Hollow-body Bass Archives

This week we’re checking out an amazing seven-string bass built by Chris Benavente for the great Al Caldwell. The beastly instrument features an alder hollow body design that is four inches thick and topped with a gorgeous piece of 5A quilted maple.

Daniel Brunn shared his new six-string Titan bass built by Robin Manton of Manton Customs and we were instantly intrigued. As modern as it looks, the instrument is inspired in part by instruments from the 17th century.

Warwick has expanded its Rockbass Alien Deluxe Hybrid Thinline series of basses to include eight models. Each offers a different aspect of the instrument, which is centered around a thin hollow body fitted with both magnetic and piezo pickups.

Thundercat’s bass is as unique as his playing, so this week we’re taking a look at his signature model from Ibanez. The massive six-string hollow body is made in the company’s Japanese custom shop with curly maple for the back and sides and quilted maple for its top.

This week we’re checking out the Corona P50 by Indonesia’s Fad Guitars. Despite its name, the bass was introduced last year as their first-ever hollow body bass.

B&G Guitars has unveiled a new version of their bass model with the Big Sister Crossroads. The Crossroads edition offers the same look and structure at a more affordable price.

The NAMM Show has a row called the Boutique Guitar Showcase, which allows for independent luthiers to show off their instruments. This year I got to catch up with Peter Malinoski of Malinoski Guitars, who showed me his Nero model.

This week we’re checking out the Höfner 500/5 President Bass from their affordable Contemporary series. Modeled on the original hollow-body basses from the ’50s and ’60s, the bass has a 30-inch scale.

This week we’re taking a look at a short scale bass from Kinal Guitars called the Kompact 4. Luthier Michael Kinal builds the scaled-down hollow body with a variety of woods.

Gert Simso of Tüi Instruments builds instruments out of local woods found on his home island of Muhu, including his Muhu bass. With all the interesting woodwork, it may take a minute to realize this is actually a three-string bass!

Seeing a “violin” bass is fairly common, but Byron Isaacs decided to go a different direction and dreamed up a bass mixed with a mandolin. He approached luthier Harvey Citron to make it a reality. The result: the Byron "F" Style Bass.

Ibanez has reintroduced their Artcore series bass models with the AFB200 and the AGB200. The hollow body, short-scale basses each carry an old school vibe with a different tonal palette to separate them. “The AFB200 is geared towards the traditionalist; the player after a huge, warm bass tone perfect for Jazz, Blues, or acoustic sets,” Ibanez explains. “The AGB200 is...