February 1999Series II DoubleneckWe thought we'd really bowl you over with the first of our new monthly "Featured Custom" pages. This completely custom 4-string fretted 6-string fretless doubleneck bass was alot of fun for us to build. Hartmut presented us with many challenges: fancy wooden pickup covers and knobs, delicate inlays, and to keep it as small as possible while still retaining the look and feel of the Standard Omega body shape.But there was no way this was going to be a small bass. While we were building this bass, we also made a purpleheart 6-string fretless Series II, and that weighed in at about 19 pounds. So after much reshaping of the body drawing, we were impressed to get the final weight at about 21 pounds. This doubleneck wasn't much bigger than that 6-string Series II. When Hartmut visited the factory to start designing this bass, he also used the opportunity to select the woods for the body. He and Bob Nelson actually went to a local lumberyard to select the fancy burl maple top and back. He chose a piece of walnut for the core. |
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The peghead inlay Hartmut designed reads "Pearl of Angel" and is a very colorful mother of pearl set in a purpleheart bordered burl walnut diamond on the six string peghead. You can also see the bookmatched front peghead veneer in this photo. | |||
Mike made these laminated turned wooden knobs for the concentric Series II controls. Mike also covered the CVQ knobs in walnut and capped them with mother of pearl. | |||
Kris made the prototypes for these wooden pickup covers and Mike made this final product. We paint the rosewood, flame maple, and satinwood covers with our thinner polyurethane finish. The humcancellers have a thin mahogany and walnut cover. | |||
These charming little cherubs
dance up the 4-string fingerboard. Bob inlaid golden mother of pearl for the hair and
white mother of pearl of the bodies and wings. Jon did the engraving
details. When we completed this project, Mike decided to count up how many pieces went into it - 444! We think this is more than any other bass we've built. |
SPECIFICATIONS
Price available on request |
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