Warmoth Nordstrand BigMan & Big Single Bass Build

[doner designs]

Finished up my second Warmoth bass project this weekend.

• 1pc swamp ash body with bocote top, pearloid binding and clear finish
• Rosewood neck with ebony fingerboard and pearloid blocks
• Nordstrand BigMan and two Big Single pickups with toggle switches for each coils
• Audere 2 channel 4 band pre with hum cancelling phantom coil setup (defeatable)
• Babicz bridge and Hipshot Ultralights
• LaBella 1954 flats strung BEAD (same as all my basses)

Photos to follow. I forgot you can't direct upload here (unlike another forum I frequent). I'll have to put them on photobucket first.

 

[doner designs]

 

[Air Biscuit]

That is beautiful! How much does that beast weigh?

 

[Pantone 333]

That bass is crazy beautiful! Great job.

 

[doner designs]

That is beautiful! How much does that beast weigh?

Thanks! Not sure on the weight but would guess around 10 lbs. The neck seemed a tad heavy before installation, but it balances just fine, so I think it's within one lb of what a maple neck would weigh. I don't notice it being any heavier than my other solid body basses but my strap is wide and padded. My biggest comfort worry was the sharp-ish edge on the binding, but the body countour take it out of the picture so its not even noticed.

 

[BlueTalon]

I had forgotten you have a rosewood neck for this bass. When I saw the pictures, I thought it was purpleheart. Both the neck and the bass are absolutely gorgeous!

 

[sears]

It's very beautiful. How did you decide where to put the pickups? Are they in the classic positions?

 

[doner designs]

It's very beautiful. How did you decide where to put the pickups? Are they in the classic positions?

Thanks! The bridge pickup has one coil in the standard J position and one in the 70's position (approximately). The neck is as close to the truss rod notch as the shop could make it (about half an inch away) and the middle is centered between the two which places it slightly south of the normal J neck position. It was a matter of fitting them all in while keeping it symmetrical. Worked out well from a tone standpoint (and looks).

 

[Davo17]

How do you like the bigman? Heard good things.

 

[doner designs]

How do you like the bigman? Heard good things.

I like it a lot and it worked out well for this placement which is much closer to the bridge compared to the MM sweet spot. Warmoth advised against going that close to the bridge with a MM but they didn't know the MM cut was for a BigMan. Similar to a Stingray, you can solo the bridge and get a reasonably balanced tone, especially if you add a little bass boost. I supposed the best way to describe it is to say it sounds like Big Singles, which it should since it's a pair of them under a MM cover (mine is wired in parallel which essentially gives me 4 independently switched Big Singles in this bass). Considering the placement, I would say it has a lot more low end than a MM or a J pickup.

 

[Davo17]

That sounds quite nice, very clever idea.

 

[BlueTalon]

I like it a lot and it worked out well for this placement which is much closer to the bridge compared to the MM sweet spot. Warmoth advised against going that close to the bridge with a MM but they didn't know the MM cut was for a BigMan.

Honestly, I don't know why it would make a difference, as far as Warmoth recommending anything. If you know what you want and have a reasonable idea of what you are going to get, there's no reason not to put a MM pickup nearer to the bridge.