Bass of the Week - Page 54

Mixing retro and modern, Reverend’s Decision bass is their take on the “P/J” style, with the company’s Split Brick pickup in the neck position and their J-Rails in the bridge position. The pickups are blended with a Pan knob, which Reverend says let you go from “funk to thump and all points in between.” The Decision is built with a...

This week we’re taking a look at the Laurus Quasar T900-XR, a bass that takes a step away from the norm without losing its style and sensibility. Hand-made in Italy, the T900-XR is available in 4, 5, and 6-string models as well as fretted or fretless. One of the bass’s most identifiable features is it’s unique headstock and “end of...

Hand made in Italy, the Wood & Tronics Chronos is the company’s take on the single cut design, and a great one at that. Wood and Tronics was founded by Enrico Pasini and luthier Erik Furlan after Pasini, who was a frequent visitor and admirer of the Fodera Guitars shop, decided to follow his dream of making his own custom...

Described as a “down and dirty,” no-frills bass, the Bootleg Guitars Dawg 4 bass gets its name from the Cleveland Browns’ Dawg Pound of which we assume luthier Jon Hill is a member. Hill, who is based in Cleveland, explains he designed the bass for the working musician. The 4-string version of the Dawg has a 34” scale and is...

Gerald Marleaux’s artistic flair really shines through in his Diva model, a fretless bass with an avant-garde body shape and three-octave rosewood fingerboard. Designed to have an acoustic resonance reminiscent of an upright bass, the neck-through bass is built with a three-piece padauk neck with a custom choice of woods for the body wings and top. The Diva includes a...

This week we take a look at Chillbass Guitars’ Pantera, a sleek fretless bass that takes its cues from minimalism. The bass has a medium, 32″ scale, which the French bass builder explains lowers the string tension and ultimately aids upper register tones, playability, and adds to a “fat low end.” The Pantera has a swamp ash body, maple neck...

Named after a butterfly found in southern Spain, the JanAid Yolanda 5 bass draws inspiration from nature. This week, we check out the latest incarnation of the bass, which is also a signature model for Baltimore-based player Bob Abbott. The Yolanda 5 was built with a variety of woods, utilizing their “defects” to create a a piece of art. The...

Luthier Jerzy Drozd’s Barcelona design was made in collaboration with famed flamenco bassist Carles Benavent, who spent time playing with Paco de Lucia, Chick Corea and Miles Davis. The bass, named after the city they both live in, is built after Benavent’s unique playing style. “With the help of Carles, I tried to design the instrument according to his previous...

While this bass may conjure images of ZZ Top, the idea for the Bas-Extravaganza Fluffy actually came to proprietor Bas Wittenberg on a trip through IKEA. The luthier saw a rug and immediately decided to put it to use as a “finish.” “This is a real party bass,” he writes. “Women love it, and men want to shave.” Measuring at...

This week we take a look at the Frog Omega Europe 5 bass from Maruszczyk Instruments, a custom instrument designed on the company’s Frog series. Built on an alder body, the bass a quilted maple theme, with the figured wood being used for the top, fingerboard, headstock, and pickup covers. The set-in neck is made of hard rock maple. The...

Some basses are a piece of history, and then some are made from pieces of history. As part of their Master Builder Collection, Polish company Mayones unveiled the Elegance 5 Paper, a limited edition 5-stringer covered with reprints of newspapers, some dating back 100 years. The clippings are from all over the world: Poland, the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and...

This week we look at the Spalt Instruments vViper, a custom built bass with a unique pickup design that pivots. The idea for the “wiper” arm pickup is the brainchild of proprietor Michael Spalt, a luthier who started building after studying film, photography and painting in San Francisco. After consulting on it with Bill Bartolini, the end result allows infinite...