Beatle Bass HB-4S in Carmine Gypsy

Hi all, here is my Beatle's Bass in Spalted maple. I got into building this before realising it would be a good idea to share the build. Therefore this is more of a write up than a build diary.

This is my first build and I chose the HB-4S because I don't have a bass guitar and also I like the looks of spalted maple. The idea was to build this together with my younger son and then later learn to play the bass together.

I chose Wudtone's Carmine Gypsy with gloss finishing. I applied 2 coats of deep colour coat and about 5 coats of base coat before putting on 2 coats of top coat.

Disaster struck after I glued the neck in without paying too much attention to the angle of the neck. I ended up getting more than 12mm of action between the string and 12th fret even with the bridge at its lowest position! I had to cut along the neck to remove glue and thankfully managed to break the neck out without too much damage. I have repositioned and re-glued the neck. Hopefully it is all good this time!


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Whoa! That looks fantastic! First time i've seen one of these in red, and it works a treat. Well done on your first build.

Carmine Gypsy suits that spalted maple to a T.

You've achieved a beautiful, rich earthy colour. Hopefully sounds as good as it looks.

Well done.

nice work mate. Looks good!

Great job. Looks fantastic.

Very nice.

Great colour, great build.

wow Tommy that looks fantastic ! Carmine goes really well with the spalted top. Good save on the neck re-gluing it to the correct angle !

OMG Tommy, the red carmine on the spalted maple really suits this model! I've never seen one in this shade and it just pops!! Amazing job dude! Yet another case of seeing someone else's build on this forum and immediately wanting to build one exactly the same!!!

cheers,
Gav.

Thanks guys for the appreciation and the tremendous comments! I too were surprised by how well Carmine Gypsy turned out. I fitted the bass with LaBella flat round strings designed for the Hofner short bass; the one endorsed by a guy named Paul.... The sound is wonderful and adds to the instrument's playability.

Love it!

Looks great! Good to see you're enjoying playing the process. All the best with your future builds.

Has this been entered in GOTM yet? Hope to see it in the line up.

excellent job Tommy, it looks great

Happy to report that the neck is in correct position and the bridge in the right place. The play action is now perfect! Both my boys had a great time belting out bass riffs all night long. Pity that the viola bass is not really that suited for bass slapping... Maybe I will need to build a solid body bass.

I also earthed the tailpiece (and by extension the strings) by soldering a wire from inside the strap pin to the the circuit's ground.


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Wow. Just love the cap on that and it shows beautifully through the Carmine Gyspy. I bet this 'Paul' bloke would've rather had that colour. Still... his loss.

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from lawry on June 17, 2014, 07:53
Wow. Just love the cap on that and it shows beautifully through the Carmine Gyspy. I bet this 'Paul' bloke would've rather had that colour. Still... his loss.

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LOL! This certain Paul guy didn't have enough money at the time (because he was just some struggling muso) and so he can't afford the Carmine Gypsy and instead spent 30 pounds on the student model in burst!

nice earthing fix Tommy. You really scored such a beautiful spalted cap. I think you will inspire more forumites to try carmine gypsy on a spalted cap

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from tommycng on June 17, 2014, 13:46

Quote:

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/<\\/p>[/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/]<\\/p>/Quote from lawry on June 17, 2014, 07:53
Wow. Just love the cap on that and it shows beautifully through the Carmine Gyspy. I bet this 'Paul' bloke would've rather had that colour. Still... his loss.

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LOL! This certain Paul guy didn't have enough money at the time (because he was just some struggling muso) and so he can't afford the Carmine Gypsy and instead spent 30 pounds on the student model in burst!

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He must be still struggling because he's still got it!

Can I ask, did you use anything before the red to make those Spalt lines pop? they really show up on your beautiful build, wondering if you had to ink it and sand it first, or is that just the natural spalting under the carmine?

I'd guess Michael that the spalt lines are naturally dark and Tommy scored a very nice cap, but Tommy will have to confirm that

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Michael Icefire on July 17, 2014, 01:54
Can I ask, did you use anything before the red to make those Spalt lines pop? they really show up on your beautiful build, wondering if you had to ink it and sand it first, or is that just the natural spalting under the carmine?

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Michael, I didn't have to do anything to make those spalt lines pop - only sanded the cap and the Wudtone did the rest.

FMD . . . that is truly amazing!
No trick effects you say?

Hi Tommycng,
This guitar looks great!
Just wondering if you could give me any pointers with setting the neck? I'm about to complete the finish on mine and want to get the neck on. I have been looking through the forum and I can't see anything on setting the necks on this model. Cheers in advance.
Mal

Ripper job, well done

Thanks for the inspiration for my upcoming HB-4 build!

Peter