Bass of the Week: iVee Guitars “TTT Bass” Misery 3030
Ivan Mulia is an Indonesian luthier who specializes in instruments with metal. This week we’re taking a look at the insanely intricate bass he calls the “TTT Bass” Misery 3030. The bass features finely detailed, acid-etched aluminum plates for the body top and back as well as the fretless fingerboard. Images of a woman and man are overlaid with text in English and Indonesian, which Mulia says tell a personal story.
The body sides are 1-millimeter thick brass, which is also utilized for flower inlays on the pickups, top, and headstock. Other features include Hipshot tuners, a massive Aldridge Empire bridge, hand-wound Ganèé pickups, and sliders to control the volume and tone.
Premier Guitar’s Shawn Hammond interviewed Mulia about the instrument at the 2018 Holy Grail Guitar Show. Check out their chat and demo:
iVee Guitars “TTT Bass” Misery 3030 Specs:
| Scale Length: | 34″ |
| Body: | 1.6mm Aluminum Plate w/ image/text etching |
| Body side: | Brass 1mm |
| Colors: | 90% Black w/ relic-alumina top & back |
| Neck: | Mahogany |
| Fingerboard: | 1.6mm Aluminum w/ image/text etching |
| Nut: | Graphtech TusQ, |
| Width at Nut: | 38mm, string spacing: 30mm |
| Pickup: | Handwound Ganèé Pickups “TTT Hybrid Bass” w/ matching rings |
| Controls: | Bourns 250K 2xVolume & Tone Slide Pot w/.05 Orange Drop |
| Machine Heads: | Hipshot |
| Bridge: | Aldridge Empire |
| Other: | Special “flower” brass inlays pickguard & plates |
| Weight: | 10.14 lbs |
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
Nice! However, why that chrome slab of a bridge? It’s so out of place on this bass it hurts my eyes…