6-string Acoustic Bass. (Serial 08B023)

This bass is a co-operative effort between Watson guitars and our neighboring guitar builder Van Schipper of 7-Guitars. Between us we hope to create an acoustic bass, the likes of which has not been seen in the industry. In our opinion, every bass player should have a good quality acoustic bass in their arsenal, and we have set out to build not only one of the best, but one of the most unusual.

This photo gives us a rough idea of how all the parts will come together on the finished bass.	(11/5/08) The photo on the left shows the various parts of the neck and body together. Obviously at this stage all the components are somewhat oversize and unfinished, but this gives us a rough idea of the way the parts will come together in the final product. Van is busy assembling the various internal parts of the acoustic body, while we will be working on the finishing touches to the neck and the joint that connects it to the body.
Here we see the flamed Maple sides of the body shortly after we bent them close to their final shape..	(11/5/08) The sides of the acoustic body have been bent close to the final shape. The material for the sides and back of this instrument is a figured maple which we are planning to stain in a beautiful honey-tobacco tint. We have our back and top plates rough cut and bracing ready to go. We have to do some engineering work to make sure we have the best formula for maintaining strength within the acoustic body without compromising sound.
The tapered neck laminates have now been glued together. Things are taking shape.	(10/29/08) Here you can see that we have completed the gluing of the neck section of the instrument. The neck consists of 7 pieces of East Indian Rosewood and Flamed Maple. Next I will glue the extra material onto the headstock and at that point we will be ready to cut the truss rod and carbon fiber slots and start shaping the neck and the heel section. The fingerboard for this bass will be Gabon Ebony and it looks like it will be fretless.
Here we see two of the neck laminates inside the vacuum press where we are gluing veneer to the sides.	(10/20/08) Back to the neck assembly - in this photo you can see two of the tapered rosewood laminates for the center of the neck assembly. We are in the process of gluing veneer to these two as part of the pinstriping on the finished product. We do this in the vacuum press. Once we apply light and dark veneer to the appropriate laminates and clean them up, we will be ready to start gluing the neck blank together.
All the pieces for the center plate on the back of the body have been glued together. Looks pretty good so far.	(10/17/08) The assembly pictured in the photo to the left will be the center panel in the back of our acoustic body. We planned the laminates in the neck to match the laminates in the back of the body so that when the two are matched together we will get a beautiful continuous neck-through effect. This will become more obvious as we progress with this bass. We're busy working on the neck section right now - more pictures soon!
This photo shows the rough-cut blanks for the 7-piece laminated neck and heel. Maple and East Indian Rosewood.	(10/15/08) Today was also significant in that we planned and cut a template for the blanks that are used for the neck section. We then used the template to cut out all the necessary laminates of Maple and East Indian Rosewood required to build the neck. These will be tapered and double-veneered before we start gluing the laminates together. The large piece at the far end of the neck is material that will become the heel of the neck which will be set into the acoustic body.
Here we are gluing the tapered and veneered strips together to create the center back-plate for the acoustic body.	(10/15/08) Since the last photo was posted we have tapered each of the five center laminates for the back plate of the guitar body on the ornamental mill. They will combine to continue the neck laminates pattern right through the back of the acoustic body. This will not only provide structural strength but will be a very appealing aesthetic feature on the instrument. In the photo to the left you can see that we have started to glue these tapered strips together.
These are pieces of Maple and Rosewood which will combine to become the center panel on the back of the acoustic bass..	(10/7/08) Work has started on two fronts on this instrument. In the photo to the left you can see the alternating strips of Maple and East Indian Rosewood which we will sand, machine and glue together to create a beautiful tapered center panel for the back of the instrument. The intention is to carry over the laminated woods in the neck through the entire length of the instrument. While this is going on our partner on this project, Van, is busy bending the Maple sides.
This is the form which we created to facilitate the assembly of the parts for this acoustic bass..	(10/6/08) In order to start an acoustic project like this we had to sirst constrcu a form in which we can constrain the material for the sides of the instrument after they are bent to the desired shape. We planned our body shape and finalized it on a vector drawing software, then output the path to our CNC and cut these 4 very accurate forms which are now assembled in one stack. Work has already started on the top, back sides and neck of this instrument.