You know, it wouldn’t make sense really to tell you the final measurements even. They wont fit you anyway. I am not the sole builder of this bass, I am sorry if it came across like that. I am not a builder at all. Really. I have absolutely no knowledge of woodworking, or paint, of what to use, how to do it and whatever. I just design it and make final improvements and electronic assembly perhaps.

They had my bass as a GUINEA PIG – test example item – when they first set up the machine. They had problems initially due to the non-uniform body, but now they’re as professional as any. Read about the Plek thing for yourself on http://www.plek.com. Basically, if your frets are new and ok, don’t bother, but if they need any leveling or adjustment due to fret wear, you might as well spend the extra money on having it “plekked”. If you have the strings too low on a Plek guitar/bass you almost can get sitar tones all over the neck, because they’re that precise. However, this low action is not recommended.

But they wont ever get my original Klein, it ain’t needed. Also, they check the guitar first to see if there’s any need – really – for a plek, and if the machine says the frets are alright anyway, they won’t scam you and charge you for money. So, some guitars don’t really need a Plek at all.

We just did look at all photos on the web that we could find. And tried to make it after that. There’s only a template or plan of the Klein Harp GUITAR (the one made for Michael Hedges) obtainable from Guild of American Luthiers. No bass at all. I do not intend to make a plan or template of it either.

In Italy is hard to find anything like that. I find it peculiar that the most interest in a Klein, both bass and guitar, of all European countries, seems to be in Italy. Not bad in any way, just positive, but I mean, UK or German interest is practically nil, they got their Status basses and guitars instead. And Germanys BassLab are making outrageous headless designs instead.

While I have seen numerous Klein guitars up on for sale on e-bay or elsewhere now and then, I have yet to see a real Klein KX-bass, I wonder how many there are out there that was really made and sold. It’s definitely not above 2 digit numbers.

I had to reverse the strings so the bigger end of the ball end strings protruded out. Otherwise the taper of the strings went over the zero fret, throwing string height and first fret intonation off quite a bit. D’addarios if someone likes to know!

Ray

It seems that he builds them the way he wants and then the people have just to take it or leave it.

Ray

Such a vibrant wood translates vibrations into the pickups, for sure, but the screws which holds the pickups are very prone to self-unwind after a while, due to that they’re quite hard stuck and screwed into quite soft wood that are not capable of holding small screws like that on its own for any long period of time. A threaded steel insert would probably do wonders, OR changing the wood of the body, to a harder one. But a harder wood wouldn’t vibrate into the pickups as much and then leaves the Direct Coupling method futile. A threaded steel insert MAY not be able allow the screws to get the pickups to fit snugly. Also, this softer wood, makes pickups easier to lift out from their cavities, since the wood naturally wears with time. With harder wood they might get stuck in there forever!

There IS a very significant tone change between in having the pickups Direct Coupled and hanging free just on the screws and their springs. Everyone I know can hear it, not just by playing the bass.

Also – but I have no scientific evidence on this – some people says that the magnets inside the pups can be hold still, more when surrounded with stabilizing material. I think this varies with each and every pickup though. If they’re waxed inside there’s not pretty much room for anything to move around, even still, transmit vibrations from any wood surrounding them. One can’t cram them in from their short sides as that’s where the screw ears goes.

What this has to do with ergonomics, I don’t know! It’s definitely UN-ERGONOMIC to have the pickups fastened in a way that makes it a real chore to swap them out easily!

Which comes to the question which could be an interesting debate around here:

1. How far should you go in terms of ergonomics, provided that it has inferior impact on sonic qualities?

Or the reverse

2. How far would you go in terms of WORSENING ergonomics in order to gain sonic benefits?

Say, dodge headstock to remove dead spots. Body design vs less/more sustain. Scale lenght’s to provide easier finger access, vs long scale length, greater tone (bass guitars). Fixing pickups the Direct Coupling way, but the trade off is pickup height adjustment and swapping out. And so on. Just an example.

Is there a line at all?

I think electric instruments has a wider margin than acoustics though.