Life on the frozen tundra of South Dakota Life on the frozen tundra of South Dakota

The Tundra Boy Builds His Second Instrument

The Tundra Boy Builds His Second Instrument

Instrument completed on 9/25/2021

Instrument completed on 9/25/2021

For the Tundra Boy's second instrument, he decided to build a beast: a six string bass made of exotic wood. Over a year before he started he had drawn up plans for this bass, which were loosely based on the Music Man Bongo Bass. He modified the body shape to his liking, and made a few other changes.

He awarded it the moniker of "The Bassinator", with a kind nod to Dr Heinz Doofenshmirtz from the Phineas and Ferb cartoon.

Due to a variety of reasons we're not going to bore you with discussing, this turned into a rather long project from start to end; roughly 15 months. But the Tundra Boy persevered and saw it to a conclusion.

Here are the specs for the bass:

  • Neck Type: Neck through construction

  • Neck Wood: Padauk with contrasting Wenge laminations.

  • Truss Rod: Dual action

  • Reinforcement: Two carbon fiber rods

  • Headstock: Flat, Fender style

  • Tuners: Wilkinson

  • Nut: Graphtech graphite

  • Body Wood: Ambrosia Maple. Bocote cavity control cover.

  • Body Features: Loosely based on the Music Man Bongo Bass, but highly modified. 1 5/8" thick with a 3/4" round over.

  • Fretboard: Bocote, 16" radius with mother of pearl dot inlays

  • Scale Length: 34"

  • Pickups: Aguilar AG 6J-HC. Jazz Bass style, hum-canceling.

  • Controls: Two volume, one tone, one producer pot. Push-pull series/parallel switch on the neck volume knob. Push-pull kill switch on the producer knob.

  • Hardware: Black.

  • Bridge: Hipshot B-Style, 18mm string spacing.

  • Finish: Satin poly

  • Weight: This is a big instrument. It's probably in the twelve pound range.

A complete shot of the entire front of the instrument.

A closeup of the left rear edge of the body.

The Tundra Boy posing with his instrument.

A closeup of the front of the body.

A closeup of the left rear of the body.

A closeup of the Tundra Boy with his instrument.

A closeup of the right front of the body.

A closeup of the rear of the body.

A closeup of the Tundra Boy playing his instrument.

A closeup of the right front edge of the body.

A closeup of the right rear edge of the body.

A closeup of the Tundra Boy with his instrument.

Looking down at the front of the body from the right neck area.

A full picture of the rear of the instrument.

A closeup of the Tundra Boy playing his instrument.

A closeup of the front right side of the headstock.

A full picture of the rear of the instrument from the right side.

The Tundra Boy holding his bass out in front of him.

A closeup of the front left side of the headstock.

A closeup of the rear neck carve.

The Tundra Boy posing with his instrument.

Looking down at the front of the body from the left neck area.

A closeup of the left right edge of the body.

A closeup of the back of the neck.

Looking up from the bottom of the instrument.

A closeup of the back of the headstock from the right side.

The Tundra Boy posing with his instrument.

A closeup of the pickups.

A picture of the fretboard.

A closeup of the back of the headstock from the left side.

Click here to watch the Tundra Boy build this bass.

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This page last updated on 09/28/2021