Bass of the Week: Matteo Marziali “The Bad” Bass

This week we’re checking out an awesome instrument built by Italian amateur bass builder Matteo Marziali, who started building basses after being inspired by the work of Carl Thompson. His latest creation, which he dubbed “The Bad” bass, brings has a dark theme that draws on the work of several of his favorite luthiers.

Matteo Marziali The Bad Bass Body 1

“I started to design this bass during the spring of 2011, and finally it’s finished,” he tells us. “The idea was to make a ‘metal-looking’ bass, inspired by the ’77 [Carl Thompson] style, [as well as] the Ritter Roya bass and the works of Prometeus guitar.”

The five-string bass featured a fanned fret design with a scale ranging from 36 inches to 34 inches. It’s constructed entirely of wenge with a quartersawn one-piece fingerboard/neck and a chambered body accented by layers of red veneer. Marziali says the bass weighs in at 7.25 pounds without neck dive.

And how does it sound? “It has a unique voice that pushes the mid-range frequency with lots of growl and harmonics,” he says. “It reminds my the sound of [Antrhax’s] Frank Bello in Among the Living.”

For more, check out the Talkbass thread where Marziali documented the whole process.

Matteo Marziali The Bad Bass Specs:

Strings:5
Scale:36” to 34”
Construction:Set Neck
Body:Chambered Wenge
Neck:One-piece Quartersawn Wenge
Fingerboard:Wenge
Width at Nut:45mm
Thickness at Nut:19mm
Body thickness:30mm
Neck Pickup:EMG 40J
Bridge Pickup:EMG 45J
Preamp:EMG BTC control Bass/Treble with stacked pot
Tuners:Gotoh Res-O-Lite GB350 black
Bridge:Kahler 2450-W5 black

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Leave a Reply to Ruben DLR (@rubendlr) Cancel reply

  1. Is just me or does it look like he threw a BC Rich, a Carl Thompson, and a Dingwall in blender and this is what came out?

    • tomas

      bkend after smaug eat them! :) the new best bass for metal? very nice anyway!

  2. Daniel Charbonneau

    Great inspiration for bass lovers! The link to the blog was instructive as well.

  3. David

    Anyone got a guess on a price on this … I don’t really care just take me wallet

  4. arttu

    Is this the new Lord Sauron signature model?

    I definitely want one.

  5. Mike Matthews

    This thing looks KILLER !!!

  6. I had a listen to the video, and I’m not fond of how thin and mid-range it is. I prefer basses with a bit more guts to them