Bass of the Week: Frederiek de Vette’s Singlecut Fretless

Frederiek de Vette with her Singlecut Fretless BassThis week we’re checking out a submission from Frederiek de Vette, who just finished making her first bass. For a first shot, it looks like an incredible instrument.

“Building a musical instrument is something I dreamed of doing one day. After having to quit playing because of an injury I found no reason to pursue that dream anytime soon,” de Vette explains. “Recently, however, I discovered that the bass had been waiting for me to discover it all this time. Instead of a violin or a classical guitar, I decided I’d build a bass, one that would fit my taste and needs.”

She opted to make a four-string fretless with neck-through construction and a single cut body, saying, “I aimed for endless sustain and a warm singing tone.” The bass is built with a laminate neck of hard maple and walnut with carbon reinforcements, all topped by an ebony fingerboard. Its body has a mahogany core and a sweet flamed walnut top. Even though it was her first bass and she had little to no woodworking experience, de Vette snuck in some slick work.

“A special feature to my design is that the neck and body came together like puzzle pieces in the final stage of the building process,” she says. “It is much like a set neck construction taken to the extreme, unlike most neck-through instruments in which ‘wings’ are glued on to the sides of the neck blank. The neck is slightly angled. Furthermore, it has a really thick fingerboard of an extraordinarily beautiful piece of ebony. The electronics cavity cover is made to perfectly fit the wood grain. The neck laminate is made out of one piece of quartersawn hard maple, of which the middle is rotated 90 degrees. I will never be able to tell if it indeed affects the sound but it was intended for more stability as well as the nice optical effect of being slightly darker or lighter depending on the lighting. The pickup cover was made to resemble the function of a ramp, it is radiused as well.”

The electronics include an Aero pickup that operates in series or parallel modes as well as an Aguilar preamp. Congrats to Frederiek de Vette on a great build!

Frederiek de Vette’s Singlecut Fretless Bass Specifications:

Scale:34″
Construction:Neck Through
Body:Mahogany
Top:Flamed Walnut
Neck:Hard Maple, Walnut, Carbon Reinforcements
Fingerboard:Ebony,
Fingerboard Radius:10-12″
Nut:Bone and Ebony Nut
Frets:Fretless (2 Octaves)
Pickup:Aero Pickup (Series/Parallel Under Push/Pull),
Pickup Cover:Cocobolo and Ebony
Electronics:Aguilar Preamp (Active/Passive Switch, Treble and Bass Boost)
Control Knobs:Cocobolo and buffalo horn
Tuners:Gotoh
Bridge:Schaller 2000
Finish:Nitrocellulose
Weight:~9.4 lbs

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