December 2001

Dynamic Duo

Craig's Long Scale Craig's Short Scale Craig is an avid collector of fine and exotic woods. When he finds the perfect piece for a new instrument, he sends it over to us and has something special made. Although we had to pull some special tricks to make the particular pieces of wood work for these projects, we were all extremely pleased with the results. One procedure we used was a splice to make the Coco Bolo board wide enough to bookmatch for the short scale. When Craig received the basses, he told Susan he liked them very much, but wished we could have used the wood he supplied. When Susan told him it was the very wood he sent to us, he was shocked he couldn't find the joint where we made the board wider. Then he liked them even more.
When he ordered these two basses, Craig left a good deal of the specifications up to us to decide as we went along. sometimes the wood presents you with a good idea after it's cut, so having this freedom was alot of fun and a bit different building experience that we typically have.
pink ivory Perhaps among the most remarkable features of this pair is the creamy Pink Ivory top and back on the long scale bass. It's among the densest of woods, and when we routed the roundover along the edge of the bass, the surface left by the bit was so highly polished it required very little sanding. This board was wide enough to make the entire width of the bookmatches, and we even had a bit left over.
The Coco Bolo Craig supplied was wildly grained. We decided to make the peghead veneers out of the same wood. We also made the Pink Ivory veneers for the long scale bass. Instead of our traditional Walnut and Maple peghead veneers, we used Purpleheart and Maple in both of these instruments. short scale peghead
Coco Bolo fingerboard Purpleheart fingerboard Maybe it's not the first thing you notice, but once you do, wow! The short scale bass has a Coco Bolo fingerboard made from the same piece of wood as the front, back and veneers. Since the wood had such tight swirly figure, we decided to leave off the inlays. On the long scale, we chose Purpleheart for the fingerboard with a pink-toned natural abalone for the oval inlays.
Both basses feature the Stinger Omega body with some variation. The longscale starts with a 3/4 Standard Point template, then we carve the Stinger. On the short scale, we had to make a new template since this is the first Small Standard Stinger body shape we've made. Stinger
hippie sandwich Western Flame Maple for the cores adds contrast to each bass. The longscale's recipe is: Pink Ivory, Purpleheart, Flame Maple, Purpleheart, Pink Ivory. On the short scale, we serve up Coco Bolo, Purpleheart, Flame Maple, Purpleheart, Coco Bolo.
front front
back back

SPECIFICATIONS

  • 4-string Stanley Clarke Deluxe
  • 30.75 short scale
  • Coco Bolo top and back
  • Flame Maple core
  • Maple and Purpleheart neck
  • Signature electronics
  • Small Standard Stinger body
  • Coco Bolo fingerboard
  • No inlays
  • Continuous wood backplate

Price available on request

SPECIFICATIONS

  • 4-string Mark King Deluxe
  • 34.00 long scale
  • Pink Ivory top and back
  • Flame Maple core
  • Purpleheart and Maple neck
  • Signature electronics
  • 3/4 Standard Stinger body
  • Purpleheart fingerboard
  • Natural Abalone inlays
  • Continuous wood backplate
  • Inlaid logo with shell

Price available on request

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