Hi Folks
Thank you all very much for your very kind comments.
It's hard to express how delighted I am with how it came out; I hadn't seen any pictures except those that were posted to this thread. It has been a long time coming, and there were many detours and changes along the way. Mica and Susan solved every issue, steered me right when I had bogus ideas, and wouldn't let the bass go to completion until it met their standards.
I really meant 'simple' in an aesthetic sense, rather than in the sense of 'not many features': just two woods, mahogany and ebony; no body accent laminates; no back laminate; no fret inlays; and no script. Eventually I weakened and went for the OM and the little tai-ji in back.
The electronics are 20th Anniversary, with 3-position Q switches and master volume. The control configuration, from butt to horn, is (alternating knobs and toggles): master volume, LED on/off, bridge filter, bridge Q, bridge volume, stereo/mono, neck filter, neck Q, and neck volume. The pickup selector is the teardrop on the lower horn, a gesture to the old-style Series control layout; it's also the only place there is for it below the mahogany pinstripe. I love the old EvH basses - especially the 'baby bass' Edwin had made for his daughter - and also the softer points from back in the day, so those elements were worked into the design as well.
Mica told me that the basic sound is like a super-clean, super-precise P-bass with massive sustain and a massive bottom end. That's exactly what we aimed for, four years ago. I've been playing for 40 years but I've only ever owned one bass: a 1970 Fender Precision that my parents bought for me, new, when I was 15; it has been everywhere with me, and it's sitting ten feet from me as I type this. So I have a lot to learn.
Marc
