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Background: Oscar Björklund and Runar Jakobsen were asigned by the Musical Instrument Academy to build two electric basses, one to Steinar Haakonstad and one to the school. One important part of the thorough planning stage was to ask for the advice of renowned professional studiobassplayer Tom Erik Antonsen. He brought some of his favorite instruments to the workshop and explained the importance and use of the many differences in tonality, design and construction. This led to the idea to make the two basses basically similar, but with some important features altered to give a rare opportunity to compare the sound. The basses were decided to be 5-stringed, with a laminated fivepiece neck of maple and wenge. The Precision shaped body wings should be alder with a bent flamed maple top, the tuning machines Gotoh and the pickups Seymour Duncan Active electronics. One should have a standard Fender headstock and a typical steel Fender style bridge. The other is fitted with separate bridgepieces for each string and features the Trace Elliot style angled headstock. Both of these features should according to Tom Erik enhance the projection of the low B-string. Everything except machine heads and electronics was made entirely by hand.
| Technical drawings and templates are made |
| Runar routing the individual brass saddles |
| Oscar takes the lamination pieces down to thickness |
| Runar and teacher Frank Stavem gluing the laminated necks together |
| Clamping the Fender style headstock to the neckpiece |
| The 2-way adjustable trussrod has been installed in the routed slot |
| The slot has been filled with silicone and the rosewood fingerboard is ready to attach |
| Choosing the best pieces of alder from the log |
| The body wings are prepared to glue to the neck. The routed slot on the right wing will come in handy when the pickups are installed |
| Heavy clamps are used to put pressure on the glued parts |
| The cutoff body pieces are saved to make steady holding of the instrument easier |
| The flamed maple top pieces are glued together |
| The body is routed to the template shape |
| Shaping the heel part of the neck with small violin maker planers to accomodate for ease of playing and a smooth feel |
| Sanded and shaped. Ready for finishing |
| One bass has recieved a first coating with oil, and the other is still white |
| After waxing and polishing the top is cut through so the bridge can be attached with direct contact to the neckpiece to improve the transfer of vibrations in the instrument All the hardware is installed |
| Installation of the electronics. The cavity is fully shielded to avoid high frequenzy noise. The cables are to be organized and tied together and the cavity hatch is to be put in place |
To view the finished basses go to the Instruments section