Got an interesting one for ya.

[Mr. Mom]

As the kids say: Doooooooooood!

[Ken Baker]

As the kids say: Doooooooooood!

2H MFDs, series/single/parallel, 3 band active preamp, piezo bridge, 18v.

Wonder how it will stand up to TBBITW?

Ken...

[Mr. Mom]

Wonder how it will stand up to TBBITW?

Ken...

Oh no you di'int!!

It's on!

[Kevin Baker]

Back from the painters! More progress pics later.

[Kevin Baker]

Penultimate(?) update!

Finally took the time to get everything wired up and the bass put together. Pictures will be at the end, as usual.

Based part of the switching on the L-series, namely the Series/Single Coil/Parallel and pickup select switches. The third switch is a coil swap, which allows for the single coil mode to use either the inner or outer coils of the pickups. Only issue with this setup is that, because of the lack of 8PDT minitoggle switches, when the coil swap switch is set to the inner coils, parallel mode becomes single coil mode. This is due to the hot leads being swapped, but not the ground leads. This causes the outer coil to short the hot leads for those coils directly to their corresponding ground leads, completely removing them from the circuit. Any suggestions (that don't require more holes to be drilled) are welcome. C&K does make an 8PDT pushbutton switch, but the terminal portion of the thing is 2.24" long, which I'm thinking won't fit in a control cavity. (An instrument with pushbuttons instead of toggles would be neat, though.)

Using the Nordstrand 3b preamp, I've got a volume control with push/pull for active/passive, blend between the magnetic pickups and the piezos, passive tone, a mids control with push/pull for frequency select (1kHz/400mHz), and a treble/bass stack. Lotsa knobs on this one.

Gotta say, it does sound really good. With just the MFDs, and all EQs set flat, it sounds like you'd expect an L-2x00 to sound. Dial in a bit of that piezo, though, and you get added clarity that adds to the growl of the MFDs. And if I pull the MFDs out of it completely and go with just the piezos, it doesn't sound half bad, either. THERE WILL BE A RECORDING AT SOME POINT, if for no other reason than to show how much better it is than "TBBITW," but I actually need to work something up before I embarrass myself for your amusement.

All told it comes in at 10lb 1oz, which is a little more than double the dry weight of the wood. It's also balanced quite nicely. That long upper horn is good for something.

Now for the pictures! Only 2 this time, as I was told not to post a picture of the control cavity because it might make Paul Gagon cry (it makes an L-series cavity look clean).

[Ken Baker]

Gotta say, it does sound really good. With just the MFDs, and all EQs set flat, it sounds like you'd expect an L-2x00 to sound. Dial in a bit of that piezo, though, and you get added clarity that adds to the growl of the MFDs. And if I pull the MFDs out of it completely and go with just the piezos, it doesn't sound half bad, either. THERE WILL BE A RECORDING AT SOME POINT, if for no other reason than to show how much better it is than "TBBITW," but I actually need to work something up before I embarrass myself for your amusement.

I was serenaded earlier today with the sounds of an electric bass playing Beethoven's 9th. He snuck in a couple other pieces as well.

Dayum!

This thing really does have an amazing tone. The mag neck pickup position is a little bridgeward compared to my L-2500, and this is necessitated by the neck heel. But the combination really makes for a tone monster. It's got that MFD midrange bite going for it in spades. And dialing in piezo adds even more clarity as well as a percussive thump.

He done good. He done real good.

And he's a pretty damn good bassist too!

Ken...

[TDR1138]

That makes me want to go swimming in caramel.

Seriously, looks great. Can't wait to hear how it sounds.

[Cuzzie]

Bass looks schweeeeeet.

Proud father son moment, just like Darth and Luke, you guys will rule the Bass Cyber Galaxy

[Kevin Baker]

Currently off for a first setup and a PLEKing, then I'll get that recording taken care of.

Gotta say, it is a lot of fun to play.

[jshilgebass]

That is one beautiful instrument. I'm looking forward to hearing what it sounds like. I would much rather hear it live rather than from recordings, but I'll take what I can get.


Joe Hilgeman