CityCaster-009
5-string Bass

Late August 2025...

I have been commissioned to create a custom 5-string Bass guitar to be delivered later this year. The base model is a Fodera Emperor 5 Elite Custom James Genus Signature , a really beautiful (and expensive) instrument. The Emperor series have several options and build types. I'll go with a bolted neck, as finding lumber for a full traversing neck is not that easy. The Fodera is a Ash-something-Maple sandwich, 38mm thick, all rounded body and a 34" scale neck with larger than usual dimensions: 46.8mm at the nut, 82mm at the 24th fret, and massive, 19mm string spacing bridge.

I gathered several pictures and reproduced the body shape. I also created a neck and opted for a slightly different headstock shape, and opted for a JazzBass-like neck to head transition. The pictures below show simulated builds.

Parts

I ordered very quickly all the parts I would need, in order to validate all dimensions from actual parts before carving any wood. Electronics will include a PU mix control, volume, and 3-band EQ, two switches for single-coiling pickups and a phase switch... That's the plan, and this may change based on sound tests I'll make with the actual  hardware in hand.

I ordered Ash and Maple body blank parts for sandwiching a thin (~2mm) plank of Mahogany I sawed from a piece I saved from previous builds. This should create a nice contrasting separation layer between the ash and the textured Maple top.

I started wood carving while waiting for parts, with carving the side/top inlays from a small block of Maple. I also cut blanks for the neck and fretboard: a nice, 200 years old blond Walnut piece will be used for the neck  and I extracted a few fretboard blanks from a heavy Iroko Beam. I can probably make 30 to 40 of them from that beam! 

Start!!!

I just finished a beautiful LP build and am now ready to start with the fretboard of this new Bass. I'm still waiting for several key components that prevent me from carving other parts such as the neck or the body... but no problem for the fretboard... I'll also carve a logo for the Bass case :-)

Fretboard

While waiting for the Ash and Maple woods to be delivered, I carved the fretboard on my CNC. This is a massive fretboard! First time I do one so wide (82mm at fret 24). It all went well, the side and top inlays are made of Maple and fit perfectly, and I v-carved a "~QE~" sign at fret 12, that I later filled with epoxy and sanded after the epoxy cures. After sanding the fretboard all the way up to 600 grit, I use luthier orange oil to nourish the fretboard, and the result is quite beautiful.
I went on and cut all the frets and nipped their ends using the special tool I have for this.

Body Blank

With the fretboard ready, the body wood was delivered, Good timing!
I sawed the two main pieces of Ash that were delivered in 42mm thick to keep two perfect blanks of 22mm thick. The Mahogany pieces I had from a previous build do not the specs... Thickness is too uneven and I'll miss some spots dure to lengths differences. So I decided to use Iroko I have ad hand and prepared several planks of 6mm thick to be glued side by side onto the Ash body back. A figured Maple top of about 11 to 12mm will complete the body, for a total thickness under 40mm, as with the Fodera body which measures at 38mm. This layering process is quite time consuming for several reasons: 

-1- I have limited tools and cutting a thick board in two halves is not an easy operation for me, and
-2- The amount of time and care added to glueing all pieces together is adding to the build time. 

I hope the resulting look will be as appealing as I imagine it to be. We'll see... While I was assembling the body blank, new hardware was delivered, and I could secure the dimensions of the (massive!) pickups in the body drawings for later carving. 

I let the body glue fully cure for 24 hours before doing anything on/with it.

Body Carving!

24h after placing the body under clamps, I can start carving This big 'blank' with my CNC... Plenty of carve paths and all these need some attention to be performed in the right order and ensure the body turns out great... It all went well, no issues and no broken bit!
This took quite some time (almost a full day of work) just to get the body done, no sanding nor any trimming, but it's still a lot faster than doing all this by hand. I started with the top, trimming the body down to 39mm and applying carve paths as needed. After turning the blanck upside-down, I moved to the back carve paths and finished with a full contour path, providing me with a great instrument body, even with no sanding or trimming... to come later!

Sanding, Oiling, etc...

The tedious task of sanding starts on the body. After rounding all hard edges with a 6mm round-over bit, and taking at body sides to the oscillating sander, I was actually surprised at how little (all relative...) sanding was necessary on the body... Is it because of its design? because of the multiple carved areas? the wood?  Maybe all of these. 

Anyways, I started with 100 grit, then 150, 180, 240, 320 and applied a first coat of Osmo Poly-X. I had previously carved the Cavity cover out of a left piece of Ash from one of the initial blanks I cut in thickness, creating a nice plate to cover electronics. The plate is secured to the body with 5 neodymium magnets.
The body is really nice after that first coat of oil; This Bass will be gorgeous!

Hardware and new decisions

I received the hardware for the bridge, tuners, active preamp and truss-rod. All look good. I'll have plenty of time to pre-position the different elements and set them in place. I did validate though the height of the bridge, ensuring it will be OK with the neck pocket I carved for the neck.
I decided to order 2 reinforcement carbon rods to place on each side of the truss-rod. I am not sure this is actually needed, but I'll feel more confident having them in a 5-string neck... I also decided to create a small opening in the body, just below the neck, to provide access for truss-rod adjustment. It's also time to carve the neck, sand it, make needed adjustments to fit to the body, and glue the fretboard after placing the truss rod and the two carbon fiber rods for neck reinforcement.
In the pictures below you will probably notice I also carved a small body pocket to provide truss rod tuning access, leaving the more fragile neck-head junction untouched. A small cover protects the pocket.

Time for frets and details

But important details, such as drilling all the necessary holes in the body to prepare for screws and passing pickup wires through the cavities to the control cavity.
I also marked the instrument with my Logo and a number, although I printed the wrong number (#008 instead of #009)... Bad but not  big deal as these are not visible markings and there is no possible error when it comes to identifying #008 with the one that should have been #009... #008 is a LesPaul like guitar, this is a 5 string Bass.... Guess I needed more coffee that morning!

I also installed copper tape in the control cavity and on its cover.

Installing frets had to be done the 'old' way as my press and jigs are not large enough for 8cm+ frets! So 'hammer it is'!
I also secured all frets with CA glue. Leveling was surprisingly light and easy. We'll see how this neck maintains its shape with a truss rod and 2 reinforcement carbon rods. It certainly should be fine.
After the fret job was done, I scarped/cleaned the fretboard and removed all dust and glue marks with alcohol, Then re-applied luthier orange oil to the fretboard. I'll put another coat later on.

Done!?

Not quite, but it's been 7 coats minimum (some spots got more) of OSMO Poly-X oil, starting with semi-matte and switching to glossy for the last three coats. Each coat alternating with a light sanding except for the last two coats, with almost no sanding from the previous ones. After 72 hours of cure time, the body, neck and small parts are ready for final assembly. Tuners and nut, Pickups, Bridge placement (not forgetting the ground wire!) and assembly of the neck to the body, ensuring it's correctly aligned.

I fired the soldering iron and soldered the mini switches for single coil and phase selection. The two outs from these switches go to the mixing dual pot and serve as input to the preamp. The nice thing with this assembly is that it comes pre-wired, making the 'electronics' quite easy.

Next come string installation, nut and bridge height settings, and bridge adjustments for intonation... When all this is done, I finally have my first ever 5 string bass finished!

Sept. 29th...

One month later the commissioning request or just about, and she is ready to rock!
All went pretty well during assembly; I just had to create a small shim to better adjust the strings height, Maybe the owner will want a slightly different setup and it's easy to create and install (just few minutes) under the neck heel. Intonation was really easy, the bridge was almost spot on for most of the strings. The bass is 4.8kg... Heavy but still manageable for such an instrument, and actually below the 4.99kg of the Emperor 5 Elite Custom James Genus Signature ; She has gorgeous looks and sounds fantastic!