Bass of the Week - Page 44

Available in 4- and 5-string versions, the Godin Shifter bass is an interesting take on old school aesthetic. Its neck, headstock, and body will look familiar to many, but its pickup system is the real magic. The Shifter has three soapbar, passive single coil alnico pickups with extra large magnets. Each pickup can be selected individually or used in combination...

Most No Treble readers will recognize MonoNeon as a forward thinking bassist with a unique style that blends R&B with modern experimental music. He often plays with microtonality, meaning he uses quarter tones in addition to semi-tones that are created on fretted instruments. “My fascination with microtonality is ‘casual’, similar to my fascination with Dadaism, Color Field, and other visual...

This week we take a look at the Klangkraft “Tiefdruck” IV EMG, a bass the company designed with modern rock and metal players in mind. The body features nice 3D body shaping for comfort with a matte black finish for aesthetic appeal. The European-made bass is created with an ash body, hard rock maple neck, and an ebony fretboard that...

Facebook is great for discovering new and beautiful instruments. Our friend Russ Sargeant posted a picture of this fantastic Anaconda Crusher Standard and I was hooked. Built in England, the hand-crafted bass has some nice curves for ergonomics and aesthetics. The Crusher comes in several flavors, with the Standard version offering all of the most important features in a clean...

This week we check out the Evolution 4 Custom by Helios Guitars. Made in Italy, the bass is completely handcrafted to benefit its tonal qualities. “Various instruments benefit the typical industry process of precision (in the cut, calibration, painting etc.),” Helios writes, “but suffer the stress of the prime material through the carving phases: high temperatures can be reached by...

Murray Kuun is a South African luthier who admits he came to the profession relatively late in life, but his passion is in creating fresh designs. “I am not keen on making copies of instruments that have been copied ad nauseam,” he shared. “All my instruments are original designs.” His first bass model is the Elemental, a neck-thru bass with...

This week we check out a cool collaboration between Bee Basses luthier Fred Bolton and Dan Lenard of the boutique bass website Luthiers Access Group. While many Bee Basses instruments are ordered as extended range instruments, Bolton and Lenard decided to create a “normal” bass in the form of a 5-string. The resulting Worker Bee 5 is still beyond normal....

This week we check out the Globe Bass from the bass builders at Fibernare. The Hungarian company was created by brothers Attila, Csaba, and Arpad Benedek who didn’t have access to the guitars they wanted when they were younger and Hungary was behind the iron curtain. The brothers decided to build their own, and continually working to improve their own...

Nearly every bassist loves to plan out their dream bass, and a lucky few get to see that dream come to fruition. This week we check out a beautiful Warwick Custom Shop Infinity that Job for a Cowboy/Cephalic Carnage bassist Nick Schendzielos pieced together. Based on the company’s Infinity body shape, Schendzielos picked out every aspect of the instrument, which...

Chris from Alpher Instruments sent us a few shots of their latest creation, a Mako Elite MBL 5, and we were stunned. The sheer beauty of the deluxe walnut top in the company’s curvy Mako shape makes for one gorgeous instrument. Alpher makes their instruments by hand in their Yorkshire, England shop. This particular bass was commissioned by the Manchester...

The Musicvox Spaceranger Bass looks like it comes out of a ’60s atomic age sci-fi flick. The wacky design is set apart by its elongated lower horn and unique headstock that oozes personality. In this vein, the Spaceranger is built for a vintage bass tone to match its retro vibes. The Spaceranger is built with a mahogany body, maple neck,...

This week we check out the Brubaker Brute MJX series. A production version of luthier Kevin Brubaker’s design, the MJX hints at classic basses with a modern take. The Brute MJX series is available in 4- and 5-string versions. Each bass is built with an alder body, maple neck, and maple fretboard with 22 frets. They sport an MM/J pickup...