Well, a couple of months ago, I visited the workshop where I had been building basses on a professional level for 18 years from 1998 until 2016 when a very painful accident destroyed my shoulder and ended my career as a professional bass builder.
Anyway, during that visit, my former boss began piling unfinished projects and reject bodies and parts into my hands. Which included an alder Music man copy body which had been eaten from by wood worm, not all that much but enough to make it unusable.
This body, although made as a four string, I decided would be the perfect candidate to marry with a random 5 string neck I had lying around.
Yeah, it´s pretty much impossible to reach the 24'th fret but hey, who cares.
I didn't document the entire process but I decided to use an eighties EMG P-6 pickups (which to all purposes is two guitar pickups wired together) and place it in a reverse P setting, giving the bass a very Yamaha BB-1200 vibe.
I'll be the first to admit that the sonic blue finish wasn't the neatest job, I just worked with what I had and one thing I do not have at home is a fully kitted out workshop.
The relic job is halfhearted, not really all that convincing either but with use, genuine wear will improve the bass' looks in time. I will replace that back plate though.
So how does the "Catface" (Named after both the sticker above the B-sting and a song from my band's) sound?
Much better than I thought it would actually. The B is nice and Punchy and it has a lot more clarity than I thought it would have. I'll take it along to band rehearsal upcoming Thursday to see how it handles itself in a band set up.
But overall, this has been a lot of fun.
Anyway, during that visit, my former boss began piling unfinished projects and reject bodies and parts into my hands. Which included an alder Music man copy body which had been eaten from by wood worm, not all that much but enough to make it unusable.
This body, although made as a four string, I decided would be the perfect candidate to marry with a random 5 string neck I had lying around.
Yeah, it´s pretty much impossible to reach the 24'th fret but hey, who cares.
I didn't document the entire process but I decided to use an eighties EMG P-6 pickups (which to all purposes is two guitar pickups wired together) and place it in a reverse P setting, giving the bass a very Yamaha BB-1200 vibe.
I'll be the first to admit that the sonic blue finish wasn't the neatest job, I just worked with what I had and one thing I do not have at home is a fully kitted out workshop.
The relic job is halfhearted, not really all that convincing either but with use, genuine wear will improve the bass' looks in time. I will replace that back plate though.
So how does the "Catface" (Named after both the sticker above the B-sting and a song from my band's) sound?
Much better than I thought it would actually. The B is nice and Punchy and it has a lot more clarity than I thought it would have. I'll take it along to band rehearsal upcoming Thursday to see how it handles itself in a band set up.
But overall, this has been a lot of fun.
