This our second bass for Michael-Scott. Basic specs are:

• Swamp Ash body with bloodwood and Wenge top layers
• Three-piece quarter-sawn hard maple neck with an ebony fingerboard
• DarkStar pickup by Hammon Engineering
• Chrome hardware

First, the neck after carving:

The headstock will get an overlay of Wenge veneer as well

Another shot of the headstock, showing the location of the truss rod adjustment hole. There's a double action truss rod in there:

The body has been glued up and cut to shape:

Routing the neck pocket, showing the routing template in place, held there by double-sided tape. The first pass is complete, to a depth of about 5/16":

After the second pass with the router, the pocket is done - to a depth of 11/16"

The body edges have been rounded, and the routing template for the DarkStar pickup is ready for routing:

A couple of pictures of the Hammon Dark Star pickup:

The pickup cavity has been cut:

The frets have been installed in the neck, and we've fitted the neck to the pocket now. Also the body has been sanded to 220-grit, and is ready for finishing. Here's a top view:

Another view of the neck, showing the frets in place:

From the back, showing the contouring of the body to make access to the upper frets a little easier:

The body after application of about 12 coats of KTM-9 acrylic waterborne lacquer:

Getting to body polished and ready for hardware and electronics installation:

The pickup and bridge are installed:

Installation of the tuning machines:

Installation of the nut:

The control cavity is lined with copper foil, and the volume and tone controls are wired:

The control cavity cover ready for installation:

The neck has been re-attached to the body, and the strings are on: