Bass of the Week: Amazon Custom Bass Imperial 5
This week we take a look at the Imperial 5 by Brazilian bass shop Amazon Custom Basses. The beautiful singlecut bass is built with a mahogany body topped with piopo. Its five-piece neck is fitted with a maple fingerboard and bound with ivory.
Electronics on the bass include a pair of EMG 45DC pickups matched to an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp. Gold Wilkinson hardware rounds the bass out with an elegant finish.
Amazon Custom Bass Imperial 5 Bass Details:
| Body: | Mahogany |
| Top: | Piopo |
| Neck: | 5-piece Maple/Mahogany |
| Fingerboard: | Maple |
| Hardware: | Wilkinson |
| Pickups: | EMG 45DC |
| Electronics: | Aguilar OBP-3 |
For more information, check out the Amazon Custom Bass Facebook page.
Fodera ripoff
No kidding. That’s just kind of weird.
Looks cheap and not well-built (look at that scary tuner alignment).
The best brazilian instrument builders are S. Martyn and M. Laghus.
Are you running out of basses to mention Kevin? I haven’t (and probably never will) played one of these “beautiful” basses so I can’t objectively comment on them but I was wondering, have you actually tried one yourself? Also, while the “Imperial” name may or may not be copyrighted the use of the name on this bass seems inappropriate (unless, of course, some agreement between this builder and a certain luthier exists).
You’ve shown plenty of interesting guitars in the past but It seems to me that if you’re commenting on a bass that is so clearly derivative of a well-known maker’s work without mentioning the fact, and whose builder’s web presence is a social media page, then you might find some equally “beautiful” basses coming from somewhere in the Orient if you have a look on e-bay (basses that even use the ‘F’ word in their description). That should provoke some interesting reactions.
Good luck to this and all other builders (deliberate non-use of “luthier” here) providing they either have one or two vaguely original ideas or at least credit their peers with having influenced their work. Hoping to see something a little less ‘familiar’ on this page next week.
So sad that the fact that it looks like a Fodera, or whether Kevin has run out of basses to mention, is what the reaction to this bass is. Meanwhile, the fact that the builder is using ivory is somehow a non-issue.
Very valid point Rented ~ consider my wrist duly slapped.
As using rare woods, say endangered wood species, is also “somehow a non-issue”. Or playing instruments built in countries who do not respect workers rights, who do not respect rainforests. Remember last year, Mr McBride ranting about the TSA agents cos’, to him, playing an ivory bow is “somehow a non-issue”. Ethics do not work with musicians, they are too much selfish, Christian McBride can be the best upright player on this planet, promoting the use of ivory on his bow is clearly selfish. Big ego, nice musician, but too much big ego.