Here's some under construction shots to help tide you over through the long wait:    

   

   

   

    Derrick sent us his own large slab of redwood to build the faces on this bass. We also made the peghead facing veneers for the best match.

That's a very attactive sandwich in the second picture.

Now that it's got the sealer coats, we're gearing up to do the inlay. There's a few in line before yours, so we have a little time to refine the design.  
 
Here's the bass in spray:
 

 
You can really appreciate the figuring once the finish hits it.

Oh my gawd!  THAT is nice!  That is a beautiful wood.  Nice and yellowish. I like that a LOT.  Redwood..Hmmmm...

Oh ...huh ...why do we call this REDwood. It's one of the most beautiful YELLOWish woods I've seen. It has a tiger design.
The sandwich is amazing. I thought the core of the body was redwood. And do I see some purple heart and maple there too???
 
Paul the bad one

Yes, tigerwood!!! That's cool. And now we're looking for a piece of bearwood..... or was it beerwood??
 
Mmmm, I'll ask my neighbour...

Will you please stop sipping of your bass Mattheus ...there will be only strings left.
Oh no ...NOW I completely get it: Paul the good one's bass must be made of beerwood! Yes ...well he says he uses his head as an amplifier by bitting his bass.
Must be quite something to see that happen on stage!
 
Paul the bad one
 
 
Waiter ...and one refill for the bassplayer ...but wait until he stops playing HA!!

The body wood is vermillion and it has purpleheart accent laminates and maple pinstripe accents.
 
Valentino

The top on that bass is fantastic. Ok, that's another wood noted for the future....  
 
Shaun

Thank you Mica for posting these beautiful pictures of my bass.  Also, thank you all so much for the nice comments.  I saw this beautiful piece of redwood in a carpenter's shop off of Rt. 101.  I thought it would make a pretty bass, but I had no clue it would look this great.  I couldn't be happier...and it isn't even done yet.  Can't wait to see more pics.  Thanks again,   -Derrick

Hello Mica,
 
  I was wondering if I might see the design for the inlay?  I'm very interested to see what Susan has created with my archaic drawing.
 
  Also, I was wondering if there are any more pictures, or if you could take some more, of the bass with the sealer coats on, i.e. side, back, and headstock views?
 
Thank you so much.
-Derrick

Great looking top and sandwich, Derrick!  Looking forward to seeing the inlay and finished bass.  Congratulations.
 
Bill

Here's the adaptation that Susan and Mike came up with:  

  and with some suggested shell:  

  You had requested the bass clef to stand out more, so my mom selected golden colored agoya shell for the clef, then black Tahitian mother of pearl for the stem of the D and the E. The oval is ebony and bound in silver and ebony.   I'll get you some more photos of the other parts of the bass later today.

Derrick:  
I like the way your inlay blends monogram with music symbol.  I'm also partial to placing the medallion style below the tailpiece.  Looking forward to seeing this come together.  Very nice looking.  
 
Bill

I've been in sort of a quiet mode lately, but I am paying attention, and at least a couple of times today I've found myself staring at this inlay design for minutes on end.
 
I gather that you (Derrick) get overall credit for the concept, and I've seen a couple things recently suggesting that Mike does really nice work, but I've got to believe that the key here is a good dose of Susan magic.
 
I look at this and see a dancing couple, perhaps in the style of Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers(?), not that I'm really a fan of such, but there is somehow a similar grace, fluidity, balance of contrasts, and of course the very clever bass clef used as the D.
 
I think it is absolutely perfect, and wouldn't change a thing. Makes me wish I had more interesting initials.
-Bob (RFN)