasing as #1, but it is what i imagined
 
now that i've put my two cents in, please tell me what you think
 
also, is the spacing between knobs in the mock-up the same as on the bass?
 
 
best regards
 
marc

[bob]

I think I understand what marc is trying to say here, and I agree.
 
Not that I have a 'vote', but what I'd be interested in seeing is something where the routing of the body occurred only on about the top third of the circle - more like an eyebrow than a socket? - and was relatively small, preferably about 30% less than in #3 (or maybe halfway between 2 and 3).
 
Sort of like most of it would work without any routing, and you just notched out the upper portion as the front body surface curved up. Of course, over this small range the surface appears more as an angle than a curve, but maybe that just means the bottom side of the knob floats a little high.

[marcm]

hi bob
 
that's it exactly!  when mica first mentioned it above, she said ron had suggested a small scallop around each knob, nothing super obvious
 
the 'craters' are super obvious.  
 
hey mica!  please read what bob said!  can we do that?
 
thanks bob!
 
 
marc

[marcm]

hi again mica
 
after my saturday-noon raspberry beignet and coffee, i'm looking at this some more
 
if the bottom of the knob is going to 'float a little high', as bob said, or even if it isn't, the knob could sit in a tight little #2-like socket, with the 'scallop' or 'eyebrow' above it.  that would be subtle and cool
 
but i am still in suspense to hear what YOU think
 
 
marc
 
(Message edited by marcm on June 19, 2004)
 
(Message edited by marcm on June 19, 2004)

[marcm]

and yet again
 
i see that you've done the routing for the fatboys and the extra-heavy bridge block.  will the routing for the tailpiece ('big bird' tailpiece, recessed into body) be done later?
 
 
marc
 
(Message edited by marcm on June 19, 2004)

[bob]

So what's this 'extra-heavy bridge block'? Is it deeper, or what? Numbers, please.
 
One other thought on those cutouts: maybe cylindrical (straight sides, flat bottom) rather than rounded?

[marcm]

 
 
(Message edited by marcm on June 20, 2004)

[marcm]

bob
 
yes, it will be deeper.  we didn't talk numbers; i asked mica for it to be as heavy (i.e., as deep) as possible.  similarly, the 'big bird' tailpiece will look the same as a standard bird from the top, but it will extend down into the body.  i asked for it to be at least as heavy as four individual spyder-style tailpieces put together
 
i agree that the tight little sockets for the knobs should probably be cylindrical.  but i want to hear what mica thinks before i set my heart on that
 
 
marc

[mica]

Two more cyllindrical variations:  
 
The bottom of the wells would be flat and parallel to the back of the bass. We made these over the original bowls, so there's a little vestige of them left.  
 
(Message edited by mica on June 30, 2004)

[mica]

 
Medium sized version.  
 
The thicker bridge block will be routed into the bottom soon. That will be handrouted - what you see routed already was done on the CNC.

[marcm]

hi mica
 
well now we're cooking with fusion power!  this is exactly the look i had in mind (bob, paul tbo told me that you're sailing in the pacific right now, but if you're around, does this look what you imagined?)
 
mica, are the possible diameters of the wells constrained to be the same size as the tools used to make them, or can they be any diameter?  my gut feeling is that the perfect look would be somewhere between the large mockup and the medium-sized version.  please let me know
 
i'd appreciate any comments by club members
 
 
best regards
 
 
marc

[David Houck]

Marc, Bob is definitely not around right now; his boat started on Tuesday and currently leads its division.  It may be a couple weeks before he is back.  See this thread for info and links:
http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/10880.html?1088673031

[bob]

Marc,
 
I hope you weren't waiting on me - after all, this is your bass, right?
 
I like this approach a lot. I hadn't gotten as far in my thinking, but since the knobs presumably come out perpendicular to the back, the base of the wells should be similarly so, as Mica et. al. came up with. Nice.
 
The first one is way too wide, the second is a little bit tight looking, so I'd go about 1/3 from small to large - but I think anything in between would be great.
 
Hope this instrument is closer to you than it was a few weeks ago.
-Bob