Un-traditional Bass Designs

[Ed Friedland]

In this month's BP there's a review of the Andreas basking Shark bass. An unusual design, sporting an aluminum fretboard. Is there room for improvement in bass design or are manufacturers just looking for shock value in a jaded marketplace? Any unusual designs that are favorites out there? Hey, we all laughed at the Steinberger when it first came out, who knows, maybe one day ALL basses will have aluminum fingerboards (and entire meals will be eaten in pill form, and pigs will fly out of ......) http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Sampoerna]

The folks at BunnyBass have a gallery of amusing basses and guitars --> link .

 

I'm really partial to the Girlbrand designs and would love to have Mr. Larsen design or decorate a bass for me sometime. I'm quite partial to his FatGirl bass. Lovely!

 

As far as an aluminum fretboard goes, I'd have to hear it before I can pass judgement. I don't think I'd like the feel of it, but I'm a big fan of innovation. Just don't call me out when the instruments made from Soylent Green start showing up.

 

 

http://www.geocities.com/geodanny/gifs/music/Kiss_gene.gif

 

 

 

 

This message has been edited by Sampoerna on 02-19-2001 at 01:12 AM

[dude_dup3]

Oh Ed!!! Don't even get me started!

 

I could suck up all the bandwidth you have on this topic but I won't. My personal favorite from the NAMM Show was the Spalt Matrix Bass.

 

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=637760&a=11582659&p=40527290

[rumpelstiltskin.]

not that it's revolutionary, but i really like the sound of reverend's rumblefish, which uses a kitchen counter for its body.

[dtituspacbell.net]

Sometime around 1992 I was asked (and paid well) to demonstrate the Robertson Rotoneck bass for a group of investors. For those of you who never heard of this monstrosity, it was basically a 4X4 piece of lumber with bass fingerboards on three of the four sides. (ie: 5-string fretted, 4-string fretted, and 4-string fretless)

 

It was very hard to play and sounded ok. The investors liked it, but they were all pretty drunk. Obviously, nothing ever came of it...

 

I am a huge fan of basses, and even though the Rotoneck left me clutching to traditional designs, I really encourage luthiers to continue to shift the paradigm.

 

Dale

[Ed Friedland]

Girlbrand guitars are made right here in sunny Tucson! They are cool looking. The bass is a true original. I played one at Guitars Etc.in Tucson and while I could appreciate the uniqueness of it, I don't think it's the axe for me.

 

Yeah, the Spalt bass is another one. Way far out!

 

Probably the strangest axe I ever had in my possesion was the Parker Fly bass. Remember the white one on the cover of BP back in the 90's? I was one of a few bassists that Ken Parker lent that bass to for evaluation. I had it for about a month or so and took it out on lots of gigs. It was pretty unusual looking at the time, but compared to the Spalt or Fat Girl, it's almost conservative now. It was an amazing instrument though, lightweight red cedar body covered in a carbon exo-skeleton for rigidity. A Fishman transudcer bridge (the predecessor to the bass "Powerbridge" he's making now for several companies). It had an EMG humbucker for magnetic pickups and a blend control. A very fast responding bass, I used it on jazz gigs with just the piezo and it sounded very cool. I saw Ken at NAMM and he gave me the impression that it may come back to the drawing board in the near future. Now, THAT I'd play even if it does look like a Klingon battle cruiser!