Bass of the Week - Page 36

This week we’re checking out the Nelson Instruments Paramount, a killer bass that’s oozing vintage appeal. Its funky maple body is matched to a quarter sawn hard maple neck and set with hot hide glue, which Nelson says offers extras sustain and rigidity. The secret sauce to the bass is in its pickups, Nelson adds. “The Paramount comes standard with...

One of my favorite movie quotes has always been a bit of a thorn, as well: In the School of Rock scene where Jack Black converts the cellist into a bassist, he says, “It’s the exact same thing, but instead of playing it like this, you tip it on the side… ‘cello’, you got a bass.” Of course, that’s not...

Gerald Marleaux is hands down one of my favorite bass builders. His artistic touch and attention to detail make all of his instruments play and sound just as good as they look. This week we’re checking out his Contra model, which takes its semi-acoustic design in part from the violin family. “The Contra is made with the same materials as...

Novacorda’s Barbaros bass is a design that’s nearly five hundred years old. Well, at least that’s where the inspiration came from. “The bass guitar was named after Barbaros Hayreddin Pa?a who was an Ottoman admiral of Sultan Süleyman‘s fleet,” the Novacorda website explains. “The design of the bass is based on the cross-section of one of his 16th-century warships of...

This week we’re taking a look at a bass from Swan Custom Basses, a small company from Argentina dedicated to low-end frequencies. The Swan LG II is the creation of builders Hernan Goi and Christian Lebied. “The design is our own. Basically, our idea is to make a bass that’s comfortable, ergonomic and with a low weight to avoid fatigue,”...

Italy’s Amnesia Guitars is a workshop run by luthier Carlo Carbone, whose imagination creates beautiful and functional instruments. This week we’re taking a look at his Leo model. The Leo comes standard as a five-string fretted bass, though options are available. Its contoured ash body is topped by a rich ziricote cap. The bolt-on neck is made from maple and...

This week we’re checking out builder Joe Veillette’s Acoustic bass guitar model. Available in a variety of woods, the Acoustic was designed to bring the same depth of tone from their acoustic guitars to the bass. “With a 17″ wide and 5.5″ deep body, the Acoustic Bass has the airspace to deliver a true fundamental with depth and authority. A...

This week we’re checking out the Singulus by Ash Instruments. Russian luthier Andrey Shevchenko made the bass with a 30-year old pine body capped with a beautiful slab of poplar burl in a “Flying Blue” frosted transparent finish. The five-string bass’s three-piece padauk neck is also topped with padauk for its fingerboard, which holds 24 frets. For electronics, Shevchenko opted...

This week we’re checking out a cool minimalist design from Millimetric Instruments called the MB4. The four-stringer is their first bass model and shows some Travis Bean influence in its neck. “This bass was made seeking efficiency in sound and playing,” the company writes. “The tone lies in the neck construction, pickups and the use of maple. MB4 sound is...

This week we’re checking out the Universum Guitars Epsilon UJ4, a unique bass that blends several design elements. Built in Ukraine, it has a unique, conch-like soundhole created using Golden Ratio principles. The body is built using sycamore maple with flamed and carved figured maple for the top. Its seven-piece neck is constructed of flamed sycamore maple and walnut, while...

I’m always floored by Tuli Basses, and builder Aron Bach made my day by sending me the details of his latest HIILYX bass. The six-string bass is the new single cut model that he revealed at the 2018 London Bass Guitar Show. Even with six strings and a single cut body, the HIILYX comes in lighter than many four-strings. “I...

Luthier Sergey Poedinko sent us the details on his latest build and it’s a real beauty. The Dahrendorf Guitars Dynasty V is a five-string that imagines a bass guitar from 200 years ago. “Like our other instruments, it’s balancing between classics and modernity,” Poedinko writes. “But unlike others, it’s much more smooth and fluent. Style and aesthetics came when I...