Flattop: The Reclaimed Bass

Right now the bass is awaiting strings—some extra long La Bella tapewounds. When they arrive I'll need to file the nut and bridge a bit, then it'll be time to play. Which makes it about time to wrap up the Flattop posts. In Conclusion, part one…

The bass was built in Korea. As the Korean luthier put together the finishing touches they attached a label which read: "Carlo Robelli, New York." Go figure. The bass traveled to Sam Ash in Buffalo Grove, IL, where I bought it. So what remains of that original bass? Well…

1. The piezo pickup and preamp. I'm not sure what the make is.





2. The sides made it through everything a bit scarred but solid. According to the Carlo Robelli site, they should be lindenwood.




3. The fingerboard made it through my first defretting job a couples years back. It's all cleaned up now, with diatonic markers:



I couldn't find any description of the wood used to build the neck or headstock. It appears to me to be mahogany sapwood. The lighter side gets this tiger striping you can see above. Below, you can see the four pieces used to make the neck and headstock. I spared most expense with these $12.50 generic tuners—hope they work.






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