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Post subject: Introducing My One-Of-A-Kind Philthy Koa
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:05 am
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Hey guys, I just wanted to share my new bass project with the Fender Forum. It's bassically a Jazz bass with a Humbucker in the bridge. It's a Koa body with a Rosewood 22fr on Maple Jazz neck with Abalone dot inlays. The neck p/u is a Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Jazz and the Bridge p/u is a Carvin HB4 - both powered by a custom active 18v circuit (two 9-volt batteries!).

The Neck p/u has a beautifully-warm tone with a powerful punch that can easily get those Motown/Wrecking Crew tones whereas the Bridge p/u has an incredible Hi-Midrange cut a la Steve Harris. Experimenting with the Pan-Pot and active EQ can get me from James Jamerson to Billy Sheehan from to Flea to Chris Squire.

I haven't experimented enough through my *live rig* so, this is pretty much just a rough run. Acoustically, (before I hooked it up) the bass has incredible harmonics and piano-like overtones, so I anticipated that plugging in to a nice tube amp for the first time that this was gonna sound incredible!

Overall, this bass has a very impressive tone. This thing is LOUD and pretty damn heavy to boot! The feel reminds me of a modern "C" Jazz bass crossed with a StingRay, yet, has the versatility of my '93 Yamaha TRB-4. I can't wait to run this baby through my '73 Kustom 250 and '73 Ampeg SVT-8x10 rig! I've only played it through an '86 Carvin X-Amp through a Jensen-loaded 4x10. If it sounds as good through my live rig as well as it did the home combo - oh baby - look out!

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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:31 pm
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Good job man. Welcome to the forums. Me likey your bass(ey) :lol:
How much if you don't mind me asking did it cost you to build up this project?

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'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:04 pm
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Hey man, thanks and thanks! Let's see... The Fender SCN Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Jazz Bass Pickup Set -(about) $130 (only using the neck p/u though). The Carvin HB4 was about $75. The Hipshot Ultralite Bass Tuners - (about) $75. The BadAss II Bridge = $0 (spare parts). The active EQ/Preamp = $100. The Koa body is home-made. I had a friend (whom gladly) cut it up for me. The unfinished neck was a gift I got from another friend. So, we're basically looking at somewhere around four hundred bucks!

Not bad for a home-made beaut, eh! Of course, it took me a while to get this thing up and running. I've played different basses to get the pickup positions I thought would sound interesting to me. The neck, well, it was a free neck so, I really didn't have a choice there- unless I wanted to go with Warmoth or eBay or something...

I chose the Carvin HB4 (even after routing for both single coils) because it has a really cool - chimey hi-end that just glistens to my ears. I accidentally put it too close to the bridge, but it gets an interesting midrangey punch when mixed with the neck p/u. I honestly didn't know how this config was going to turn out - but luckily, it worked out pretty good. The neck p/u is in a good spot. It's in the spot where acoustic guitars, to my ears at least, are known to have that warm *sweet spot*, so that was pretty much eye-balled.

This bass has both warmth and growl. I'm still curious to hear how it's going to handle my feedback. Acoustically, it's got a really nice sustain. I can feel it resonate through the entire body. I just hope it translates well into my live rig because I LOVE playing around with feedback/sustain.

Thanks PowerJazzBass!

~phil


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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:59 pm
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Ohh! what a beauty ! Great job you did there ! I would really love to try it out ! 8) Koa is such a nice wood ! I bet you that with black hardware will look even cooler , imagine it !

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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:03 pm
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Phil, it's really an awesome home job for that kind of money - any amount really. I've seen people spend a ton more and not look so good. Granted, not saying that yours is, but pix on the internet sometimes masked the actual quality of the piece or vice versa. I agree w/Jlarocho, it would look awesome with black tuners.

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'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
Project PBass-EMG PX, Schaller BM Light Tuner
'05 Aerodyne JBass
'06 Spector Legend Custom Neck Through
VT Bass
Hartke TA5000 w/XL Cabs(210, 410, 115)


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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:00 pm
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Man, I didn't even think of color coordinating. Black hardware, eh? Magic Marker maybe? I kid! Actually, I thought of having some zebra-wood knobs made for the pots and also blinging it out with *gold* hardware instead of the chrome that's on it now. But now that I take a step back and look at it --- black would look pretty cool.

Yeah, this bass is very pretty in person. Heavy too. jlarocho, encuentreme, if ever in Los Angeles.

I'm gonna take better pics outdoors with a better camera - nay - with a CAMERA as opposed to my POS BlackBerry cam! Photos do no justice in capturing the beauty of this bass. I'll even try to post some sound samples.

Man - I really do love this bass!

Cheers guys!
~phil


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Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:59 pm
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I will be waiting for those pictures!

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2012 American Standard Precision V
2013 Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Fretless


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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:18 pm
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Sweet-ass bass Phil. Very nice.


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Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:02 pm
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:01 am
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No neck plate? Can I do that on mine? Would it affect it in an adverse way? I would probably need shorter screws tho huh?

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Rez(# 30916)
'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
Project PBass-EMG PX, Schaller BM Light Tuner
'05 Aerodyne JBass
'06 Spector Legend Custom Neck Through
VT Bass
Hartke TA5000 w/XL Cabs(210, 410, 115)


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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:13 am
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That's a really super nice bass Phil. Thanks for the pics.


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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:26 am
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I'm still considering adding a 5th neck bolt at the mid-bottom, however, surprisingly, the neck has absolutely ZERO shift whatsoever! So I may not need to add that fifth screw after all.

If you did want to do this to your bass, you would have to countersink some holes in the existing neck joint holes so the ferrules would drop right in. Shorter screws is definitely a must, however, not absolute!


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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:22 am
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the_philth wrote:
I'm still considering adding a 5th neck bolt at the mid-bottom, however, surprisingly, the neck has absolutely ZERO shift whatsoever! So I may not need to add that fifth screw after all.

If you did want to do this to your bass, you would have to countersink some holes in the existing neck joint holes so the ferrules would drop right in. Shorter screws is definitely a must, however, not absolute!


Cool. Thanks for the tip...I think I'll leave 'em alone...my luck is so bad, I might need a new body if I tried this. Thanks for the nice pix Phil.

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Rez(# 30916)
'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
Project PBass-EMG PX, Schaller BM Light Tuner
'05 Aerodyne JBass
'06 Spector Legend Custom Neck Through
VT Bass
Hartke TA5000 w/XL Cabs(210, 410, 115)


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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:56 pm
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Thats a stunning bass!!

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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:39 pm
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Great pictures, I love the details! 8)

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1996 50th Anniversary Jazz 5 (012 0f 500)
1997 '51 P Bass Reissue
2012 American Standard Precision V
2013 Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Fretless


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