Timber

Tone wood? Here’s my take: if it makes a difference it’s only small compared to pickups, electronics and strings. The important characteristic is stiffness - the actual type of timber doesn’t really matter.

That said there are a few “default” picks based on aesthetics and availability.

For necks you can’t go past rock maple. It’s a little on the heavy side but nice and stiff. I prefer laminated necks that, when done right, contribute a lot to the stability which for you means less, or no, “tweaking”. For additional visual impact purpleheart, walnut or wenge stringers provide a great contrast. I’ve built a couple of wenge only necks but the timber is not readily available to me.

For me fretboards or (in the case of fretless) fingerboards need to work with the aesthetics of the whole bass. I prefer to use light boards (maple, birdseye maple) with a dark body/top, and dark timbers (wenge, ziricote, ebony) with a light body/top. Of course there are always exceptions, and I’ve experimented with laminated boards.

Most of my builds have a body made up of several different timbers. I really like walnut and sapele as the main components, with northern ash also in the mix. They’re relatively easy to work with and visually fit into my aesthetic approach but of course I’ll be happy to use other materials as well.

The tops are always chosen for their visual appeal. I used to work a lot with spalted maple but don’t stock that any more since it’s a pain to work with. Quilted and burl maple can either be of understated elegance when left natural or “out there” when dyed. Timbers like bocote can provide an exotic and unique spin while padauk or purpleheart add natural colour. And then there’s myrtlewood, claro walnut, box elder and many more. Have a look at the individual model pages for examples.

Where appropriate I use dark or light laminate to clearly delineate the different timbers, or an actual contrast layer using different timber for accents.

Just to re-iterate what I’ve outlined on the Pricing page: you pay for what you want.

I consider myself as someone who is, at times, pedantic and afflicted by a mild (?) case of OCD but at the same time nothing in nature is perfect, and wood certainly isn’t perfect. I attempt to work “with” the wood, not alter its appearance or natural state too much. My basses are not necessarily perfect but more an attempt to perfectly represent the starting material so whatever you choose will be as close to natural timber as possible.

Pickups

With an absolute plethora of pickups on the market it’s pretty tough to find “the right one”. After trying, amongst others, EMG, Bartolini and Nordstrand I’ve settled on Delano pickups. In my experience they deliver outstanding clarity and definition across the whole frequency range, and then some - ideal for the modern sound I am aiming for with my builds.

Check out the Delano range for the pickup(s) of your choice.

Most Delano pickups provide the option to pick series/single coil/parallel switching. Whenever that’s the case I include a 3-way mini switch for each pickup.

For a more “vintage” sound (which is occasionally desirable) I highly recommend individually wound pickups from Melbourne Pickups.

Electronics

Purists may prefer to go passive - let the bass, strings and pickups do the talking, make sound adjustments on the amp and forget about batteries.

Others prefer the convenience of shaping the tone of their instrument with an active onboard pre-amp. For me the ideal active preamp does not have a baked-in sound that “colours” the signal coming from the bass and the pickups. Based on that I started a local collaboration with Andrew MacDonald who is the man behind “Mozztronics”. Andrew turned my idea of an “ideal” onboard pre-amp into an actual product, the Polaris BP-3.

Here are the specs:

- 3 band onboard pre-amp;
- active/passive (passive is complete bypass of the frequency adjustment section);
- approximate centre frequencies for bass: 45 Hz; mids: switchable 300/600 Hz; treble: 4.2 kHz;
- according to Andrew there's a modest (but powerful) adjustment range of about +/- 10 dB;
- optional: additional pot for passive tone roll-off.

The Polaris BP-3 is a default and no-cost option for all my active builds. The optional passive tone control is available for AUD$ 20.

Of course there are commercial alternatives, and after trying a range of onboard pre-amps (Nordstrand, Glockenklang, Bartolini) I totally recommend pre-amps from Noll. My “go-to” option is a custom-wired Noll TCM 3 - it can be switched active/passive, it is quite neutral (i.e. the active circuit doesn’t colour the tone), and in passive mode the treble pot works like a standard passive tone roll-off. Keeps everyone happy.

There are plenty of other options that you can find on the Noll site.

If there are two pickups I normally wire them through a 3-way mini switch for neck/both/bridge. Other options are available.

There are a few more things that I consider “standard” for my builds. Here’s a bullet list:

• angled headstock - really not a fan of string trees so the extra work is worth the aesthetic gain;

• matching headstock - whenever possible the headstock is laminated with the same timber as the body top;

• 2-way truss rod - why use anything else?;

• carbon rods to stabilise and stiffen the neck - I use two or four;

• EvoGold mando-size frets - tiny and long-lasting;

• zero fret with Graphtech TUSQ guide - open strings now sound like fretted strings;

• Luminlay side dots - luminescent material that glows in the dark;

• threaded inserts with bolts - where appropriate (neck, back cover, pickups) I replace wood screws with inserts and bolts;

• matching back cover - just as the headstock this is from the same piece as the top;

• matching wooden knobs - these are made from offcuts of the timbers used in the build;

• Dunlop Dual Design or Flush Mount straplocks;

• Westsystem epoxy - used for all laminations (neck and body) for outstanding stability;

• Osmo Polyx 3032 - completely non-stick satin smooth natural oil/wax finish for amazing feel and wood protection. No nitro, ever.

Things I won’t do:

• single cut designs - sorry can’t cope with the aesthetics;

• fretboard inlays or dots - let the timber speak for itself;

• pick guards;

• bindings.

Hopefully the above gives you a good idea of my approach and what to expect as a baseline for my builds. There is of course flexibility - you have to be happy with your bass, right? Just contact me and we’ll get things right to the sweet spot.