The Addis Mk-I P-Bass
Yes my peeps, it’s finally here, the Addis Mark One P Bass.
Body – Eastern Cape poplar.
Pickups – Squire Affinity P-Bass.
Neck – SantaFe.
Hardware – SantaFe.
Finish – Dark sun burst – old shellac.
I started this project at the beginning of the year. The finish took months to dry, I wanted a crackle effect, to give the look of old antique shellac, so I over loaded the lacquer coat, it worked out.
This is my second guitar, the first was a rebuild of a Cort G254, so I don’t really feel that it was my own. Seeing that I play bass, I decided to build one which is distinctively my own. I took style and design inspiration for classic motor cars, especially KC’s 1948 Bentely I was also inspired by the lines on the new BMW 3 series and the Mercedes Benz S Class.
I wanted an mix of old world elegance and modern, clean lines. Most of the vertical lines follow a 25 degree angle. The inset scratch plate is match booked poplar, I must say that the scratch plate gave me the most hassles. The poplar warped at the slightest change in weather and cracked. The thumb rest and inset on the top of the top pickup is African emboya, which I inherited from my father, he bought about 200 kilos of the stuff.
I designed this more for the aesthetics than the predicted sound, although I must say that the poplar has given the bass a bright twangy sound, despite the kak pickups.
I bought a cheap SantaFe P bass for the platform, I can’t build necks yet. I was very surprised at the build quality of the SantaFe, they would make great instruments to pimp, just add some good pickups, nuts etc. and you’d have a very nice axe.