Miss MOlly Mae

This tiny portrait of Molly Mae is inlaid in white mother of pearl with black mother of pearl for her nose and mouth. For her eyes we used violet oyster shell and a highlight dot in sterling silver.

For Molly Mae’s bandana, we chose a red acrylic that contains mother of pearl powder for an iridescent look. The pattern of dots is made of three different sizes of sterling silver dots and there is a dainty silver scalloped wire border. Her dog tag is made from red and blue glitter-based acrylic, with a mother of pearl lightning bolt. The tag is framed in sterling silver. A background of black Ebony for maximum contrast and a bright sterling silver frame surrounds the inlay for a perfect finishing touch.

Molly Mae’s banner is white mother of pearl with her name cut by hand. The black fill is our custom combination of Ebony dust and black superglue.

Monogram inlay for MM in classic art deco styling. Mother of pearl letters in a field of highly figured abalone are striking. The abalone in the stems of the letters is continuous—note how colors and figuring travel across the letters. A sterling silver frame surrounds the inlay.

Each piece is hand-cut like the other custom inlays on this bass. Using a jeweler’s saw, we patiently form the shape from a vectorized pattern that we print on clear film. It’s easier to select the shell when using the clear film, so you can preview the figuring before you cut. We never select shell for maximum yield, we always choose the best piece for the artwork. Today’s scrap is tomorrow’s perfect piece for another inlay.

The polished bronze logo has a rich, warm golden color that coordinates with the hardware on Molly Mae. Inside the cloud is a white mother of pearl with very strong green to pink color flash. In the circle formed by the dragon we’ve inlaid a highly figured piece of abalone shell, the swirls and colors suggest vapors emitting from the alembic.

Rays in abalone with silver linings give a touch more dazzle to the logo. The whole things is inlaid under the finish and smooth to the touch.

So pretty to see the headstock front and back with all the inlays. The Quilted Maple veneers are made from the same boards as the body faces. Interior veneers are alternating layers of Maple and Walnut, and the beveled edge of the headstock shows off the layers.

Now you get to see the first secret of the neck: the Ebony central laminate. Ebony contributes a robust low end with long sustain, particularly on the fundamental, or first harmonic. On either side of the Ebony are small veneers of Maple for visual interest providing contrast. The next layers in the neck stack are Walnut, which adds a fast attack. The primary neck wood is Western Flame Maple, which completes the tone by keeping the highs prominent, but not as bright as Eastern Maples tend to be. The overall tone is complex, with both bright and deep components, and a snappy attack.

Historically atypical, but showing up more and more on custom builds is a Maple fingerboard, this time nicely figured with Bird’s-eyes. The Walnut binding coordinates with the Walnut neck laminates. Red side LEDs light the way in dimly lit playing situations.

In an almost joke, Kris put a thin Ebony veneer under the fingerboard, like an echo of the standard Ebony board and a nod to the Ebony in the neck.

Gold-plated hardware adorns Molly Mae. After a complete set-up, we disassemble the bridge, then hand polish each piece to a gleaming mirror-like finish. The tailpeice, bridgeblock, and string nut receive the same treatment. We then painstakingly clean and wrap each piece to send to our gold plater.

Once we get the parts back from the plater, the bridge is reassembled for final set up. Doing each instrument’s plated hardware in this matter means that even the slots in the bridge saddles and string nut are plated. Since we’re not cutting through a plated surface, there’s no edge to start flaking and no point to start corroding. No one ever said we did things the easy way.

In the picture of the gold-plated hardware you can see the side of these Bird’s-eye Maple pickup shells. Built as a wooden replica of the regular ABS injection-molded shells we generally use, these little marvels hold the pickup coils in polurethane resin exactly like our regular pickups, but they do much more stylishly!

The wooden pickups have an oil finish to match that of the fingerboard.

Steve commissioned Roger at THG Knobs to make him some Bird’s-eye Maple hat knobs and a pointer knob to complete the Bird’s-eye Maple accents for Molly Mae. A tiny Walnut pointer indicates the position, and each knob has two set screws, just like the military-type ones that are standard on many Alembic instruments.

At the heel junction, you can see where all these woods collide, plus the second secret of the neck. Here we have framed each side of the neck with a thin laminate of Walnut where it joins the body, connecting the Walnut accent laminates. It’s only visible from this view and from the bottom of the neck. It’s a tiny suprise only revealed with a close inspection.

When Molly Mae was a puppy, she was brown and black, and Stephen chose the Walnut and Ebony of the neck to recall her earliest days with him. Molly grew up to be a blonde Shih Tzu, and almost didn't look like the same dog. Seeing the whole bass really brings vision of Molly Mae to mind.

Thank you, Stephen, for entrusting us to celebrate your “souldog” Molly Mae. We know her beauty and spirit will continue to inspire your music.