Cut neck

I figured it out a long time ago, though; what happens is I get an idea for an arrangement, and that arrangement inevitable wouldn't be right without this one, specific instrument. Which I don't happen to own or play. So then I either put it in my cart at Amazon and fret about the price until something new happens to distract me, or I do buy it, and then start learning how to play, and by the time I've gotten half-assed with it I'm already off on some other project.

Actually, heck with music, that's how my life works. 

(Right now my cart has a set of bongos and a French Horn in it. And there's a jaw harp on my desk at work.)

I re-shaped the prototype neck -- it was too thick for comfort -- and did a really terrible job on the mortice. I was eager to get some strings on it and get an idea of how it feels.

Prototypes are there to help you discover the issues you didn't expect. Well, weight of those machine heads is one! But I'm still able to hold the chin bass and even do arm vibrato, so I can put up with the excess weight.

Another was that the tailpiece means the strings run up on to the speaking portion. Means I either need to figure out how to crimp on new ball ends or otherwise trim the strings. Ignore the painter's tape there; that's because the fine tuners (which I didn't need anyhow) are rattling.

I didn't want to go further than this without the sound post (an adventure I'm not looking forward to). But I did make one more discovery, and it is an unfortunate one. It makes a lousy bass. At least down on the E. I tried the bridge pick-up and that was worse -- too much finger noise. 

So I might just have to re-hang the gummy worm (the pahoehoe) strings on my Kala to record the bass tracks I was wanting to do.

***

And also reading up once again on modes and scales and chord patterns. Sigh. And turns out that the closest thing to a standard term for what I was wanting to do is "Jazz noir" but search on the Internet has basically been broken by the tragedy of the commons. Too many people figured out how to make a buck or grab an eyeball by catching search terms, so you rarely find information anymore. Just people who promise that whatever it is you wanted, they are sure they can sell one of them to you.

(Amazon is a prime offender here. I've gotten those farcical hits; "Amazon has bargains in liver diseases, just click here!")