The instrument is about as protected from handling and shipping as possible. It's going by FedEx and it's insured so I think we will be OK.

All the packing is done and I will get this to the shipping company as soon as possible.

Just posting a few more photos as I take them. Nice looking bass and it will soon meet its sister!.

These Protec cases and VERY good so I know the bass will be well protected. I added some protective material between the loosened strings and the fingerboard and packed lightweight airbags everywhere else.

Getting ready to take some final glamour photos of this bass and get it safely packed in its case and shipping box!

The whole fingerboard consists of little selected parts of the Saggitarius constellation.

I added some carbon fiber support to the two covers because wood cover material should be stabilized against climatic effects. Since this bass is travelling so far I wanted to build that safety in!.

Getting the instrument ready for shipping which means first packing it in its case with protective materials, then packing the case into the box with more protective materials.

Working on final finishing and cleanup. Will string her up and test through and amp to make sure everything is still working as it should. After that I wasn to get it sefely installed in its case and packed and boxed ready for shipping.

Making sure everything on the back is nice and clean and I will fit the two back covers and test this instrument out.

The two strap buttons are now on the body of the bass. The remaining work is just adding the set of custom knobs, double-checking the overall setup and a final polish/cleanup.

Got the custom color-co-ordinated knobs installed onto the instrument. I'm going to do some testing of everything and adjust what I need to - then look at the safest shipping/packaging so that this bass can get on its way to it's owner!

Applying wood conditioner to bring out the color and grain of the wood. Really makes a difference as you can see in the photo!

I have to add a strap button in the two standard positions on the body. I'm also using special washers to prevent damage to the finish.

Fret leveling is a part of the overall setup of the neck and action. I need to be sure all the frets are on the same level in relation to the strings as part of the overall setup process involving nut slots, truss rod adjustment and saddle heights.

Got most of the fret dressing work done and now polishing the end results. After cleanup I will condition the fingerboard wood.

Great to have the bass case ready and waiting while I do the last adjustments to the instrument itself!

Working on the nut slots and will then get the truss rod and bridge saddles adjusted.

Initial wiring didn't work and I discovered it was due to the need for isolated grounding! All good now so I can start workig on the wiring cleanup!!!

I have been using Protec cases almost since I started building instruments. Very happy with their product!!

Bass looks much more finished with a set of strings on it! I need to get back inside the cavity to connect up the coil tapping switches and wiring bust should be able to test soon!!

Working on getting the two coil tapping switches connected and installed into the control cavity. I will do some testing and if all is good I will tidy up all of the wiring!!

More wiring done - I'm down to coil tap switches and grounding wires!.

I want to get the strings on the bass so that I can test the electronics. Have to get the string ferrules on the back installed first.

I needed to set up the best order for the various pots so that I can get the wiring organized in the most efficient ways. I'm going to get each of the pots installed so that I can tidy up the preamp wiring and then move on to the remaining electronics and power supply.

Things looking more organized in the control cavity. Preamp is installed and I'm connecting some of the other electronics together.

I had to test all the wiring to isolate the four individual pickup coils.

text coming.

Just about to install all the electronics and get everything wired up in the control cavity.

First step in the wiring up procedure was to install battery connections to allow an 18v power supply for the preamp system.

Nut has been cut and shaped and I'm getting ready to install it in the nut slot after which I will cut the string slots.

I file the nut slots tpo a safe depth and will finish them when the bass is strung up.

Pickup assemblies are now mounted in the body. I have to make a nut now so that I can get strings on this bass.

I'm making a dedicated nut for this bass and will be installing it into the neck soon.

Put the Hipshot bridge back on and I will also re-install the pickups. At that point I can put strings on and test the overall settings and alignment.

I want to get the two pickups back in and set for height so that I can get a test set of strings on the bass and get the neck and bridge adjustments done.

I took the bass to my finisher today to tidy up edges along the new fingerboard and just make it look good so I could get the rest of the finishing work done!.

Bass is now back in my hands in beautiful shape. My finisher did a very nice job cleaning up areas along the fingerboard that I had to work on! Now I can get it all wired up and tested!!.

Finishing up the revised neck and checking everything. Will probably have my finisher do some cosmetic cleanup on areas I had to work on but all looks good.

Now that most of the fingerboard work has been done I'm taking the bass to my finisher so he can check it out and polish along the edges of the fingerboard for me.

Working on nut so that I can get the strings on the instrument.

The saddles in the bridge had to be adjusted too high to achieve a good playing action, but doing this not only maxxes out the bridge travel, but restricts future adjustments, causes the pickups to sit a little too high, and just looks a bit strange. I have a couple of options to resolve this - will update.

Installing the pickup assemblies. Should go smoothly although I have to be careful about the vertical space required for four cables from each pickup unit because of the coil splitting.

Didn't want to damage the tuners while filing the nut slots so I removed them temporarily.

Knobs were quite a lot of work but I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! I think they will look great!.

Testing the Audere system to make sure they all fit and I can work out a wiring distribution plan! Pickups will have 8 extra wires so I probably need to get those installed first.

Working on getting the nut blank securely placed in the nut slot and shaped to blend with neck width and fingerboard radius!

Getting started on the install of the electronic hardware and also getting ready to finish up the five wood knobs.

Working on the installation of the bobbins and making sure I have clearance for the wiring that has to pass through to the control cavity.

I expected this process to be a little tricky - there's not much adjustment room and everything has to fit in there perfectly!

Working on adding the Hipshot bridge. Needs careful alingnment with the neck!

Two more tasks completed - bridge is on and the output jack assembly is installed

Got the Hipshot tuners installed in the headstock. Moving on to getting the nut installed and set up in the neck and then getting the bridge grounded and installed.

Did a test install with the preamp hardware to verify fit between my knobs and the preamp shafts they fit on.

Using the CNC to accurately cut a little recess to set the pickup switches at the right height.

Working on the shielding inside the control cavity. When this is done I can get some of the grounding wires and connections established.

Fingers crossed on the set of knobs - so far so good. Now need to separate them from the parent material and cut them to the right heights.

Lots of work getting the battery cavity and the control cavity ready. Control cavity will need to be lined with copper shielding but first I need to make a small recess for the two split coil switches.

Got the copper shielding applied to the insides of the pickup cavities.

I'm cleaning out the holes to suit the Audere preamp and also getting ready to machine the rest of the control knobs. I think they will work out - will know soon.

Setting up for wooden knobs on the CNC - will update on progress and success.

Machining to this stage wasn't too bad. The also need to be machined on the other side and holding them will be a challenge.

I no longer have a lathe to make things like knobs but I have a feeling I could convince my CNC machine to generate a set of knobs, one of which has to be stacked! More on this very soon!

Doing several tasks all at one one time - getting the truss rod cover to fit - installing tuners, getting a nut fitted into the neck.

In a transparent tint finish the buildup is slightly thicker because there is a clear coat applied first followed by a transparent color. I've been carefully removing material from both the cavity recesses and the lids themselves to get them to fit neatly in place!.

A lot of grinding and messy dust but the end results will be beautiful! The pickups now fit in the body and the cavities will get copper shielding applied to the surfaces.

I'm working inside the cavity areas to get the covers to fit nicely and when that's done I will add shielding to the internal cavity surfaces.

Working on getting the pickups fitted into their recesses and adding a ground connection from the bridge through to the control cavity.

Bass is back from the finisher and looking awesome. There are some areas I need to work on to get the covers and other hardware components to fit so that will be my next few tasks.

Back of the bass looks very impressive too - we left the center core natural which really looks good and enhances the neck-thru look!

Very happy to be at the finishing stage! I still have to find wooden knobs but have a couple of good sources.

Just received the Audere preamp for the bass. Things are moving along!

Very happy to get this last machining operation done. Can't wait to see this bass in its green glory!

Doing the last pass with fine sandpaper and also got all the ends of the frets dressed and polished!

Since this bass has strings through the body at the bridge end I needed to make sure the required holes and recesses are very accurately placed. Not much room for error here!

Set up and ready to run the program that will cut the recesses for the string ferrules!

Shiny gold bridge is a piece of art on its own!!!.

Working on all the radii and recesses to get those parts all smooth for finishing. Big surfaces are easy but the inside radii and other curved areas are a lot of work!.

Inlay on the back cover plate is done so I can now get the rest of the sanding finished up.

Sanding all over the instrument until it feels smooth and clean enough to head to the finisher.

Starting with the blue filler for the bow and also using it for the logo on the truss rod cover.

Filling the stars with a white metallic filler. When that is set I will finish with the dots between the stars.

I put a coat of sealer on the bare wood of the cover to prevent any of the filler solutions from bleeding into the wood grain.

I want to get the colored filler into the recesses in the back plate - doing that as soon as possible.

Doing my best to place everything on the front pretty close to the layout of the original bass we are using as a sister instrument. I'm ready to get these holes and counterbores established.

I got the control layout machined as close as possible to the original sister bass and I will now be looking at the exact placement of the retainers that hold the strings at the back of the body.

Got the control cover engraved and now I will move it on to getting the features filled with their respective colors.

Was able to get the recess for the Neutrik output assembly machined. Will move on to the control holes next..

The test on a similar piece of mahogany for the Saggitarius constellartion artwork seems to have come out pretty well. I will burn this into the actual cover and it will be filled with colored compounds and should look very cool.

This is the basic design for the cover which will be a nice mirror to the features on the fingerboard.

Lots of sanding going on with the thickness and cross-sectional shape of the neck. It's almost where I want it!.

I am fitting and sanding the two back cavity covers. Whan that's done I will be engraving the Saggitarius constellation artwork into the control cavity cover!.

Getting the entire neck down to the finished thickness aand cross-section on a single cut is quite alot of work. Only way to get it right is to slowly work your way into finished size and shape and keep measuring and adjusting until it's just right.

I am installing the serial number tab into this instrument.

Just about to attack the beck of the body with a grinder to establsih the belly cut area.

Belly cut has been roughed out and I will now get that cleaned up.

Got the tuner holes drilled through the headstock. Both the headstock and the fingerboard will now be cleaned up in preparation for finishing.

I am working on both the back of the headstock and back of the neck as it meets the body.

I'm using the spindle sander to shape the headstock perimeter down to the final template size and shape.

This operation will finalize the headstiock thickness and I will then be able to drill the tuner holes.

Carefully gluing the maple headplate onto the headstock. Will look beautiful when complete!.

The headplate is firmly attached but quite abit oversize. I will now go ahead and sand down the profile of the headstock and clean everything up.

I want to get the neck finished up to its final sizes. After that I will create a belly cut in the back of the body.

While I am cleaning up the neck and fingerboard after the recent assembly I will also be getting the matching headstock plate ready for assembly..

Nice to get this done because aside from some sanding work to prep the surfaces, these are complete and ready for finishing.

We used selected parts of the Saggitarius constellation on the fingerboard inlay - I thought it would be nice to have the whole constellation on the back.

Starting on the shaping of the back of the neck and also the interface between the neck and the body.

Working on this area is a process of careful material removal, testing and inspection and then repeating everything until the instrument looks and feels just right.

So far so good- got the adhesive mixed, applied, fingerboard fitted and everything secured with rubber bands and various clamps!

Looks like the fingerboard attachment is a success - the instrument looks great already and I will now get started on the post gluing cleanup!

Did some sabding and scraping work to get the top surface of the neck ready for having the fingerboard glued on.

Will be carefully drilling countersunk holes for the adjustment screws.

After removing the support material from the fingerboard I placed it on the bass neck to see how it looked on the instrument.

I will be gluing the fingerboard onto the instrument and have set all the tooling required for the job. Talkes a little time to prep but you have to have everything at your fingertips because the adhesive starts curing as soon as you start!

Got all the frets blended along the edges of the fingerboard and I am now ready to saw off the MDF support material.

After removing the support material from the fingerboard I placed it on the bass neck to see how it looked on the instrument.

Planning to quickly take off some of the extra material along the neck of the bass to speed up the final shaping process.

Another big task done - all the frest are bent, cut and installed. Now have to spend some time carefully cleaning up all the ends flush with the fingerboard edges.

Very happy to get these two cavities set up and machined - gets us a lot closer to the finishing process. Whole the bass is up on the cnc I am planning to machine a little of the extra meat off the back of the neck.

Getting started on the process of installing the frets. When that's done the whole fingerboard can be attached to the neck.

I filed and scraped the stars to level everything with the compound radius of the fingerboard. Looks very nice and I will now move on to getting the gold alloy fretwire installed in the fret slots.

CNC has been busy but got a chance to get this bass up on there so that I can machine out the two back cavities.

I All these colors turned out very nicely - I can use one or more of the combinations in the fingerboard stars!

We chose #1 for the fill color so I went ahead and mixed that up and filled all the starrecesses. Takes about a day to fully cure so as soon as it is ready I will file everything flush to the top surface of the fingerboard.

I'm going to test a couple of inlay mixes on the same material as fingerboard and see what looks best. Will be posting results asap.

I mixed the white and gold in four different combinations to at least give ourselves the choices. I could do the pure white pearl OR any of the pearl/gold mixes. Since we have gold hardware anbd frets I thought it would be nice to have a little gold in there but I will leavethe final call to my customer!

Getting the dual bobbins pre-fitted into the continuous grain pickup covers. Once that's done I will drill the holes for the adjustment screws.

Working on rough neck carving and also preparing to machine out the two back cavities.

Working through the cleanout process of the recesses. It's a slow and very detailed process.

Working through the cleanout process of the recesses. It's a slow and very detailed process.

This is the first of three operations to re-establish the star pattern. So far so good.

Last operation but have to go very carefully. Already broke one cutter!

I'm going to re-do the setup on the CNC and re-cut the star inlay recesses. They just didn't look as punchy as I wanted them to be.

It was a lot of work to re-align the machining pattern of the stars to the existing pattern on the fingerboard., Almost there I think.

Machining on inside of the pickup covers now done. I'll make sure the pickup bobbin assemblies fit into each one and get the holes drilled for the adjustment screws.

I'm going to re-do the setup on the CNC and re-cut the star inlay recesses. They just didn't look as punchy as I wanted them to be.

It is slow and very detailed work so I will be glad when this part is all done! If I can get the inlay completed I can then get the frets into the fingerboard.

I'm busy right now cutting the inside geometry of the two pickup covers.

My pickup winding wizzard finished up the humbucking pickups. One more big step forward.

My CNC was free and I put the bass up there to get the two pickup cavities finalized.

Keeping things moving on the inlay process. It's a little work intensive but I think it will all be worth the effort.

I'm just starting on the gold filler for all the stars and once they are done I will finish the bowman.

I cut the truss rod coverout of the headstock veneer blank. I'll go ahead and rough cut the headstock shape and as soon as I can I will attach it to the instrument.

First round of filling the inlay recesses. Will do the Bowman first and then move to the other details.

I am going to do 3 tests to make sure the colors I will be using work with the fingerboard.

I will be doing some machining to this plate so that it is ready to be attached to the headstock after the fingerboard goes on.

This ohito shows the recesses after the 2nd cut was completed. I'm now moving on to the smallest cutter whose job is to go round all the artwork and clean up all edges and corners.

Inlay machining complete. Next step is to trim the support board closer to the fingerboard. After that I will seal the wood so that it's ready to accept the colored filler.

I did a lot of research to find the FINISHING epoxy that dried the hardest and most clear. This will help me get the best out of the inlay process.

Working on the first pass on the inlay recesses. So far so good. Next program is the biggest one time-wise and the third will do the finishing edge details..

The programs are written and I'm setting up for the first cut of three to establish all the inlay recesses.

Gold fretwire is now in my shop waiting for me to pre-bend it and install it into the fingerboard!.

Just want to make sure the results look good before machining all the inlay!.

I did a lot of research to find the FINISHING epoxy that dried the hardest and most clear. This will help me get the best out of the inlay process.

Ready to test the inlay recesses with a.027" diameter cutter.

Definition worked out to be pretty acceptable but I will probably use a -020 cutter rather than a .028 to make sure I get the very small detail defined.

Setting up to cut 24 fret slots - more info coming!.

In the process of cutting the frets into the fingerboard. Usually do them in 2 or 3 passes since the cutter is so small and I don't want it to break.

These inlays are fairly detailed so I may use the laser to do the engraving rather than a small cutting tool on the CNC - going to experiment with both and see which works best.

These are very good quality products and should result in very nice looking inlay. I will, of course, test them on similar material first!.

Pickup covers are well on the way to being completed.

Fingerboard back up on cnc for fret slots and probably engraving of inlay artwork too.

Nice piece of spalted maple for the headstock which will match the body nicely.

Instrument looks much more complete with the top plate attached.

The two continuous grain pickup tops have been harvested out of the top plate.

Now getting the top plate glued onto the rest of the bass body.

Got the pickup bobbins cut. Now need to assemble with their magnets.

Next job is to harvest out the two pieces I need for the pickup covers from the top plate before it goes on the instrument.

Top and body are now successfully fitted together.

I want to cut the pickup bobbins so that I can guarantee a good fir with the pickup covers.

We will be doing a little custom inlay on this fingerboard which will make it very unique.

Machining out the area of the top plate where the end of the neck profile will fit.

The bobbin and cover dimensions have been established and I can start work on all of this.

I got all the various wiring channels established in the top of the body. Will clean that all up and next step will be to harvest the tops of the two pickup covers out of the top plate.

Fingerboard now has a compound radius machined and is almost at final thickness.

Fingerboard looks really nice now that it has a finished surface.

First fingerboard job on the CNC is just removing some unwanted material from the overall thickness. Next I will machine the outer profile.

Fingerboard is now accurately machined to its nut and body end width and also to its finished length.

Top plate being glued together after I recently machined the joint faces to create a nice clean bookmatched assembly. Next I will neeed to harvest out the pickup cover pieces..

Next job coming up will be the machining of the fingerboard which will go on the bass right after the top plate goes on.

First chance I get I will probably install the two CF rods into the neck slots. One more task out of the way.

The two CF rods are being glued into their slots in the neck.

Front and back surfaces have been machined and cleaned up. Moving along!.

Refining the outer shape of the body and I will then be machining some channels in the top surface for pickup wiring, battery power supply and grounding wires.

Bass looks pretty nice with the body parts attached. Will probably have the top on soon.

This next operation will create a final joint face on the top sufrface of the body material and around the heel of the neck.

Machining the back of the core parallel to the neck-to-body angle I machined on the front.

Now gretting the body halves attached to the core section.

Gluing light veneer onto body half joint faces. Once that's done and cleaned up I will repeat with the darker veneer.

Second veneer (the darker one) being glued to both of the body halves. After some cleanup they will be ready to be glued onto the core secion.

Using the CNC table to clean up joint surfaces on the two body halves.

Getting a lot closer to a complete instrument that looks a little more like a bass guitar!.

This setup was to machine a clean joint face on each side of the core assembly.

I will be adding veneers and also machining joint faces onto the two body halves.

The three sections for the truss rod have now been machined into the joint face of the neck section. Truss rod fits in there nicely. Now I have to cut slots for carbon fiber reinforcing rods.

Last task in this series of machining ops was to cut two slots along the length of the neck for the two carbon fiber reinforcing rods.

I machined a very important angled surface on the top surface of the core at the body end. I will fixture off this surface in upcoming machining operations.

This particular operation needed to be worked carefully into the final combination of sizes. End result is a nice clean core profile which will soon be ready to be a real bass.

Setting the core up for several machining operations. Once this is done I will be able to attach body and top plate onto the machined core section.

Got the 2nd operation done which was cleaning up the front headstock surface. This gives me a pretty good idea of nut placement and I can calculate back based on scale length to double check end of neck and bridge locations.

Moving along. As soon as I add pieces to cover headstock width I can then get this core up on the CNC and start machining the instruments features.

Just before I start machining all the core surfaces I am adding a couple of pieces of Lacewood so that this area of the core is wide enough for the finished headstock.

Gluing the first of the two lacewood outer laminates onto the center of the core. This has been a lot of work but once this is all done things will progress to a complete instrument relatively quickly.

Last of the gluing setups for the core section assembly. I will have to add a little Lacewood each side of the headstock to create width for the headstock but getting this done was a big step!.

First of two veneer applications on the remaining core sections. I will then be able to complete the core section

A lot of work gluing on all of these veneers but once this setup is dry I can assemble the rest of the core section and things will move ahead quite quickly!

OI want to get the body pieces machined and assembled so that I can get this top glued onto the instrument. There's always a danger of woodfrom Canada distorting a little in this dry California atmosphere!!.

Received my darker veneer delivery from Colorado this afternoon so I will try to get this cut and applied sometime in the next 24hrs!

Gluing the first two core laminates together. I always work from the center out. This will create a very strong core section for the instrument.

Once this joint is glued I only have the two outer Lacewood pieces to assemble. Can't do that till I get my slightly darker veneer but plenty other stuff to keep me busy.

Gluing the last two white veneers onto laminates 2 and 3. Will have a core section together pretty soon.

Each of the center laminates now have decorative veneer on both sides. I will be moving on to the outer laminates as soon as my new veneer material arrives but in the meantime I can assemble the forst three core laminates.

Not the greatest photo I have ever taken but it shows the center core in the vacuum press where I am attaching the 2nd dark veneer!

Now gluing light veneers onto the two dark laminates. Both of these laminates get veneered both sides so this is the first of two operations to do this.

I am using the CNC to cut the center laminate to the taper that I calculated on the computer.

Center piece of the neck/core is in the vacuum press where I am adding the first of 8 veneers. It will be worth it when it is all done!

I now have delivery of the maple veneer that will allow me to proceed with work on the top plate and the core laminates!.

Maple veneer ready to be glued onto the two top place pieces.

Gluing dark veneer onto the back sides of the top plate halves.

Successfil gluing of the dark veneer pinstriping. Before I do any more machining I need to get the light veneer applied too!.

Top and bottom body halves have been rough sawn from the mahogany board. Another step forward!.

Body halves moving forward - they have been sawed and sanded and I also have perfectly matching material fr the cavity covers!.

Two top halves are now sanded to thickness and my next move is to glue a dark veneer onto the back of each piece..

TI have plenty of dark veneer for pinstriping but nomaple for the light pinstriping. I'm ordering a quantity of raw maple veneer from a supplier for this job.

These two Lacewood pieces are just a tiny bit darker than the corresponding pieces on the original bass but were the only pieces of that species I could find anywhere. They may well come out lighter after machining and shaping. They will look awesome with the other laminates.

I now have all 5 components for the core construction. I have dark veneer but need to get hold of some light veneer to get this job completed.

The bookmatched wood came out looking very good and I will now look at the earlier bass we are copying and try to match the top plate thickness as closely as I can.

We now have a rough top plate in two pieces. I need to do some sanding and machining before joining them together to make one bookmatched top.

I sawed out the two Lacewood core laminates from the material I bought. I'll do the same to the maple material and then check my inventory of veneers for pinstriping.

My bandsaw is working its way through this maple board fairly slowly but when it is done I will rough cut the two pieces and get then drum sanded nice and flat.

Another trip to a wood supplier so that I could hand pick the neck woods. Maple has a nice curl in it and the Lacewood should end up being a fairly good match to the original. The lacewood was hard to locate and I think it is going to end up a little lighter when cut.

This is the black line Spalted Maple I ordered from Canada. Have a very nice grain. I need to split it down the center to create the bopokmatched top plates so the resulting grain will be a little different but should look awesome.

I'm using the original template to mark out body halves on the mahogany wood I bought. Will get this sawn out and keep things moving forward.

WKingwood has been rough cut slightly oversize and attached to a solid piece of MDF which will support it while it is being machined and prepared for installation.

While I have the Kingwood in my shop I decided to start work on the fingerboard operations, the first of which is to drum sand it flat on both sides.

I need the 100% scale vector drawing to make sure machining dimensions are correct as I move through the building process. This will help me get started on the fingerboard while I am getting hold of the other woods.

After some detective work I ended up with this maple board for the top plate and headstock veneer of the bass. I would say this one will end up matching the other bass as closely as nature will allow!

The wood importer is only about an hour away so it was worth it to start there for some of the harder woods to find. I found Kingwood for the fingerboard (surprisingly) and also Mahogany for the back of the body. Also found some hardwood from Peru (not sure of the name) which is the perfect color for the neck pin-stripes. Still need to locate the light neck woods but they should not be a problem as I have other wood suppliers in this general area.

This is a photo of the back of the bass I will be using as reference. Right now I am looking for Spalted Maple and Lacewood which are thetwo hardest to find and match.

There's spalted maple and there's Black Line Spalted Maple - the latter appears to be a bit harder to find. I have a supplier up in Canada whi may have some.