# 4 String Bass Build - Ebony/Wenge Cap



## canuck brian (Jul 7, 2008)

Hey guys,

I just finished up my 7 string last weekend and finally had a chance to rip into the bass my brother and I designed for his birthday. He's a shorter guy like me so we went with a 32 inch scale neck. The cap on this is Ebony/Wenge/Ebony and the back is 1 piece mahogany. The neck is a purpleheart/mahogany/purpleheart combo with a bookmatched wenge headcap. Hardware includes Hipshot Ultralite tuners, Hipshot bridge and an EMG-35TW. I've got a Graphtech nut for this as well. The fretboard is a nice mun ebony and the inlay...well this is where it gets weird. He wants an "emotion bun" which i can't find a picture for anywhere online. I'll try to get a pic of the one we're using as a model. 

Anyways, enough of my bullshit and onto the pics. I managed to get what you see done in about 4 hours.

Here's the neckblank with the headstock angle already planed in.







I didn't snap a pic of it before hitting with the bandsaw for the first time so here is it at the beginning of the 4 hour session.






Gluing up the headcap






Here it is nice and planed 






And gluing up






More bandsawing done and here's the body and the template. I'm using the name "Nightbringer" for this shape.






All bandsawing to shape completed






The top hit with some naptha - don't mind the sticker goo that got left there with the template tape.






And the carving lines!











Another solid day or two and this badboy should be ready to rip! It'll probably sound REALLY snappy with the ebony. Maybe too snappy, but hey, my brother is just learning and this is what he wanted.


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## ibznorange (Jul 7, 2008)

Looks awesome!


Google Image Search: Emotion Bun said:


>


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## Ruins (Jul 7, 2008)

awww thats another nice build. looks great so far.
what kind of headstock are you going for? what is the tuners layout 2+2, in one raw?


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## Durero (Jul 7, 2008)

I love your body shape


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## canuck brian (Jul 7, 2008)

Ruins said:


> awww thats another nice build. looks great so far.
> what kind of headstock are you going for? what is the tuners layout 2+2, in one raw?



Thanks for checkin in out guys! We're going to go with the same headstock style on my last 7 string build with a 2+2 layout. 

There are another 5 builds I haven't shown you guys yet. Figured when I'm actually hammering away at them, i'll post em up. RGA fans should anticipate much goodness.


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## psychoticsnoman (Jul 7, 2008)

looks good so far man, what are you going to use to carve away at that thing?

hey man i checked out your other builds and i think you should make a quick tutorial on Inlaying for stupid people like me, I haven't been able to find one with a good description and good pictures


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## SnowfaLL (Jul 7, 2008)

Damn you are building bass's too? lol Good job.


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## Apophis (Jul 8, 2008)

Looks great so far


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## canuck brian (Jul 8, 2008)

psychoticsnoman said:


> looks good so far man, what are you going to use to carve away at that thing?
> 
> hey man i checked out your other builds and i think you should make a quick tutorial on Inlaying for stupid people like me, I haven't been able to find one with a good description and good pictures



I'll be using files, scrapers, microplanes and my cute little palm sander.  Shouldn't take that long. I'll be doing the edge of the routing with a flush trim bit with a slightly smaller bearing on it to define it.

I'll try to get really intricate pics of the inlay process on this one.

I'm actually REALLY looking forward to the 3 RGA bodies I've got sitting on my shelf right now. There's also 2 other Nightbringer blanks ready to roll as well.


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## Coryd (Jul 9, 2008)

Looks really nice!


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## Shawn (Jul 10, 2008)

Pretty cool design and shape. That's going to look nice. Nice work so far!


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## SnowfaLL (Jul 10, 2008)

Im looking forward to the inlay process ;o


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## psychoticsnoman (Aug 6, 2008)

I WANT UPDATES !!!


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## canuck brian (Aug 23, 2008)

Got into the shop for a few hours today - I did some work on the bass but a ton of work on 5 other bodies.

Here's the tummy cut done











And the mun ebony fretboard.


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## canuck brian (Aug 29, 2008)

Got the fretboard slotted up - the neck needed a new cap on it as the previous one didn't leave me enough space. Fail.


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## Ruins (Aug 30, 2008)

looking great


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## psychoticsnoman (Aug 30, 2008)

that fretboard looks amazing


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## Apophis (Aug 30, 2008)

Looks great


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## canuck brian (Nov 14, 2008)

I managed to get some more work done on this thing!

Routed out the truss slot.






Bit of a mockup - i've got a lot more done since this as the neck is now glued up and the upper horn has WAY more space now.


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## Elysian (Nov 14, 2008)

that headstock looks like itd work great as a bass headstock.


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## CentaurPorn (Nov 14, 2008)

Look closlier. It is a bass


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## somn (Nov 15, 2008)

[/QUOTE]

this build rocks man cant wait till its all done


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## Ruins (Nov 15, 2008)

looks great man i love your work


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## Apophis (Nov 15, 2008)

I like it a lot


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## daemon barbeque (Nov 15, 2008)

She is going to be awesome for shure


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## canuck brian (Nov 16, 2008)

Finished up a few hours ago and sat down to watch some UFC...

Got the control cavity done. I'll be using shielding paint after I'm done all the sanding.






Clamped up the board - the long aluminum sanding beam made this a lot easier. The bottom of it is covered in 120 grit sandpaper so it won't budge from the board when clamped.






Drilling the wiring channels is a lot easier with a long assed bit like this and there is less chance to damage the body.






Here's where I'm at with it now. I recessed the controls, routed out the EMG cavity and it's wiring channels (this emg's wiring harness is fucking huge!!), drilled the input jack, bolted the neck on finally and shaped the neck joint. buncha pics to follow.































If I get back to the shop on Monday, I'll get started on the carve! If anyone's wondering why the body is always marked up to hell: you can't forget something if it's right in your face at all times.


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## budda (Nov 16, 2008)

looks good!

i know you were busy working because you didnt pick up your phone lol.


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## Ruins (Nov 16, 2008)

great pics! you give me lust to start my own bass build. 
the only problem is money for materials *sigh*
i really dig your design alot it looks some what like the classic shape yet its much more interesting.
by the way how did you pick the pup point? is it just some random guess or there is some math behind it? 
i always read this sweet spot shit but how do they find it out without removing all the wood to test it


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## bulletbass man (Nov 16, 2008)

Very nice. I like a lot.


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## Elysian (Nov 16, 2008)

i really dig this body as a bass, it works quite well.


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## Justin Bailey (Nov 16, 2008)

the design is incredibly badass enough, and then you add to that your wood choice and it's chubby inducing material at it's highest form.


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## canuck brian (Nov 19, 2008)

Ruins said:


> by the way how did you pick the pup point? is it just some random guess or there is some math behind it?
> i always read this sweet spot shit but how do they find it out without removing all the wood to test it



Honestly, I don't like single bass pickups to have the pickup close to the bridge - something just looks funny about it. I always liked how Modulus puts theirs in the middle and it just looks cleaner. Other than that, I really didn't look for a sweet spot.


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## polydeathsphere (Nov 19, 2008)

god this bass looks amazing. BUILD ME ONE NOW. haha just kidding, noooo cash


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## canuck brian (Nov 30, 2008)

Spent the whole day at this. She's done! Also done - me doing ANY solid purpleheart necks again. I swear to god i wore out my rasp file. It's currently without buffing here.


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## Mattmc74 (Nov 30, 2008)

^ Very nice work!


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## Elysian (Nov 30, 2008)

dude that bass is full of win!


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## hufschmid (Nov 30, 2008)

gorgeous


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## velocity (Nov 30, 2008)

that looks amazing!


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## Ruins (Nov 30, 2008)

great job man!!! this bass looks gorgeous.
any chance to hear any sound samples of it when its done? this solid purpleheart neck got my attention.


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## winterlover (Nov 30, 2008)

massive win, that is fuckings awesome!!!!! i love the horns, they look medieval, it's like what a knight who plays bass would play while slicing a dragon in half!!!
that bass is the brootalzness!

now put some strings on it, slap the EMG in it and put a sound clip on this mutha!


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## MerlinTKD (Nov 30, 2008)

Wow, awesome!!!

Whatever happened to that 'emotion bun' inlay?


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## Demeyes (Nov 30, 2008)

I really like it. Its shape really works well. I'd say it will look fantastic with the hardware and strings on it.


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## canuck brian (Dec 1, 2008)

Hey thanks guys! When I'm up there again (in a week or so) I'll be fine tuning everything and finally getting it complete.

It's really light though...I was expecting something a lot heavier, but this thing is coming in under 6.5 pounds without the pickup and strings.

The emotion bun picture could not be located, so we're leaving that space at the end of the fretboard. I'll put it in there and shape it accordingly.


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## hanachanmaru (Dec 27, 2008)

canuck brian said:


> I managed to get some more work done on this thing!
> 
> Routed out the truss slot.
> 
> ...



A Terribly awesome work !!!! love the blend !! heard is a purplehearts neck what tone does it gives?? supposed to be brighter? but it would be super solid neck i supposed and your brother is so lucky !!! u accept sworn brother from singapore ??  let me know then thanks !!!!we could work things out


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## eleven59 (Dec 27, 2008)

That looks really cool! If I wasn't saving for our tour in May, I'd start spec-ing out a 5-string bass with you right now  I'm already getting ideas...maybe in the fall...or if I end up with more cash than I expected


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## bulletbass man (Jan 13, 2009)

Shit that solid purple heart neck looks killer though.


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## yacker (Dec 11, 2009)

What ever happened to the pictures of this thing finished? It looks awesome, but the last post was almost a year ago.


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## canuck brian (Dec 11, 2009)

This bass unfortunately met it's demise. I despised the neck joint and the bolt on so I scrapped it. There's another pair of basses comin down.


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## yacker (Dec 11, 2009)

canuck brian said:


> This bass unfortunately met it's demise. I despised the neck joint and the bolt on so I scrapped it. There's another pair of basses comin down.


 
Ahh, what a shame. I look forward to seeing the next ones though!


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## phaeded0ut (Dec 11, 2009)

Oh nooooooooeeeeeeeeeessssssss! I was really digging what you were doing with the body and the fingerboard. Can't wait to see the next go.


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