This is a 5-string electric bass with alder body, maple neck, a dark rosewood fretboard, and black appointments. I built it for my son Robin who has become quite an accomplished bass player.
Here are the details:
- Body: alder
- Neck: curly maple
- Fretboard: dark rosewood
- Headstock and back plate veneer: Makassar ebony
- Pickups: matched neck/bridge bass humbuckers
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- RS-2 – bolt-on maple neck
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- RS-2
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- RS-2 – Rosewood fretboard
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- RS-2 – makassar ebony headplate
Hey, what kind of shellac/spirit varnish mixture you used for this build? Looks really good! I’m building my first guitar and looking for options on finishing alder.
Hey, thanks for asking – I hope I can remember all the details. I started out with a _very thin_ mix of medium shellac (about the shade of lemon shellac, but dewaxed) with just a little bit of red/brown alcohol dye mixed in to give a little more color. It was a very thin mix which allowed it to seep into the wood fibers a ways. After this first “wash coat” I then sanded some parts down, as if doing a sunburst, but in this case the lighter color is not in the middle but on the upper side of the front (compared to the lower side). I remember now that I used a “dabbing” technique on the first coat, which gave it a sort of “quilted” look. Then I just proceeded as usual, first with shellac and then tru-oil on the body and, I think, just tru-oil on the neck.
We’ve also used alder for necks on lots of our instruments, for example the Jenny/June pair. I have to say, the color you get depends a lot on the piece of wood. If you look at the heel on the Joanne, for example, you can see what a difference it made that the piece I used in the middle of the heel is much lighter. Evidently it was from a different batch than the main neck shaft.