Bass of the Week: Ray Ross Bass No. 27

Ray Ross Bass No. 27

Luthier Aaron “Ray” Ross has been cooking up a new style of bridge this year, and he’s created an amazing bass to showcase it. His 27th bass features the new saddle-less “universal bridge.”

“Coming up with something new is a violent, painful way to create, this took 4 months of agony and hand work,” Ross writes. “I was a little tired of the same stuff. I had an idea rolling around for a long time. Finally, I put it on paper and went to work. This is a handmade, carved top and matching back, hollow body, 4 string, saddle-less, bow strung, electric bass built on the golden ratio…..damn that’s a mouthful, but that’s what it is.”

Ross built the entire bass by hand, explaining it took two months just to carve the bookmatched, spalted, soft maple body. Its neck system and fretboard are entirely rosewood. “The system, here’s where it gets weird, is one piece. From the headstock to the bridge block is all connected through the hollow body, and floating within the body. Not actually in contact with it anywhere, except two tiny contact points and the neck heel. It sounds unstable as hell, but is essentially a neck-through guitar surrounded by a hollow body, the guitar is able to vibrate and resonate inside its own top. It is exceptionally stable.”

The entire instrument was also created around a natural beauty. “The dimensions of the bass were based upon the golden ratio, a ratio that exists naturally. This ratio of 1:1.618 is seen everywhere, sea shells, flowers, etc.. eventually humanity adopted this ratio into classical and then modern design. Once you know the ratio, you will see it everywhere.”

Other features include a Honey Badger single coil pickup, a Mullard capacitor, and Gotoh tuners.

Ray Ross Bass No. 27 Specs:

Body:Handcarved Spalted Maple
Neck:Rosewood
Fingerboard:Rosewood
Pickup:Honey Badger Single Coil
Bridge:Ross Saddle-less Universal Bridge
Tuners:Gotoh
Strings:Nylon Tapewound

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