Contest: Win an Ansir Custom Built Bass — Designed Just for You!

Nick BadgioThe winner of the Ansir Music Custom Bass giveaway is Nick Badgio, a bassist from Salisbury, NC.

Check out Nick on Facebook, or via his band, The Chobey Badgio Band.

Congratulations Nick!

Ansir Music is sponsoring an incredible custom bass giveaway (valued at $2,000) to help all you bassists kick off spring 2011. Ansir’s founder, Jody Michael, will consult with the lucky winner to craft their one-of-a kind bass that is perfect in every way.

The Ansir Secret—It’s in their US Patented Technology

Ansir PrestigeAnsir Music is custom bass builder based in Ohio consisting of the team of founder Jody Michael and designer and artist-level woodworker Deric Smith. Ansir is not your typical custom shop — Ansir Music’s basses incorporate patented technology that helps bassists preserve their strength and stamina so they can play and sound their best.

Ansir’s first patent is an angled neck technology, providing an individualized angle of play, manufactured directly into each bassist’s own custom bass.
 
Mainstream basses offer necks built on the horizontal plane, forcing the player to lift the neck up into the comfortable playing position creating less than ideal playing conditions and unnecessary player stress.  
 
Ansir’s second patent involves the square inlays on their instruments, offering a three-dimensional look, and an incredible tone.  

More details on Ansir’s patents are available on their website.

Ansir’s team to closely collaborate with contest’s winner

The lucky No Treble reader who wins the contest will get a custom-built Ansir bass, designed in careful collaboration with The Ansir team. After the bass is completed, videos of the building process will be posted so you and other bassists can see how the lucky winner’s dream bass came into being.

The Options Behind Ansir’s Winning Sound + Playability!

First stop is Ansir’s patented playing angle technology. Ansir’s team will work personally with the winner to determine their perfect playing angle, so the winner’s bass is ergonomically designed just for them.

Then, the winner will make choices from the wide variety of state-of-the-art features Ansir offers in every custom bass build, including: 
 
Ansir bass - wood closeupWoods for beauty and great tone: Ansir hand selects all of their exotic tone woods with the support of one of the nation’s most experienced major distributors. Careful consultation with each bassist matches the right tone and look creating a bass that’s personally right for them. Ansir’s team is fanatical about the the wood selection part of the build process. To help bassists gain a meaningful understanding of “Ansir-available” wood species and their properties the Ansir team has compiled a list of their favorites, matched with each wood’s characteristics.

Tone Inlays applied using patented sound enhancing technology: Ansir’s patented approach adds a beautiful, three-dimensional look and also offers incredible tone enhancements.

Ansir crafts beautiful custom basses. Building on the beauty of each bass Ansir relentlessly focuses on the sound each hand crafted instrument produces—Ansir recognizes tone and overall sound are fundamental to great performing experiences.

Jody and Deric consider it an honor to be working with many of the finest natural, exotic materials gathered at Ansir Music for use in custom basses. Each wood has astonishing tonal qualities; allowing Ansir to build instruments that sound as incredible as they look.

Check out this video and see what we mean:

Hardware – Nothing but the best for getting your sound: Depending on your tone preferences, Ansir will recommend the right premium hardware to meet your goals.  Ansir is in development with their own bridges, tail stocks and pickups.

Jody says it best, “We use premium hardware chosen for their tone qualities, not marketing appeal. We will make suggestions for your bass depending on your tone preferences. With our tool and die background, you can be assured of a high precision piece of hardware. Your bass will be set up according to your playing style.”

Ansir bass - pickupsElectronics – True bass tone and sound captured: Ansir is all about passive electronics!  During the consultation, they’ll discuss your tone preferences to bring you the right sound.

Continuing his explanation of Ansir’s philosophy Jody explains, “We are firm believers in passive electronics only! We feel active electronics over condition the sound and the true tone of the bass cannot be captured. Any and all sound shaping should happen after the bass i.e., Amp, DI, Mixing Board (you get the idea).”

During each custom bass build the Ansir team and their bassist client discuss tone preferences. We then use a proprietary passive wiring and circuitry technology to create the tone each bassist desires along with a wide parameter of complementary tones.”

Check out this video and see what we mean:

Finishing – Ansir covers it all: Smooth-as-glass, high-gloss catalyzed urethane, hand-rubbed satin lacquers, or traditional oil and wax finishes.  For bassists who love wood in its natural state, Ansir will apply craftsmanship that showcases each wood’s natural beauty letting the grain and coloration of the wood shine through each quality finish.

Ansir bass - finishingAnsir is also expert in providing dye-tone finishes and effects if a colored finish is preferred.  For those who prefer a colored finish, Ansir offers dye toned finishes and effects in any color or combinations of colors. Just a touch of shading or an all out sunburst, you choose.

If you’re more adventurous, Ansir offers specialty finishes, such as our metal variegated leaf finish, metals including silver, copper, and even genuine 24k gold.

Regardless of the finish you choose, at Ansir Music, you can be assured your Ansir bass will feature the highest quality products available which will be applied with the utmost of skill, providing your instrument with a beauty and durability, designed to last for many years to come.
 
Body designs – looking good and playing great: All bodies are first designed around a player’s requirement and style of play and can be fitted with Ansir’s custom thumb rest cut-a-way or their bottom cut-a-way for slap players or flat top.

Based on player demand, Ansir is continually adding new body styles and wood combinations to their bass line up. All Ansir bodies are designed to have an elegant and classy look and feel. They are all truly works of art. The body is given a tone test to find its sweet spot so it can be faithfully maintained and oriented near the pickup.

Ansir bass - headstockNecks engineered and manufactured for high performance: Ansir takes full advantage of the benefits bolt on necks offer bassists. Experience has shown Ansir the separate construction bolt on necks utilized in Ansir basses are the way to go; they feature perfect scale length and an envelope of sturdiness which can be maintained. These unique “bolt on characteristics” help with sustain and in eliminating dead spots over the entire register of the neck. Once the neck is secured, using the strictest dimensions, into the patented angled neck pocket, the tone, sustain and feel of Ansir basses are second to none.

Jody further explains, “While we are not sold on through body necks at Ansir, we have experimented with them but have yet to produce one that sounds and sustains as well as our bolt on necks. We now offer what we call our “Bolt Through System.” This is a process of building a three piece body with the center being one solid piece of an exotic tone wood. We secure the neck to this center piece. What we are trying to achieve is the “best of both worlds”.

What are you waiting for? Enter Ansir’s contest right now and keep your fingers crossed!

The contest ends April 25th, 2011. Enter below!

For more information on Ansir Music, visit their website.

Ansir Music Giveaway Contest Rules: This contest is designed as a promotion for Ansir Music and is void where prohibited. One winner will be randomly chosen from the submissions received. One entry per person, and a valid email address is required. Participants must be of legal age, and this contest is subject to all applicable federal state and local laws. By participating, the entrant agrees to release, discharge and hold harmless Ansir Music and No Treble from any and all liabilities claims and actions. The prize carries no warranty. No purchase necessary.

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Share your thoughts

  1. Zero Scavenger

    Beautiful bass by Ansir :D

  2. Rick B.

    Woo, that’s a thing of beauty!

  3. Matteo

    Wow !!!!!!!
    This contest is so fu***** amazing !!!
    It will be my lucky day if I’ll receive this bass :-)

  4. Stunning bass….a real work of art.

  5. Ansir has made some beautiful basses with a new design method……….great!

  6. K. Grice

    Basses that say it all! by Ansir

  7. Amazing work. Very beautiful. My heart skipped a couple times. Great stuff.

  8. Ralph Casciaro

    Nice Bass, Would love to Win it and show it off.
    :)

  9. Thanks for the tip, guys!

    ~m

  10. Absolutely gorgeous! And ingenious design, too. And they share my dislike of active electronics! :-)

    Now if only that lovely beast could wing its way over here to sunny (for once!) Scotland…

  11. wow, about time somebody figured it out and got it right…that looks like the first electric i’ve seen in years that wouldn’t suck to play. well done,ansir! even if a bit neck heavy, it looks like it would balance out well…nothing sucks worse than having to hold the neck of your axe up when you should be able to just play effortlessly!
    ;)
    i want it!!

    but i have ZERO money…lol

    • Thanks,
      We are very proud of our technology and players have been excited as well. there is an amazing amount of comfort that lends itself to less stressful playing!1

  12. bassista

    I didn’t see any contest rules. Can we enter more than once?

  13. A ver donde va la suerte de tenerla..

  14. Matt

    If I win…can they make me one that isn’t ugly?

    • We think you’re missing the point about custom, Matt. Custom means you get the bass you want.

      Unless you’re just trying to be mean about the choices others have made for their own custom basses.

    • Matt,
      Building instruments is a lot like creating music! You pour your heart and soul into your creation and then set it out for the world to scrutinize. When they like it you feel great, when they don’t its painful! But to say ugly…Why what good does that do?

      • Josh

        I agree with Jody on this. Even if you don’t really like the body of the guitar or something else about it, you shouldn’t refer to it as “ugly”. Just say you really don’t like it. But ugly is just verging on cruel to say. Spread the love, man!

  15. macodi

    LOVE the angle/balance idea – i have a degenerative neck injury, and can no longer play bass standing up. Looks like this bass is ergnomically designed to relieve the stress!

    • We have been told by players with physical ailments, that the design relieves the stress and tension on their backs, shoulders and wrists. No one to date has commented on any neck issues but I would have to assume there would be the same benefits.

  16. viktor

    That thing is awsome and its beautiful,the design is off the chart i wish i could hear its sound; i hope i get it it would be a dream come true

  17. Josh

    Two questions:
    -If one was to win, would the bass look as the winner wanted, even if it wasn’t a standard design for Ansir?
    -What’s the catch? Rarely is there something this awesome that doesn’t have some form of catch, whether its a ton of spam or some form of obligation to the company later on.

    • Hey Josh,
      That’s the cool thing about what we are doing at Ansir Music, we have clients submit us a sketch or a design that they want. We then work together with them and make any functional changes that may be needed. So yes we can create any body shape you desire. Of course if there is elaborate hand carving or inlay or a rare exotic wood there will be a slight up charge. The majority of the body designs on our website were client’s designs.

      • Josh

        Awesome! I was curious, because all the pics I’ve seen have a very similar design style, so I wasn’t sure if that was the only body design that could just be slightly modified. That’s really cool that it can be customized to a high degree though!

    • Hi Josh, Thanks for posting your questions.

      We asked Jody (of Ansir Music) to answer your first question, so you get it straight from the guy who will work with the winner on the custom bass.

      We’ll answer the second question.

      There’s no catch. Really. Ansir has been a great sponsor on No Treble for about a year now, starting with a similar contest we ran in early 2010.

      We’re big on community, which means we value every bassist who visits here and connects with us on Facebook and Twitter. We need sponsors to keep No Treble going, but instead of running flashing ads or interruptions for our readers to have to deal with, we work with great companies like Ansir who understand there’s a better way to get the word out. Ansir wants to connect with bassists and have them learn about what they do, so a fun way to do that is to run a contest. People get to see and hear what Ansir is all about.

      We’re really serious about email too. You probably noticed you can opt-in to subscribe to either company’s email newsletter. There’s no obligation to do so to enter the contest. If you do opt-in, you can unsubscribe any time. Though we’re betting you’ll find the newsletters to be useful, and they’re not very frequent (No Treble has sent two in 2011). You’ll never get emails from us (or Ansir) without giving us permission.

      I’m sure if you stick around for a while, you’ll see that Ansir and No Treble want to build relationships with bassists, and that means being respectful of those relationships.

      • Josh

        Oh, okay! That was the main reason I hadn’t put my name in for the contest yet. I might consider it now! Thanks!

  18. Lauren

    Okay, so this contest, first of all, I must say, is pretty freaking sweet. I’ve been a secret low-lying fan of Ansir basses since I first discovered them, but there’s one thing I might have possibly missed after entering. When it says “(valued at $2,000)”, since we are “winning” the bass does that mean it costs 2,000, or it’s worth that much, but you’ll be getting it for free. Haha… Cause uh, I don’t have that kind of money to spare right now. If I was terribly mistaken and now I’ve stuck myself in a situation where I don’t have the money to get out of it, please let me know. Thanks much.

    • Hey Lauren,
      Consider this as a $2,000 credit with Ansir Music…You will receive a custom bass with no additional money out of your pocket unless of course your custom build has a lot of design work involved!! Ansir and No treble are all about music and musicians. All we ask in return is spread the word!!

      • Josh

        If one was to win and want a design that would require money out-of-pocket, you guys would let the winner know, right? Because I (if I was to win) have only $155 and have no steady source of income due to my current age, and would be in it deep if I won it and ended up needing money out-of-pocket. So would you guys let the winner know if they would be needing to pay out-of-pocket?

        • Josh,
          We are not about trying to up-sell. This contest is about giving back to the community that supports us! The winner of this contest will be treated as everyone of our clients is treated, we will discuss your build and everything that goes into it. A custom bass build with Ansir Music is a fun and exciting journey!! You can design your own body shape, or choose one of ours. Rest assured the winner will receive a complete custom bass. If by some chance there is an up-charge it will be discussed prior to the build. There are no strings attached!! Well the bass has strings.

          • Josh

            Okay. That makes sense. Dang, I really hope I win. I need a new bass and can’t afford one, so winning this would be awesome. *Fingers crossed!*

      • Lauren

        Woah, if that’s it, you guys have my lifetime commmitment to running around telling all my friends about my sweet new Ansir bass and advertising the brand. (: How could I not? Music and instruments are basically all I talk about anyways… Stoked to find out the winner of the contest, and if I don’t win, either way, whoever gets the bass, gets my congrats. Thanks for the reply to my question!

  19. you win it if the design suits you. in other words if you have reason to believe it is not for you, you need not enter

  20. Ste A

    hi i have a question. do you currently make or design left handed basses as im a lefty.

  21. KG

    Hi !
    One of the best contest I’ve ever seen !
    But I can’t find any rule… Is this open to non-US residents ? (like… France ?)

  22. @PeterBeddows

    What a terrific way to promote a great instrument and what a beautiful instrument this is. Who could possibly wish for anything better in this line of music? Sure beats my original “tea-chest” bass made by me from an actual tea shipping case plus a broomstick and telephone wire. lol

  23. Hervé Rouxin

    hello from a french Bass player,I like your spirit;) I’m a carpenter and I made my first bass (fretless )because it’was the biginning,and I want to build other bass guitares ,At the moment I just repair bass and guitars but soon i’m gone build them from A to Z ,have a good day and it’s a pleasure to see “crazy” people like you ,I wish you you a long and happy life, sorry ;I speak english like a spanish cow ;Hervé

    • Hi Herve’,
      Building basses is a part of life for us!! Yes we can get a bit crazy at times but that’s the beauty of custom building… Good luck to you on your bass building! If you have any questions on the building of a bass please feel free to email us your questions! Peace and good luck from an American Cow!

    • Rik De Bruycker

      do you have a site where you’ll post your bass building experiences or a blog?
      I love to stay in contact and see what its going to be
      I’m from Belgium by the way :)
      Rik

      • We are trying to create blogs and misc. But our Ansir Music fan page on Facebook is the best place now Thanks for the interest!!

  24. Hey, Thanks for the contest Jody. Met you up at Spectators? jam nite in Willoughby. I jammed with Michael Lee Hill that night around the beginning of March. Peace and Good Luck to Ya.

    • Hey John,
      I sure do remember that night of amazing music!! Me and the crew try to attend as much live music as we can, got to support the music and musicians. (It’s a tough job but someone has to do it!!) Peace and good luck to you!

  25. Steve Pierson

    WOW is all I can say. This is one beautiful Bass. I have been playing for 43 yers and have had some fine instruments over the years but this one is off the wall. I have RA and the concept of having the neck reach up to me is outstanding. Problem is I have very stubby fingers and require a thin neck. I have owned a Framus Star Bass, an EB3SG to name a few and all have super thin necks. If I won I would have to have a very thin neck but the bass itself would be a dream come true. You guys are true artists. Don’t stop.

    • Hey Steve,
      Thanks for the kind words!! We will hand sand your neck as thin as possible. All you need to do is measure your hand from thumb tip to index and we will do the rest!! good luck!!

  26. Aaron

    Wow this is amazing it really captured my attention!! I always had a problem with the standard shaped bass bout the perfect balance and comfirtability hoping one day a great builder of bass guitar will solve my problem.. I believe that a perfect bass should be part of our body!!! Hoping this is the one…More power and success to ansir basses!!!

    • Without sounding self serving, our clients have said that our basses have changed their playing lives!! I Personally, I think that it has to do with a change! When something feels something different it stimulates the brain!! I always relate our technology to the introduction of the metal headed golf club… at first it was hated and laughed at and then overnight used by everyone!! I am not by any means saying our instruments are better than anyone else’s is because they are not!! They open the mind… and closed minded people struggle with it!!

  27. Boz-G

    No thanks … that thing doesn’t look practical. It looks too wonky and hard to manage. Besides it sounds like a million other basses and probably is way too expensive.

  28. Sam

    I tried to enter and it said that I had already entered. Unless I sleep walk, this is upsetting :( It’s a beautiful guitar, though. I could use a new bass. Mine right now is more like a starter bass. A good one :)

  29. Sandy Jefferson

    Stunningly beautiful!

  30. David Jefferson

    I showed my wife the bass and now she wants one. Me too! WOW! Absolutely fantastic!

  31. thomas b.

    good contest

  32. hamish peter

    This is a great competition Jody- even if I don’t win I will be in touch over the next few years to get a custom bass. I love your style and individuality- you don’t see that too often these days

  33. jack

    had a dream i played this. thought i should enter

  34. Amazingly beautiful instruments. Though I have preffered active pickups more recently, I agree with the idea that passive let’s u hear the true un-altered tone of the bass. I have not found a bass that I was truly happy with the ergonomics and position of, and I really like the idea of a bass built for me. Great job! Keep up those great ideas!

    • Thanks Randy,
      People have been digging the ergonomics and the PPA. But the passive pick ups and the exotic woods it will bring your playing to a a different level it’s a very cool connection to the instrument!!

  35. James

    Hey, what’s the exact definition of legal age? Are we talking about 13, 14, 18, what?

  36. Laurie Couri

    Beautiful!

  37. “Well?!

    “Their ‘really no-words ‘that has been already been said..(Crap!) ‘Wish I could think of something
    really ‘smart”….”The rest (Above) got me beat!
    “But It would be nice to have one

  38. Robert Abramson

    I have an obsession with guitars. They are like works of art. I get pleasure just looking at them. I think they should be cared for and handed down from one generation to the next.Everyone should own one.

  39. Brandy M. Miller

    This would be a terrific win for our family.

  40. david

    awesome bass

  41. marlon boyer

    your basses look&sound awesome im interested in a 6 string bass tuned E A D G C F.