Thread: 3 builds I've been working on

I recorded some audio samples of music I wrote while playing the mkshuii 5 and em guitar around 4 weeks ago - warts and all. It started off as bass and guitar samples, but I couldn't help build up the tracks.

I'll be posting 3 audio extracts over the next 3 weeks. Due to limitations on my ISP account, I only have space to upload 1 file at a time for a duration of 1 week.

The samples are accessible here...

http://users.bigpond.com/m.kat/mk_bs...o_samples.html

I'll be working on the z6 bass this weekend. Pre wiring the electronics tonight, finish sanding and buffing out the bass tomorrow.

It's 2:30pm, so I'm off to work on another 5 string bass before it gets dark...

Nice track there Michael. I love a good thumping bottom in the Bass dept.

BTW I didn't hear any 'warts' in that audio.
I'm looking forward to the next one.

Can we move the files to another site for you? If you want to set up an account or something with a free server, I can transfer it from your site to another account and you can just link to it, or some such. I'm sure the others on the site would be willing to help too. Cant have a fellow muso and luthier suffering at the hands of the "man"

Let us know what you think

Thanks for that guys.

Mongrel, I really appreciate it thanks. I'm fine to arrange something on this end though. I just need to look into the finer details and will organise something down the track. In the meantime, I can tolerate it

Starting the fret dress now...

I've just about finished the z6 build. Just some minor things like the final setup, strap locks and pickup modification. There are a couple of things I didn't correct on this build to do with aesthetics rather than playability or construction, due to it being a prototype. It was an ambitious build for me and I'm glad I moved forward with it. The next will improve slightly on design and some other aspects.

The pickup rewind, will be tailored more for the preamp. I wanted to test the pickup design and take some notes for later comparisons, so I stuck with this set to hear them. These are slightly middy and hot, which is not really that much of an issue with the preamp (bass, mid, treble eq) but I prefer less tweaking, so the next set will be fatter sounding with lower output.

I'll make sample audio for this bass available in around 4 weeks.

The prototype has come up a treat Michael.
It's got that certain something a well designed axe should have and that is
to entice you to want to pick it up and play it.

Just a few annoying Q's for ya.
What's the overall weight now it's complete and what you'd call the optimum weight you shoot for in a 6 string bass ? .
And can you give a brief explanation of what the sea of controls do
I've always wondered what combo's you look for in a bass, and looking at your miniswitches and multi-pot, you've got heaps of choice.

We guitarists seem to like it simple, too many knobs and switches and we get confused and broody.

Bass players seem to be able to chase after that elusive tone, and like the ability to do so.
You can always tell a bass designed by a guitarist

I love the headstock, it is difficult to populate with 4 tuners let alone 6. I like the straight string pull over the nut, and the lottle volute on the back.

Im with oz, can we have a mud-map-for-guitarists (keep it simple for us, thou) on the controls.

Sweet build, you should be proud

Originally Posted by oz_tradie

The prototype has come up a treat Michael.
It's got that certain something a well designed axe should have and that is
to entice you to want to pick it up and play it.

Just a few annoying Q's for ya.
What's the overall weight now it's complete and what you'd call the optimum weight you shoot for in a 6 string bass ? .
And can you give a brief explanation of what the sea of controls do
I've always wondered what combo's you look for in a bass, and looking at your miniswitches and multi-pot, you've got heaps of choice.

Thanks for the comments Stu, I'm happy with the way it turned out and do keep picking it up. It's funny 'cause playing a 6 requires a different way of thinking due to the high C in this case. 5's are different because they offer the lower notes (or high for some) that I really wanted from a 4 without detuning the E, much easier and less hassle with more lower notes, and easier to play longer patterns in a single position. With a 6, the extra high string has a greater impact and opens the instrument up to more chordal and solo playing, a challenge I'm looking forward to.

Regarding the weight, I don't have scales here yet unfortunately so I rely on myself to be the scale. I'll be seeing my mum in a couple of days, who does have scales, so I'll let you know what the bass weighs then.

For me, the controls generally depend on the pickups and whether it's a passive or active setup, cost and available space. With humbuckers, what I like is series, single coil and parallel for each pickup. So, this is a given from the start. With an active setup, I like to have a bypass switch 'cause I like the passive sound also.

The preamp in the z6 has more options than I'm used to. I installed a 2 band pre on the sh5, which has bass and treble eq and is all I need out of an active setup really. With the z6, I bought a 3 band preamp a couple of years ago specifically for this build. It has bass, mid (with mid selector switch, 400Hz and 800Hz) and treble eq. This is over the top control at the finger tips, a hell of a lot of options there. I am using each eq control (slight bass and treble, with minimal mid tweaks) with the current pickups so it will be interesting how the eq changes with the new set.

Originally Posted by mongrel

We guitarists seem to like it simple, too many knobs and switches and we get confused and broody.

Bass players seem to be able to chase after that elusive tone, and like the ability to do so.
You can always tell a bass designed by a guitarist

I love the headstock, it is difficult to populate with 4 tuners let alone 6. I like the straight string pull over the nut, and the lottle volute on the back.

Im with oz, can we have a mud-map-for-guitarists (keep it simple for us, thou) on the controls.

Sweet build, you should be proud

I really appreciate the comments everyone has given on this thread. When someone suggested that I post info on my builds, I froze for few seconds thinking about it.

I just saw your post today, logged off straight after posting my reply to Stu, so not sure if I answered some of your questions about the the controls in my previous post. Let me know if you'd like more info.

Simplicity is a good thing and for decades I preferred simple volume and tone controls. Over the last few years I had a certain sound in mind, which can only be achieved with a preamp whether on board or off. So, that sound was realised with these two bass builds. The configuration of both allow for active or passive, so you have the best of both. The switching allows for a variety of pickup configurations to sculpt tone, then there's the pre to eq that. Not much eq is really necessary unless a player goes for an outlandish or animated tone.

The thing is that very few awesome sounding basses on record or live are really raw even if they have simple volume and tone controls only. A player will always plug into something that will completely modify the sound externally anyway. For example, amps change the sound all the way. Plug straight into a desk with the eq flat and that might be close. But, once it's in the desk, there's compression, preamps and effects and everything. So, the end result is never the real thing if there is a real thing .

Audio sample 2 is now available

http://users.bigpond.com/m.kat/mk_bs...o_samples.html

This is a heavier piece containing two extracts.

Originally Posted by mkat

I really appreciate the comments everyone has given on this thread. When someone suggested that I post info on my builds, I froze for few seconds thinking about it.

I just saw your post today, logged off straight after posting my reply to Stu, so not sure if I answered some of your questions about the the controls in my previous post. Let me know if you'd like more info.

Simplicity is a good thing and for decades I preferred simple volume and tone controls. Over the last few years I had a certain sound in mind, which can only be achieved with a preamp whether on board or off. So, that sound was realised with these two bass builds. The configuration of both allow for active or passive, so you have the best of both. The switching allows for a variety of pickup configurations to sculpt tone, then there's the pre to eq that. Not much eq is really necessary unless a player goes for an outlandish or animated tone.

The thing is that very few awesome sounding basses on record or live are really raw even if they have simple volume and tone controls only. A player will always plug into something that will completely modify the sound externally anyway. For example, amps change the sound all the way. Plug straight into a desk with the eq flat and that might be close. But, once it's in the desk, there's compression, preamps and effects and everything. So, the end result is never the real thing if there is a real thing .

True, true, but i guess it's a bit like marriage, you like to FEEL like you're in charge.

My thoughts are that sound is as much a feel as an expression of output. You get on stage in some places and you can just FEEL the resonance of your guitar. It certainly inspires me to play better (to my mind) if you get that singing resonance and feedback of a deftly placed amp and guitar setup. The bloke out the front can change it to warbling monkeypoo for all I care, 'cause it sounds and FEELS good to me in that moment.

The samples are great!
Always good to hear people putting their money where their mouth is.

Thanks Mongrel, I agree. I remember doing plenty of gigs where the on stage sound was bad. I remember this one gig in Sydney's west, don't remember the venue, my amp blew and I had to run my bass through the DI box to the front of house, LOL. What a night that was, I spent most of it close to the double 4 way 'cause even though the sound guy did mix some bass through the fold back it didn't help anyone least of all the singer.

Ok Stu, I borrowed my mum's scales to weigh the instruments. I don't know how accurate these things are, but I weighed a few for comparison:

Em guitar: 3kg
sh5 bass: 4.4kg
z6 bass: 5kg

Now, I compared the above to the following:

Fender Highway 1 Jazz Bass: 4.3kg
MK jbass Fretless (assembly, not a build): 4kg
MK Frankenstrat (assembly, not a build): 3.4kg

Based on the above weights, the z6 doesn't look too heavy considering the wood selection and hardware even though you can feel the weight picking it up. The longer pickups and packed control cavity required the removal of more wood than the sh5, but the larger pickups do add weight (more magnets, fibre and wire). The tuners are light weight compared to those on the sh5.

I've uploaded the sample 3, which will be the final audio sample in the series for the sh5 bass. This is a bluesy rock thing, 2 extracts in a single file. Thanks for listening, the feedback has been great.

http://users.bigpond.com/m.kat/mk_bs...o_samples.html

BTW, I made a new set of pickups for the z6 and cleaned up the back of the body a bit (needed a chrome screw and one of the ferrules was slightly deeper due to a change in neck heel shaping):

I posted this on ozbassforum a couple of days ago, so I thought I'd put some closure on it here and finally make the audio available for the MK z6 bass. BTW, I've been fairly busy with other stuff, so just clarifying that it didn't take 2 yrs to record the 4 tracks .

Please excuse the playing in some areas, haven't practised for years. Just a note on the chordal pieces. They're a little on the top end, unfortunately, which is what happens when mixing through cans (a no no, but not much I can do about that in the late hours ). Also, the z6 bass is the only instrument I played on those tracks 2 tracks:

=>> MK z6 audio samples