It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

[Snake Aces]

Over the years, this forum has been more than useful to me. In recent years, I have not had as much time as I would like to contribute around here. With so much time spent playing music in self-quarantine recently, I have decided it is time to consider adding some guitars to my collection. I am still patiently waiting for a response from Warmoth before deciding what to do for my next six-string adventures, but it is always fun to ponder the possibilities.

Many people have been helpful to me here over the years. I am very appreciative of the resource this forum has proven to be time and time again. I am grateful to each and every one of you who has helped me over the years.

One of the forum members who has always been helpful is orpheo. Many moons ago, orpheo was always willing to share expertise and knowledge when I was deciding on various Warmoth configurations that are now a part of my guitar collection.

After posting my quest for a luthier into a thread, orpheo reached out to me. We began discussing something I have always wanted: a carved top singlecut LP bass. The more we discussed the possibilities, I realized this is something I had to do. Then, orpheo showed me some of his work and I remain impressed by it as I think about it now. I knew this project was in the right hands because of his shared passion for the singlecut LP style.

A little more than a week ago, I decided to do it. Today, I made the order official with orpheo and I could not be more excited! I am not sure which details orpheo wants me to share, so if he wants me to change some of the details, hopefully I can edit this post later.

For now, here is the info from the specs sheet:

Body shape: LP-Bass

Body Back: Spanish Cedar, chambered

Body Top: Ash, bookmatched, carved

Neck 5 piece neck:
Bocote/maple/wenge/maple/bocote

Neck Features: -Dual Action Truss Rod
- 19mm-21mm neck thickness, measured at
first and twelfth fret

Fretboard: Bocote

Fretboard Features: -12” radius
-Bi-Color Side dots
-24x Jescar FW57110 SS Frets
-34 inch scale
- Maple binding on the fretboard

Neck Joint: Bolt on with individual ferrules

Headstock veneer: Ebony with open truss rod access

Bridge: Hipshot Saddle Bridge, black.

Tuners: Hipshot Open Gear Bass Tuner

Bridge Pickup: Nordstrand MM pickup

Electronic Controls: Nordstrand 3 band EQ + master volume

Switch: Switchcraft 3 way toggle

Jack: Switchcraft Mono jack

Jack Plate: ‘Football’ shape, black

Knob material: Hipshot O-ring knobs

Pickup Surrounds: none

Finish Material: High gloss nitrocellulose topcoat, bespoke
trans blue finish

Special Features:
- Direct-mounting of the pickup.
- Triple pinstripe between neck and fretboard and headstock veneer.
- Easy-access neck heel
- Limited Lifetime Warranty


As I mentioned, I cannot wait to play this bass! I primarily play guitar now, but my roots were with the old 4 string, so this is going to be a wonderful experience for me. I am sure orpheo will chime in whenever he finds time. I look forward to seeing photos of the progress, but the actual build will not begin right away. I anticipate the build to begin around August or September, depending on orpheo's schedule. I will update this thread periodically.

Feel free to ask questions or add your two cents...

 

[Mincer]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

Congrats! He builds some amazing, creative designs. Hopefully we can see it when it is delivered.

 

[orpheo]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

I couldn't add something even if I wanted to

I will start in August with the preliminary wood work but I'm already ordering a lot of the materials, to be on the safe side. I quoted a lead time of 3 to 5 months and I do intend to keep that time frame. That means that this bass has to be delivered by Christmas at its latest! Thankfully, the specs aren't such that they involve extremely complicated wirings, inlay designs or whatever. They're classy, fun and interesting.

Oh, and the idea is to make the bass under 10 lbs (that's 4 kilo's for us non-imperial dudes). The TS has a a bass now, so he told me, that's over 12 lbs and he wishes something significantly lighter. A bass under 8 or 9 lbs is extremely difficult, but 10 or 12 lbs already makes a huge difference in terms of feel (10lbs is decent, 12 feels like a boat anchor). That's why I suggested lightweight Spanish Cedar (which is a JOY to work with, I can't state that enough; by the way it's more like mahogany than cedar used for bracing, it's a misnomer to call it Spanish cedar but hey, it is what it is), and an ash top for the looks and to balance the weight, so the bass isn't head heavy. That's something that can easily happen with a bass especially a singlecut! But by giving the bass just the right specs (headstock thickness just right, neck shaft nice and thin, easy access heel with no heel block, body leveled and thinned just enough so the entire bass is balanced without hardware and all the woodwork under 6 lbs), should make this lightweight.

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

I personally prefer my instrument (electric guitar/bass) to have some weight. :/

It's maybe a bit harder on my back, while standing up to play- but I think a heavier instrument often sounds better?

My current instrument (Epi Wildkat) is a semi hollow, and a joy to play .

-Erl

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

Also, the Hofner (and Epiphone) "violin" basses are really light weight. The Epi seems to be much heavier, than the Hofner- but still

I'd love to be able to afford one.

 

[orpheo]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

I personally prefer my instrument (electric guitar/bass) to have some weight. :/

It's maybe a bit harder on my back, while standing up to play- but I think a heavier instrument often sounds better?

My current instrument (Epi Wildkat) is a semi hollow, and a joy to play .

-Erl

I can tell from experience (having owned over 300 guitars and having built over 200 so far) that weight has nothing to do with tone. For example, Spanish cedar. It weighs next to nothing, or spruce, same deal. But they're very, very stiff. Almost as stiff as ash, but they're softer. Would that mean that the Spanish cedar guitar, with everything the same, sounds less? like a dud, boring, dull, flat? nop. not at all. The Spanish cedar body projects better than ash, has a softer low end, smoother high end. It's just different, but in terms of sustain and overtones, still great. This is because the grain structure is still tight. Just a lot of air between the cells.

Why, then, does swamp ash sound so poorly in my opinion? because there the cells are HUGE with little air between the cells. Swamp ash does sound like a dud to me.

Regardless, this is SnakeAces' bass and he wanted it lighter than what he currently owns. And it's my job to make that happen

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

Do you have a website or blog of your builds?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

I personally prefer my instrument (electric guitar/bass) to have some weight. :/

It's maybe a bit harder on my back, while standing up to play- but I think a heavier instrument often sounds better?

My current instrument (Epi Wildkat) is a semi hollow, and a joy to play .

-Erl

Instrument weight has nothing to do with the sound.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

I couldn't add something even if I wanted to

I will start in August with the preliminary wood work but I'm already ordering a lot of the materials, to be on the safe side. I quoted a lead time of 3 to 5 months and I do intend to keep that time frame. That means that this bass has to be delivered by Christmas at its latest! Thankfully, the specs aren't such that they involve extremely complicated wirings, inlay designs or whatever. They're classy, fun and interesting.

Oh, and the idea is to make the bass under 10 lbs (that's 4 kilo's for us non-imperial dudes). The TS has a a bass now, so he told me, that's over 12 lbs and he wishes something significantly lighter. A bass under 8 or 9 lbs is extremely difficult, but 10 or 12 lbs already makes a huge difference in terms of feel (10lbs is decent, 12 feels like a boat anchor). That's why I suggested lightweight Spanish Cedar (which is a JOY to work with, I can't state that enough; by the way it's more like mahogany than cedar used for bracing, it's a misnomer to call it Spanish cedar but hey, it is what it is), and an ash top for the looks and to balance the weight, so the bass isn't head heavy. That's something that can easily happen with a bass especially a singlecut! But by giving the bass just the right specs (headstock thickness just right, neck shaft nice and thin, easy access heel with no heel block, body leveled and thinned just enough so the entire bass is balanced without hardware and all the woodwork under 6 lbs), should make this lightweight.

I would be happy with a bass that is around 10 pounds. That sounds very pleasant to me. The bass I own currently that orpheo is referencing is a Warmoth J-bass. It weighs in just under 12 pounds, and thanks to the bubinga neck, it does a little bit of the ol' neck-dive. With a solid swamp ash body, ziricote fretboard and basslines passive pickups, I really do love the tone of this bass. However, it is a little impractical to ever use on stage for long periods of time. Maybe when I was younger and I'm not even very old yet...

This is the Warmoth, but this is a poor photo. It has been years since I have tried photographing this bass. It is about 12 years old now:

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

I can tell from experience (having owned over 300 guitars and having built over 200 so far) that weight has nothing to do with tone. For example, Spanish cedar. It weighs next to nothing, or spruce, same deal. But they're very, very stiff. Almost as stiff as ash, but they're softer. Would that mean that the Spanish cedar guitar, with everything the same, sounds less? like a dud, boring, dull, flat? nop. not at all. The Spanish cedar body projects better than ash, has a softer low end, smoother high end. It's just different, but in terms of sustain and overtones, still great. This is because the grain structure is still tight. Just a lot of air between the cells.

Why, then, does swamp ash sound so poorly in my opinion? because there the cells are HUGE with little air between the cells. Swamp ash does sound like a dud to me.

Regardless, this is SnakeAces' bass and he wanted it lighter than what he currently owns. And it's my job to make that happen

Haha, I did not even know orpheo was of the opinion that swamp ash is a dud. It's cool though. My obsession with swamp ash began a little over a decade ago. I grew up a huge fan of the Clash, so it was only a matter of time before my musical taste ventured deeper into their influences. I already was listening to a lot of reggae at the time, but I wanted to know more about some of these warm, thick and creamy basslines I was hearing in vintage reggae recordings.

Through research, I learned how many old reggae bassists loved using swamp ash bodied Jazz basses. The seed was planted. Long before I ever took the time to appreciate swamp ash for a six-string, I realized its potential as a bass wood (at least for my ears).

Swamp ash also features one of the most beautiful grains to my eyes. I really love it. It reminds me of how perfect nature's art can truly be. So, it checks the visual box for me as well.

Then, the more and more I played guitar, the passion for swamp ash grew more and more. Now, I am somebody who does believe in tonewoods, and yes, I do understand how extreme the variations can be because it is wood. Currently, my top 3 six-strings feature a chambered mahogany body with a quilted maple top, chambered black korina body and a solid swamp ash body. All of them are carved top LP-type designs. I find swamp ash to be extremely responsive as a guitar or bass wood. Almost unforgiving, especially with my LP featuring a swamp ash body with a roasted maple neck. You hear every nuance of touch through that guitar. Whereas the mahogany body with an Indian rosewood neck is very forgiving, it affords you a few lazy drags of the fingers here and there and hardly anyone will notice.

The tone of the swamp ash LP is very crisp and articulate while remaining somewhat chunky in a Les Paul way, yet it can really wail some blues or twang some licks as well. It is my most versatile guitar.

However, the more I play the swamp ash, the more I love it. It is very special to me for some reason, I had no idea that some people consider it to be of poor tone. Doesn't bother me though. I truly do respect orpheo's opinion on wood, a lot. In fact, going into this project I wanted an all swamp ash body. I was stubbornly firm on that idea because it is my favorite wood, but then when orpheo began telling me about Spanish cedar... I really wanted to try it. I want this bass to be all about tone, so I decided to roll the dice on orph's suggestion.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

Do you have a website or blog of your builds?

I think I remember asking him the same thing a few weeks ago and he said he does have a website, but he has not updated it in a while. He is also on facebook as orpheo guitars (that is where I went to see his work). Probably on Instagram. There are a lot of YouTube videos of his guitars out there as well.

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

Nice Warmoth, SnakeAces!

I remember browsing all the different tonewoods, and dreaming about different custom builds.

and congrats about ordering your new axe!!

I hope you'll share some pics/review (or something) with us, when it arrives.

-Erl

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

I can tell from experience (having owned over 300 guitars and having built over 200 so far) that weight has nothing to do with tone. For example, Spanish cedar. It weighs next to nothing, or spruce, same deal. But they're very, very stiff. Almost as stiff as ash, but they're softer. Would that mean that the Spanish cedar guitar, with everything the same, sounds less? like a dud, boring, dull, flat? nop. not at all. The Spanish cedar body projects better than ash, has a softer low end, smoother high end. It's just different, but in terms of sustain and overtones, still great. This is because the grain structure is still tight. Just a lot of air between the cells.

Why, then, does swamp ash sound so poorly in my opinion? because there the cells are HUGE with little air between the cells. Swamp ash does sound like a dud to me.

Regardless, this is SnakeAces' bass and he wanted it lighter than what he currently owns. And it's my job to make that happen

ok, thanks .

Took me a minute to realize what the thread was about (sorry)

cool that you're a luthier!

 

[orpheo]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

Website... that's my perpetual mental splinter. I just gotta do it but I am too busy to start one so I use Facebook as my portfolio.

Once I launch the website, I will post it in this forum.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

Nice Warmoth, SnakeAces!

I remember browsing all the different tonewoods, and dreaming about different custom builds.

and congrats about ordering your new axe!!

I hope you'll share some pics/review (or something) with us, when it arrives.

-Erl

Thank you! Yeah, tonewoods are a great way to waste time in contemplation. I am definitely guilty of that.

I will definitely be sharing updates along the way and once it is in my hands, it will be a lot of fun to let the forum community know how awesome it is!

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

I have a swamp ash LP
It sounds awesome to me
Its weight relieved and about 8 pounds

Modded it with the JB/JAZZ set and Triple shot rings
And Grover locking tuners
And of course the cool snake tailpiece

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

I have a swamp ash LP
It sounds awesome to me
Its weight relieved and about 8 pounds

Modded it with the JB/JAZZ set and Triple shot rings
And Grover locking tuners
And of course the cool snake tailpiece

Nice Les Paul! I love it, the snake tail piece is a nice touch. The Jazz/JB combo is tried and true. If I ever see a swamp ash Gibson Les Paul in person that feels right to me, I am definitely going to buy it. What year is yours?

I have a Warmoth swamp ash Regal with the Whole Lotta Humbucker set that I really love:



But your swamp ash Les Paul kinda reminds me of my black korina LP because of the color. I am having some technical difficulties attaching more than one photo in this reply... Hold on.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

Here is my black korina LP, jazz neck, classic stack middle, jazz bridge. Wenge neck, ziricote fretboard... this is my oldest guitar (sorry for the poor photo quality):

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

Guess I will try it this way:

 

[Mincer]

Re: It's Official: Placed Order for Custom Orpheo Bass Guitar

That blue Warmoth is dynamite. Did you stain it, or did Warmoth? How does it sound?