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Custom Bass Archives - Page 2

Bass of the Week: Ramos Guitars Gotham
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Ramos Guitars Gotham

This week we’re checking out a sleek black custom bass called the Gotham by Spain’s Ramos Guitars. The seven-string brute is built with a mongoy body and fretless ebony fingerboard for a dark theme and an air of mystery. Featuring neck-through construction, its three-piece maple neck is reinforced with graphite for added strength. Ramos fitted the bass with a Delano...

Bass of the Week: Lea Bass Guitars Dumpster Bass
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Lea Bass Guitars Dumpster Bass

As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That’s why luthier Scott Sterling of Lea Bass Guitars decided to create the Dumpster bass. Although the bass has a fine fit and finish, the components didn’t start out that way. “This bass started out as an ‘upcycled’ experiment in tonality – all the wood is from dumpsters in my...

Bass of the Week: Stambaugh Designs 6-String Custom Inlayed Bass
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Stambaugh Designs 6-String Custom Inlayed Bass

Chris Stambaugh of Stambaugh Designs posts a “Build of the Month” on his website to show his best work of the month, and it’s incredible to see the range of styles he produces. This week, we check out a custom six-string design he featured in November 2012, with a dramatic fingerboard inlay and breath-taking body wood. “This instrument is one...

Gear Review: Accuracy Basses Matisse Deluxe 5-String
Gear Reviews

Gear Review: Accuracy Basses Matisse Deluxe 5-String

Like any craft, the art of building basses takes finesse and attention to detail. Each contour is carefully considered and carved into the bass as a painter would add a stroke to his painting, so it’s only fitting that Accuracy Basses named their doublecut model the Matisse Deluxe after the French artist. Accuracy is a small bass building company based...

Bass of the Week: Bruno Régis Custom 4-String Bass
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Bruno Régis Custom 4-String Bass

I love checking out fledgling bass builders and self-starters, so when Alain Guiraud sent a note about his new bass, I got just as excited as he did. His friend and guitarist Bruno Régis created an axe that mixes and matches features from a handful of basses. Guiraud says it is his friend’s first order, and I have to say...

Bass of the Week: Hilton Guitars Sk8bass
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Hilton Guitars Sk8bass

Part of the fun of the NAMM show is finding all the oddities that are tucked away into the booths for different vendors. One of the coolest discoveries for us this year was an intricate striped bass at the Hipshot booth. After a minute we got to talking with its creator, Pete Hilton of Hilton Guitars, and I got to...

Bass of the Week: Zerberus Guitars Hades
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Zerberus Guitars Hades

This week we check out the Hades bass by Zerberus Guitars. Built in their German custom shop, the instrument was made for bassist Lenny Castellanos of the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. The bass’s uniquely figured body is made of mahogany with a Zebrawood top finished in a wild honey color. Its five-piece neck is made up of birdseye maple, mahogany,...

Bass of the Week: Angie Taylor’s Custom Ritter Instruments Cora
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Angie Taylor’s Custom Ritter Instruments Cora

Jens Ritter has a knack for creating unique instruments, but this one is something different even for him. Bassist and performance artist Angie Taylor got this custom made Ritter Cora with a mystic neon paint job. The 4-string bass is built with an alder body, maple neck, and ebony fingerboard. Its neck features a black frosted transparent finish to complete...

Bass of the Week: Doner Designs Navy Bass
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Doner Designs Navy Bass

This week we check out an incredible project led by the good folks at Doner Designs, a father and son team that pieces together themed instruments to donate to charity. Steve and Richard Doner started playing bass and guitar, respectively, in 2008 as a bonding experience that grew into tinkering with upgrades and modifications. Now their hobby is benefiting their...

Bass of the Week: Matteo Rufini Precision IV Custom Vintage Series
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Matteo Rufini Precision IV Custom Vintage Series

A few months ago, Jordan Brown sent us some pictures of a bass he was having made. I knew even before it was finished that it was going to be a killer bass, and it looks like I was right. Brown, who is an active player in London, reached out to Italian luthier Matteo Rufini to build an instrument that...

Bass of the Week: Beardly Customs Rainbow Bass
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Beardly Customs Rainbow Bass

Beardly Customs luthier Rick Link sent us this example of his take on a rainbow style bass, and it looks like he knocked it out of the park. The bass is centered around its body, which has thirty separate pieces of wood to give a rainbow-like effect. Link used rosewood, purpleheart, wenge, flamed maple, redwood burl, blood wood, walnut, cocobolo,...

Bass of the Week: Scott Guitar Works SB-2
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Scott Guitar Works SB-2

This week we check out the SB-2 by Scott Guitar Works of Louisville, Kentucky. The bass is built to order and has a plethora of options, but its central point is its unique body shape. Scott shaves down to a minimalist design with a short lower horn and thinner, longer upper horn while keeping it curvy in the lower half...