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Features Overview
Short 30.25” scale
20 bronze frets
Richlite fretboard
Brass fretboard inlays
Luminlay side dots
5 piece Cuban Mahogany and Maple neck
Curly Douglas Fir body top with black binding
1 piece African Mahogany body (Khaya)
Delano Xtender pickup
Gotoh hardware
Passive vol/tone
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The concept for this one was to get as close to an acoustic bass guitar in looks and to some extent construction whilst still technically being an electric bass with magnetic pickup. So it features some heavy chambering with a thinner top and back than a chambered bass typically has. In place of a sound hole like you'd find on acoustic bass, we have an oval pickup by Delano and to keep the theme going there's a basic rosette of sorts around the pickup rout.
Spruce would have been the obvious choice for the top, but it can be a little uninteresting to look at. So we have curly Douglas Fir instead - another softwood (like Spruce) which is exceptionally strong and with figured pieces like this it's a lot more attractive than most Spruce. The top also features a Quatrefoil sound hole on the lower bout.
The main body wood is a single piece of African Mahogany (Khaya) with black binding around the top and a sculpted heel. The neck is a set in construction to fit in with the acoustic like aesthetics.
I chose Richlite for the fretboard, which makes a really nice fretboard and more stable than Ebony. To liven things up a bit I chose to add some extra embellishments to the neck in the form of a 5 piece laminate of Cuban Mahogany and Maple with additional laminates running under the fretboard, on the back of the headstock and in the heel. Luminlay side dots are also featured along with hollow looking brass fretboard inlays on the front which ties in with the brass nut and bronze frets.
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Features Overview
Tele Bass Inspired
30" Scale
20 Fret
Yew Fingerboard
Boxwood Nut
Ash Neck
Two Piece Ash Body
Gotoh 203 Bridge
Gotoh Tuners
Dunlop Straplocks
Passive Electronics, CTS pots
Single Kent Armstrong
MM4 pickup
D'addario Strings
Though it does have one unusual feature which is the fingerboard of yew, which is I believe a first for a solid body instrument. The idea of a wood which is technically a soft wood (non-deciduous) as a fingerboard may seem a bit odd, but it was an experiment which came out well. Yew has been used as a fingerboard before for Lutes but as far as I'm aware, not for hundreds of years, so it is also an Echo of the past in that respect too.
It has a very unique tone and fortunately held the frets well! Which was one of the concerns when choosing it. It is tough, dense and sounds good, so I was pleased with the results of the experiment! All the woods featured are native and grown locally to Shropshire.
It is a 30" short scale bass featuring a one piece (with separate fingerboard) Ash neck and two piece ash body. The hardware is a Gotoh 203 bridge with Gotoh tuners. The electronics/pickups are CTS pots and a single Kent Armstrong MM4 pickup which create a lovely beefy yet natural sounding tone.
