Bass of the Week: Hot Wire Schoengeist – A Custom-Built Beauty with Versatile Tones
This week, we’re checking out the Schoengeist Bass from Hot Wire Basses. The one-of-a-kind four-string came as a custom request from a customer.
“Sometimes we get a request like this,” the company states. “And we work it out.”
The Schoengeist is built with a one-piece Khaya mahogany body finished with an oil-wax surface. Its sapaele neck is topped with an ebony fretboard holding 21 frets. The bass’s aesthetic is taken to a new level with handmade pickguards and a headstock plate made by Alperious from Istanbul.
Hot Wire fitted the bass with a W-Bucker pickup developed with Bassculture, as well as a split-coil 1/2 W-Bucker in the neck position. In passive mode, the W-Bucker has plenty of tonal options with series, parallel, or single coil modes. However, a preamp adds to the Schoengeist’s tonal palette.
“The East Uni-Pre 5K tone control with active parametric control offers everything from the round jazz or ultra-deep reggae sound to a crisp slap sound. The first button is the master volume, the second button is the balance for the two pickups, the third button is the active/passive push/pull control and responsible for the passive tone, which also works in active mode,” Hot Wire writes. “The first double pot controls the highs and the bass, the second stack knob is the parametrics, here you can set all known bass sounds. In the electronics compartment, the bassist has the opportunity to tune the effect of bass and treble controls individually.”
Hot Wire Basses Schoengeist Bass Specs:
| Construction: | Bolt-on, 6 Bolts |
| Body: | Khaya Mahagony |
| Neck: | Sapele |
| Fretboard: | Ebony |
| Frets: | 21 |
| Pickups: | HWB W-Bucker by Bassculture, Split-Coil |
| Electronics: | East Uni-Pre |
| Hardware: | Hipshot |
| Finish: | Oil-Wax |
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.
It’s a beautiful bass, but not having the G string directly over the poles is a no sale for me. I had this issue with a MM Sterling and it always sounded weak until I put in a Lane Poor with a bar magnet. G(least mass) over the pole. If anything offset the E, more mass but still might be affected. It would be heartbreaking if that happens here.