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EOP - end of project - 5 st. Bass Neck
http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=13856		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:16 pm ]
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This five string Bass is a Wal by Pete Stephens. Anyone know Pete? My buddy bought this bass online planning to make it a fretted. I counseled against it due to resale value. What we ended up doing was taking the Wal fretless neck off the guitar and building a new fretted from scratch. Fun project. Stretched my luthier skills a bit and I'm happy to have played a part making a player happy......    ...and keeping the Wal neck untouched to put it back someday should that time come. Like buying a used shotgun with two barrels.

The laminations of the neck are German Hornbeam center, African Purpleheart, North American Birdseye Maple. Two carbon fiber slats, and two way truss rod. MOP at the 12th. That's it. End of Project.
Author:  A Peebels [ Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:25 pm ]
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Looks good Bruce. Nice wood, even better workmanship.


Al
Author:  WaddyThomson [ Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:07 pm ]
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Good job Bruce.    The Coffee is paying off.    
Author:  Brad Way [ Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:32 pm ]
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Great job Bruce. It likes like it turned out great!
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:26 am ]
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There is just something too about the amps this guy employs? Acoustic Amps? I thought those were for acoustic guitars...... grin.

Anyway, he's happy to have his fretted Wal back in operation. Plus he has a nearly identical fretless.

Time now to work over his Alembics now, he's adding outside power supplies through a secondary input cable, this will power his neck-mount LED's. Thought you might enjoy a look at this guys music room and the Wals.
Author:  erikbojerik [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:04 am ]
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Bruce, is this guy going to use an entire 2nd cable for his power?



If so, you might think about using a stereo input jack with a stereo
cable instead, with the sleeve being ground (as usual) and either the
ring or the tip being the phantom power (putting the signal hot on the
other).



You'd need to plug into some kind of junction box at the other end that
provides the power, and takes the signal from there and sends it to the
amp.  But it's better than using 2 cables...or even 1 cable and a
wireless IMO.



I imagine you could also use this to power his preamp if the voltage requirements are similar.
Author:  Blain [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:13 am ]
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Looks GREAT Bruce!
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:14 am ]
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Erik, I'll ask him about that.

Alembic uses a five pin XLR type connection to do the same with their basses. And the two we are powering are Alembics, a four and a five. I may have confused you.

IF not, then I agree it would be nice if all the electrical happened in one cable. I think he's adding an 18Volt transformer, which would require two wires.
Author:  erikbojerik [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:52 am ]
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Ah yes, gotcha now Bruce.
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:03 am ]
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Okay, Steve read this thread and there is a transformer. The signal goes to a box like you said Erik, then out to the amp. Maybe it's an either or cable, just 1/4 inch or XLR five pin? I'm drilling a hole, hogging out inside the cavity for the mount, then his electronics bass-playing friend takes it from there.

Nothing like being only partially in the loop. You know specialization and all that......   
Author:  John K [ Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:16 am ]
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Good looking Bruce. That must have been a trial fitting the neck to a preexisting body, bridge, strange string length, etc. etc. Looks like you did a great job.

John

PS. I am really curious about the FOLK guitar. Do you know where it is now?
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:46 am ]
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Thanks everyone.

John, Nah, fitting was really the easy part. Shaping the neck to an acceptable profile was the hard part.

I actually made a 1/4" hardboard template of the original neck, double-stickied it to the blank and router cut the outline. So it fit in perfectly to the socket of the guitar.

Shaping required hours and hours of measuring and feathering in all the points. I can truly say this neck is hand shaped though and now know why these basses run 4K each.

The Wal Bass may no longer be produced. Pete Stephens in the UK is not well and had to move out of the shop premises due to sale of the property by the owners, so I heard. This one was completed in August 1991 and is signed on a tapered shim attached to the neck, by Pete himself. Another interesting thing is all the woods listed inside the electronics cavity on the cover.
Author:  Cuzin Locust [ Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:04 pm ]
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Hi everyone!! 
 I'm Steve, Bruce's friend, with the
Wal basses...Wow!!! Bruce and I adjusted the nut and neck and frets on
my Mach II Wal Bass today.. I can't put it down!! What a great bass!!
When I play I will always take a fretless and a fretted bass with
me..thought fretless is my main choice of a bass to play..I need a
fretted for certain styles of playing. I have a large collection of
basses and amplifiers. I am part of a website for Acoustic
amplifiers,(Bruce mentioned us in an earlier post).The websites address
is: http://acoustic360.homeunix.net/
You have probably seen them if
you were around in the late 60's and 70's...They were one of the best
manufactures of Bass amps..even to this day.. Nuff' about that!!

I
also Play Alembic basses..A company Rick Turner,(
http://www.renaissanceguitars.com/) use to be president of. This
company was one of the 1st companies to make a custom made electric
bass. I have 2 basses,( a 4 string Spoiler and a 5 string Mark King
bass)  they have LEDS for side position markers, for some reason they
use 4 9volt batteries to power these LEDS. I had Bruce put a 5 pin XLR
jack on these basses..(Alembic uses these 5 pin XLR's on their Series 1
and 2 basses).. the bass will be Pphantom powered with my external
power supply's and the cable also carries the signal from the pickups
to the amplifiers..

It is sad to hear about Pete Stevens; problems with Wal Basses..
they are in a class with Rick Turner's Renaissance Guitars;Ron Wickersham's Alembic and Pete Steven's Wal Basses!!

Steve/aka Cuzin Locust








[QUOTE=Bruce Dickey]Thanks everyone.



John, Nah, fitting was really the easy part. Shaping the neck to an acceptable profile was the hard part.



I actually made a 1/4" hardboard template of the original neck, double-stickied it to the blank and router cut the outline. So it fit in perfectly to the socket of the guitar.



Shaping required hours and hours of measuring and feathering in all the points. I can truly say this neck is hand shaped though and now know why these basses run 4K each.



The Wal Bass may no longer be produced. Pete Stephens in the UK is not well and had to move out of the shop premises due to sale of the property by the owners, so I heard. This one was completed in August 1991 and is signed on a tapered shim attached to the neck, by Pete himself. Another interesting thing is all the woods listed inside the electronics cavity on the cover.[/QUOTE]
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:37 am ]
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Hey Steve,
You remember putting the four basses in the garage? Well, my fifteen year old is learning to drive, right?
I have bad news.....

We should have put them on the side not in front of the car....

How much do I owe you?

Just kidding....

I'm glad you are happy with your fretted Dickey Neck for your fretless 5 Wal. That was a long drawn out project, but it really stretched me as a luthier. The smile you flashed as you put it away in the shop was icing on the cake. Enjoy.
Author:  Dave Rickard [ Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:07 am ]
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Nice job Bruce.
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