Bass of the Week: Karel Fošumpaur Flame 1

One of my favorite pages on Facebook is the group “Support Small Bass Builders.” There are plenty of independent luthiers posting there that you’ve heard of, but there are also plenty you may not know. Karel Fošumpaur posted his latest five-string build there and it stopped me in my tracks.

The handcrafted original design is called the Flame 1. Fošumpaur built it with a pear wood body that’s exploded into three pieces for an elegant flow. Each piece is held in place by shaped steel. “The lowest part has an inner narrow tunnel for cables, which runs to the housing,” the builder adds.

Its maple neck is fitted with a mahogany fretboard. He used oak for the knobs and pickup covers, which house a pair of EMG J5’s.

Fošumpaur describes himself as an amateur luthier, but we may be seeing more from him soon. “I was aiming for a geometrical but also organic look, which resembles flames – therefore [the name] Flame,” he tells us. “The number 1 stands for it being a pilot, prototype bass of my future patent look of my brand.”

Karel Fošumpaur Flame 1 Bass Specs: