The Little Giant
FEATURED CUSTOM
Derrick was impressed with the Redwoods when he visited California. They made such an impression that he actually bought a rather large piece of lumber long before this project started.
Once we got to designing it, and settled on the feature set, Derrick had his Redwood shipped to us and we got to building The Little Giant.
Coast Redwood sometimes offers this wonderful curly figure. The tree Sequoia sempervirens is the tallest tree in North America, reaching heights of 350 feet. The Giant Sequoia is much more massive, with a base trunk diameter of up to 36 feet, while the Coast Redwood is somewhat more slender with a diameter of up to 16 feet. Coast Redwood can reach an age of 2,000 years. Fast-growing, a Coast Redwood can reach 130 feet in only 30 years.
There are about 90,000 acres of pre-settlement Coast Redwoods standing in the northern coast of California and southern Oregon, where the climate is mild and the dense fog provides the moisture these giants need.
The wood is soft compared to our typical tops, but it's well protected under the hard polyester finish. For Derrick's bass, we've paired the pale cinnamon red of the top and back with a supporting layer of Purpleheart. Framing the Vermilion core are two thin pinstripes of Maple. Redwood produces a deep bass response, and combined with the more dense woods in the body, this bass also has wonderful, crisp highs preserved.
Oval inalys in Abalone are set in the Ebony fingerboard. These pieces were selected for their pinkish color cast and coordinate well with the unusual wood combination.
Derrick faxed us a sktech of his idea to incorporate a bass clef in his initials. The Susan/Mike team struck gold again with Susan designing and Mike cutting and inlaying. Some of the comments from club members getting a peek at the inlay in the Factory to Customer section on the Alembic Club were. "It reminds me of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Dancing" and "It makes me wish I had more interesting initials for an inlay."
The inlay is golden mother of pearl for the bass clef portion of the D, making it stand out from the letter forms. The stem of the D and the E are inlaid in black mother of pearl. The whole medallion is Ebony with a double binding of sterling silver and Ebony.
Of course we needed to make the peghead veneers for this bass from the wood Derrick provided. It does take some time though. First, we resaw the wood very thin on the big bandsaw. Then, we send it through the abrasive planer several times until the sheet is the desired thickness.
We are always excited to make instruments out of material that carries a personal meaning. Thanks, Derrick, we realy enjoyed building your bass.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Stanley Clarke Deluxe 4-string bass
- Curly Redwood top and back
- Vermilion core
- Purple Heart accent laminates with Maple pinstripes
- Custom medallion inlay
- Abalone oval inlays
- 20th Anniversary electronics
- Polyester gloss finish with satin neck feel
