Bass of the Week - Page 51

Based in Avezzano, Italy, the luthiers at Meridian Guitars know a thing or two about style. That’s evidenced in their Aural II bass, and though each one is built to order, this particular Aural II really struck me. The pickups include a pair of Meridian’s magnetic pickups as well as a Roland GK-3 MIDI controller. The control layout, which looks...

The Shuker Singlecut Elite is one beautiful instrument. Built by luthier Jon Shuker in the UK, the bass is highly customizable with options running from number of strings to top wood to construction type. Standard features include a 7-piece laminated neck made of maple, wenge, and padauk, a walnut body core, and a fingerboard of either Rio Rosewood, ebony, or...

This week we take a look at the Citron AE4 and AE5 Swallow Basses built by luthier Harvey Citron in collaboration with jazz legend Steve Swallow. Citron first presented Swallow with one of his acoustic/electric basses, and their work went from there. It was Steve’s perfectionism that pushed the bass builder to invent a new bridge. “Working with Steve has...

Luthman is a company that puts out some pretty intricate work yet also knows simple elegance, the latter of which is evidenced in their Natural model. Handmade in France by luthier Thierry Etienne, the Natural has a unique, fluid body style with customizable options. Available in 4-, 5-, 6-, and 7-string configurations, standard features on the Natural include an ovangkol...

There are lots of interpretations of the old J-bass, but one that strikes me most is the BeBop made by Dutch boutique shop De Gier. It offers a little more in the curves department with subtle tweaks to set itself apart from the classic design. Available in 4- or 5-string versions, the De Gier BeBop comes standard with an alder...

In experimenting with neck designs, German luthier Rüdiger Ziesemann was looking for a way to improve sustain in his Bassline brand designs. He came up with a radical neck profile with extended mass and a groove on the back for your thumb. The concept was first introduced into his electric upright model called the Universal, but bass guitarist wanted in...

Schecter’s Stargazer-4 is a quirky take on basses of years past. The old school-inspired 4-stringer is built for versatility with EMG’s MMHZ humbucking pickup in the bridge position and the EMG SJHZ single-coil pickup in the neck position. For further tonal adjustments, the bass has an EMG active 2-band EQ in addition to a pickup blend knob. The Stargazer-4 features...

Few basses can define a company as easily as Spector’s NS-2. Originally designed by Ned Steinberger in 1979, the company’s flagship P/J style bass provides the blueprint for many of their designs. The American-made NS-2 features neck-thru construction with a 3-piece maple neck reinforced with carbon fiber rods. Fingerboards can be pau ferro, birdseye maple, or other woods depending on...

I’ll admit it – I’m a sucker for boutique top woods. That’s why I had to do a double take when I saw Nordstrand’s first NX5 Bolt-on bass guitar. Its spalted maple top and matching headstock have a gorgeous textural look with striking light and dark contrasts thanks to the spalting, which is naturally created in wood by fungi. Equally...

Hungarian boutique bass shop Blasius designed their Bali model for players who prefer a more classical sounding instrument. Knowing versatility is key, they also included electronics to give it the ability to sound modern, too. Here’s a gorgeous fretless 4-string version of the Bali, built with an 8-piece body of ash, maple and walnut. The bolt-on neck is a 9-piece...

In 1955, Walter Hofner came up with the idea to make a short scale bass guitar with a violin-shaped hollow body. The idea came to life the next year at the Frankfurt trade show and made its rounds, eventually landing in the hands of Beatles member Paul McCartney, who had to switch from guitar to bass following the departure of...

Polish luthier Piotr Zakrzewski has some pretty great bass designs, including his Exclusive model. The mid-range of his three basic basses, the Exclusive is a double-cut bass with the lower horn being significantly deeper to provide easy access to the very end of the fingerboard. The Exclusive EX1 01 really caught my eye with its faux f-hole, which provides more...