4-string Bass Archives - Page 13

Fender has unveiled a new limited edition Lightweight Ash American Professional line of instruments. The series includes a Strat, a Telecaster, and, most importantly, a Jazz Bass. Each model is built with a lightweight ash body while retaining most features from their American Professional counterpart.

It’s always refreshing to see bass builders thinking outside the box. This week we’ve got a great example of that with the Not Pear by Wes Urbaniak. The thin-bodied acoustic bass takes on a violin-esque shape, but every single Not Pear is different from the next.

Back in January, we featured a unique instrument by Doner Designs as our bass of the week. Now the Time Machine bass is up for sale as part of a charity to benefit Parkinson’s Disease research.

This week we’re checking out the Mammoth bass from Atelier Kraken. “Tentacle-crafted” in France by luthier Guillaume “Muche” Buguet and Vincent Clerc, the stunning bass has aluminum inlays along its ash body including a detailed engraving of the Kraken that extends over the neck pickup.

Adding to their Artisan series of basses, Cort has unveiled the B4 Plus AS RM bass, a four-string that incorporates four tonal woods and three finishes: Open Pore Aqua Blue, Open Pore Trans Black, and Open Pore Burgundy Red.

Ernie Ball Music Man has revealed the April 2019 offering of their Ball Family Reserve series, which allows for creating rare pieces with figured tone woods and finer finishes.

Rob van den Broek put together two classic bass designs to create the Brooks Telebird. The builder, who is a Gibson aficionado, combined the body of a Thunderbird with the neck and pickup Fender Telecaster bass.

Eastwood Guitars is now shipping the Newport Bass, which is a tribute to a vintage bass from the ’60s. The EPI bass guitar, or EB-S, was manufactured between 1961 and 1969; and this example comes from the middle year, 1965.

LEH Guitars has launched their new flagship bass called the Offset 4-String. Built by luthier Lisa Ellis Hahn, the instrument features an offset alder body with a maple burl top and “strategic chambering in the body to reduce weight and prevent neck dive.”

Luthier Frank Deimel of Deimel Guitarworks recently shared photos of this version of his Firestar Bass, for which he seems to have pulled out all the stops. Aside from the Hipshot tremolo system, the three-pickup design has more than meets the eye.

After releasing a signature model in 2016, Schecter and Michael Anthony teamed up again to release a new version of the bass. The 2019 USA Signature edition of the instrument features a koa top with a natural finish to show off the grain.

Just in time for the blooming trees, Fodera has revealed the latest in their Masterbuilt series with an instrument called the Cherry Blossom. The one-of-a-kind bass is built using their Monarch design with a multi-piece fanned Flame Maple top with gorgeous inlay work.