LeftyBassist.com

VRB 4 Lefty with 2-piece Swamp Ash body, Maple/Maple neck, and Macassar Ebony block inlaid fretboard option



and a closer look at the inlaid fretboard



this is currently schedule for the body to be finished Candy Orange ... that wood grain is almost too nice to cover up

all the best,

R

Whoa..

+1

Whoa baby!

You're killing me Rod.

Gotta get a block inlay neck...

What about a transparent Candy Orange, so that beautiful grain shows through? I love the amber/orange, and transparent Black on my Ibanez ATK basses - great finishes, that let the grain show through... just a thought....

Is that control cavity both front and rear routed? What kind of electronics will go in there?
Looks beautiful, although I'm not a huge fan of block inlays without bindings. I love how the inlays are made of wood too!

front + rear routed indeed

this commissioned build began life as a VRB (hence the serial number designator) but was upgraded to essentially become an Axiom model without the zero-fret and soapbar styled pickups.

this is being loaded with an 18v Nordy 2-band preamp and a pair of Nordy NJ-4 pickups

as much as I like the wood grain, I think you're going to totally dig the Candy Orange finish chosen by the client ... sometime a small sacrifice is required to make way for the greater good

all the best,

R

I should also note that I used a new source for the inlay work on this neck, and am very pleased with the results. pricing is about half of the artist I used to use in upstate New York, and this should make blocks as well as B&B within pricing reach of those who previously couldn't justify adding this option to their build

all the best,

R

I love it! The only different thing I would have asked for would be the '70's pickup spacing.

I can confirm that the bridge pickup is indeed spec'd and located in the 70's (closer to the bridge) position

the NJ-4 pickup set will be wound to account for the slightly lower string amplitude (and resulting lower pickup output) that this location imposes on a regularly wound bridge pickup.


should I also share that this will sport a LeoQuan bridge?

all the best,

R

This guy ordered my dream funk bass!
Maybe one I'll put an order too Rod...

Oh man! Can't wait to see the final result!

Awesome, can't wait to see the finished bass, tempted to put in an order ( whoops my wife looking over my shoulder ) lol

I've noticed that over the years that I have so many instruments lying around the house that my poor wife can never keep track of my inventory anymore and has just stopped trying

Hey Rod, got any pics yet of this bass in its full glory?

somebody 'borrowed' my camer's PC adapter cable. by borrowed I mean it was on my desk on Wed afternoon all nice and coiled up where it always is kept, and then on Sat when I went to download it's nowhere to be found in the entire office/shop ... and nobody is fessing up to borrowing it

I'm searching for a cable source with the proprietary camera port so I can download images

all the best,

R

Damn! That's why I like the newer camera models that have an SD port. I just pull out the SD card, and stick it in my MacBook SD port.... much faster and easier IMO... hope you find that cable!

this build finally shipped out a couple weeks back. sometimes even the most rehearsed workflows get hit with disruptions, but good things come from them if we're looking in the right places

I have been shipping out all of my inlay work to an artist in NY who does very high-end work for acoustics. a typical turn time was running 6+ months from when I made contract arrangements to when a neck arrived back at my shop door, and that could be significantly longer if he got hit with a large order from his main BIG $$$ acoustic clients. while waiting for notification that he was ready to receive shipment, I discovered a new source for inlay work - but they had not done wooden inlays before and requested time to experiment to ensure the work they sent me would hold the course after it was in the customer's hands. good news is that I now have a new inlay shop, their pricing is just about half of what the previous shop charged, and their turn time averages 6 weeks.

on top of this, my paint shop spent far more than quoted time working the new candy orange color to match images I received from the bassist commissioning this build ... and that took almost 6 months to get this back from them (vs. the typical 6-8 week turn time)

this was one of the three units that didn't get completed before the shop move. it's embarrassing how long it took to get this bass out the door an into the hands of the new owner thankfully they were beyond incredible with patience!





all the best,

R

That's gorgeous!

Your client was indeed a very patient person... but this bass is simply gorgeous, and I'm sure your client is probably going to be sleeping with this beauty for the next few weeks!