Best of 2024: 10 Beautiful to Bizarre “Bass of the Week” Picks That Readers Loved
When Kevin started the Bass of the Week column in 2011, his goal was to share low-end instruments ranging from beautiful to bizarre.
The run has been impressive, and the column has remained very popular all these years.
Of the 50 or so Bass of the Week columns published in 2024, these 10 were the reader favorites.
1. Bass of the Week: Schecter Guitars dUg Pinnick DP-12
King’s X bassist and vocalist dUg Pinnick is renowned for his huge tone. That comes partly from his instruments, including this 12-string artist model bass from Schecter.
2. Bass of the Week: Ruokangas Guitars Steam Classic “Puma”
Bassist Markus Setzer shared a video recently and the bass he was using caught my eye and my ear. This Ruokangas Steam Classic is a beautiful fretless that’s fitted with their Valvebucker MkII system. The setup matches a magnetic pickup capsule with a tube-powered preamp circuit that’s powered by a floor unit.
3. Bass of the Week: Brooks Double Duane Bird
Rob van den Broek shared his latest creation with us and it’s an absolute beast. The Brooks Double Duane Bird, aka the DDB, is a double neck Thunderbird-style bass that features a traditional 34-inch scale four-string neck below a 30.5-inch scale twelve-string neck.
4. Bass of the Week: Badstroke Guitars Sallos 4FF
Badstroke Guitars used the force to create this killer Sallos 4FF bass with an incredible full-body custom inlay of the Death Star from Star Wars, complete with a laser inlay that fires across the fingerboard. As if that's not enough, the entire display is glow-in-the-dark.
5. Bass of the Week: Ibanez SRD905F
Gerald Veasley’s Bass BootCamp just wrapped up a weekend of incredible bass clinics, masterclasses, and performances. No Treble’s Corey and Isaac were on the scene to cover the show and the Philadelphia Bass Gear Expo, where Corey fell in love with the Ibanez SRD905F fretless bass.
6. Bass of the Week: Brooks EB-TB-IV
Rob van den Broek of Brooks has shared another killer mashup design he calls the EB-TB-IV. Built for Swedish bassist Roger Hedin, the axe blends two vintage basses for a fresh instrument.
7. Bass of the Week: New Perspectives Music Apeiron Classic Bass
Luthier Tim Sway of New Perspectives Music has been experimenting with his Apeiron Bass model, leading to this fretless version of the Apeiron Classic. The 32-inch scale bass has an extended fingerboard and a 20-inch fingerboard radius.
8. Bass of the Week: Disher Rattlesnake Bass
This week, we’re looking at the Disher Rattlesnake Bass, a cool bass packed with tonal options. The body is fitted with an Artec mudbucker and a Wilkinson P/J pickup set. The bass takes its name from the political cartoon carried through its design and is available in natural, metallic cherry red, or metallic blue.
9. Bass of the Week: Harpy Instruments Toucan
Harpy Instruments is a company that describes itself as a family of musicians who enjoy building unique, playable basses. Harpy's Toucan is our Bass of the Week. As cool as it looks, the design centers around its pickup configuration.
10. Bass of the Week: LEH Guitars Offset 5-String
Luthier Ellis Hahn of LEH Guitars wrote in to share a killer bass made for a killer bassist. This LEH Offset 5-string was made for the inimitable Tim Lefebvre.
Corey Brown is the founder of No Treble and serves in an advisory role. He’s also Head of Editorial at Muse Group. Learn more about Corey on his website and LinkedIn.
