Rebuilding a 5-String Bass for Mark in Long Beach

This page documents the rebuild of a 5-string Carlo Robelli fretless bass for Mark in Long Beach. Here's waht we're doing to the bass: Body routing: Round edges to 1/2" radius Modify neck pocket shape to square Rout neck pickup cavity to MM5 shape Make a new neck: 3pc quartersawn curly hard maple Macassar ebony fingerboard Allison design headstock zebrawood overlay gold super jumbo fret wire double-action truss rod graphite stabilizing bars zebrawood position markers Graphite nut Macassar ebony truss rod cover Electronics: install Wilkinson MM5 pickups (Provided by Mark) Wilkinson 3-band EQ (Provided by Mark) active/passive switch single/HB gold switches on both pickups Copper foil shielding for the control & pickup cavities Bridge grounded Gold barrel style output jack to replace original chrome jack 19mm string spacing at the bridge Install bridge and tuning machines provided by you Install DR Black Beauty medium-gauge strings

March 8, 2009: Neck Mounting, Truss Rod, and Graphite: Extra neck mounting holes cut in the body:   April 20, 2009: Fingerboard Inlays: July 11, 2009: Veneer overlay and backstrap on the headstock: July 16, 2009: The corners of the headstock rounded to match Mark's drawing: The neck has been carved: And the body reshaped: July 25 2009: Pictures of the neck mounted to the body:   October 8, 2009: The neck with two coats of oil/poly finish (General Finishes Seal-A-Cell): December 18, 2009: Body after level sanding: January 6, 2010: Problems with the lacquer on the body: The body will be sanded down some to remove the problem areas, and then I'll respray about 4 more coats of lacquer. In the meantime, I made the pickup ring, control cavity cover, and truss rod cover: January 15, 2010: The neck after finishing is complete and tuning machines installed: March 19, 2010: Doing the final assembly: