
Sirena Pistolera #004 in Wild Watermelon just rolled off the production line. This one is getting shipped out to a customer New Hampshire. Yay!
Sirena Pistolera #004 in Wild Watermelon just rolled off the production line. This one is getting shipped out to a customer New Hampshire. Yay!
Sirena Pistolera #003 in Wild Watermelon just rolled off the production line. This one is getting shipped out to a customer Florida. Yay!
I’m pleased to announce the 2023 update of the Sirena Pistolera. This is my production prototype, serial #002 in Wild Watermelon.
The Sirena Pistolera is loaded with three AlNiCo 5 split-coil humbuckers and includes a selection of hand fabricated 6061 aluminum hardware. Constructed with a chambered poplar body and walnut neck, this bass is light, weighing in at 6.5 lbs. Each of these basses is made to order by me in my shop in Fillmore, CA.
This is probably the best playing bass I’ve ever made. I’ve gotten really good at making necks, so I’m going to go with this bass being a reflection of that. Additionally, I think I achieved what I set out to accomplish with this pickup configuration. I would’ve used the word, “aggressive,” but the li’l Lady corrected me with the word, “confident.” Confident is more fitting for a Pistolera.
For more info, check out the Pistolera page, and check the pricing page for current pricing.
Wow, cool! The 2023 Sirena Pistolera in Wild Watermelon was the featured “Bass of the Week” of October 17, 2022 in NoTreble magazine! All this fame and glory is going to go to my head.
Bass of the Week: Sirena Basses Pistolera
For his newest instrument, luthier Jeremy Kirsch wanted to dream up something that was big on fun as well as versatility. His vision became a reality with the Sirena Basses Pistolera. The bass’s chambered poplar body comes in a cool Wild Watermelon finish, while its electronics allow for a wide sonic palette.
I never imagined part of being a luthier would include being my own sound engineer. I needed pickup demos, so I bought a used set of Mackie monitors and a used USB audio interface. I recorded some tracks straight into GarageBand. Check out the Pistolera page for more info.
OK, so I ran into a little speed bump on my Pistolera roasted walnut neck experiment. Once I hit it with a couple of coats of clear, the glue seams that were once completely invisible suddenly stuck out like a sore thumb.
That brings me to my final verdict about using this material for necks: I don’t think torriefied walnut is bad, but I don’t think that I’ll use it again for a neck build. My whole reason for using it was that I was picturing just doing a clear or amber coat over this dark wood. But, due to this weird glue reaction, it kind of defeats the whole purpose for using roasted walnut as opposed to regular walnut. Additionally, the material is more brittle than walnut, and I’d go as far as saying that chunk-outs and the subsequent repairs involving glue are inevitable. As a result all of those repairs are also super-visible. In the end, I feel a little underwhelmed by the final result.
So, in an effort to beautify this neck, I sprayed the glue areas with dark brown dye. I mixed General Finishes Water-Based Dye Stain into Varathane. They mix together no prob.
Then I went over the whole neck with a few coats of amber.
I think it looks really good!