I nicknamed this one The Beast. There is just something about the insane combination of that beautiful dark walnut burl, bright red padauk and that crazy birdseye maple fingerboard. I actually kept that board of birdseye maple from my days at luthier school in Chicago. I made a birdeye viola out of it and held aside some boards for another special instrument. The beast deserved this crown jewel. I also enjoyed layering several different woods to create those thin lines of maple and ebony that are exposed along the curves of the instrument. In violin-making, we use purfling to create the outline on the top of an instrument. It is fun to achieve a similar ribbon through creating layers of wood and then handcarving to expose those layers with different depths and thicknesses. This technique can be seen along the body, the dovetails on the back of the neck and I also created a custom nut with the same theme for this instrument. It may look meaty, but it is lightweight and well balanced like all JT custom basses.