Bass of the Week: This DIY “CYBERBASS” Was Built from Scratch – And It’s an Absolute Synth Monster
Matteo Pisani sent us an email with the subject line “CYBERBASS – child of chaos, born out of DIY madness.” We’ve featured an instrument called the Cyber Bass before, but needless to say, we were intrigued.
As it turns out, Pisani built the bass from scratch as a personal project. He wrote an incredibly detailed and fascinating account of the entire process on Medium, but here’s his TL;DR:
“I built a sci-fi bass from scratch, packed with a synth, a wireless transmitter, a hacked built-in tuner and voltmeters, he wrote. “This monster runs on lithium batteries, charging like your smartphone. Is it perfect? Heck no. But sounds cool. There you go!”
Starting with a block of poplar for the body, Pisani hacked his way through the process in more ways than one. He cut out the body with a Japanese saw and shaped it with a chisel. On the other hand, he took apart a synth pedal and a chromatic tuner to build into his creation.
Check out the final result in this short clip with clean sounds as well as the synth sounds.
The process included lots of learning and revisions along the way, which are all insightful for anyone thinking about trying this for themselves.
“Above all, to me the CYBERBASS represents what’s possible when creativity meets technical,” Pisani concludes. “It’s proof that you don’t need to spend a fortune to build something extraordinary. You just need the vision, the right tools, a problem-solving mindset, and a willingness to experiment.”
Matteo Pisani’s CYBERBASS Specs:
| Body: | Poplar |
| Neck: | Maple |
| Fingerboard: | Rosewood |
| Frets: | 24 |
| Pickup: | Humbucker |
| Electronics: | Built-in Synth Pedal, Chromatic Tuner, Wireless Transmitter |
| Controls: | 3 Push Buttons for Toggling Tuner, Synth, or Wireless on/off |
| Other: | Rechargeable Li-Ion Batteries |
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.
A piece of shit.