The ultimate bass guitar

[Benthic]

This would be my ultimate bass. I dub it the "Byzantine Bass".

 

Starting at the top, the headstock is big and rectangular, like a Gibson Ripper. The tuners are wide and flat and made of brass. The nut is also made of brass.

 

The neck:

Scale is 34 inches. The maple neck is wide like a P-bass. It has 21 large, brass frets.

The rosewood fretboard has large block inlays like a 70's J-bass, and it features binding.

It is a bolt-on, but it has a double trussrod.

 

The mahogany body is completely symmetrical. It wil be round like the Ripper but with wider horns like a P-bass. The wood has a deep, thick, shiny finish like an art-deco coffee table.

The neck pickup is a large humbucker, with a huge brass oversized pickup cover.

The bridge pickup, however, is a small lipstick-tube affair.

The bridge is oversized and brass, and it features lots of big screws. (The screws on this bass are not small and inconspicuous but big and round-headed and brass.)

The bass features a uselessly oversized ornate brass pickguard. The pickguard is pointillistically engraved with a pattern, not unlike a Selmer saxophone. (look at a saxophone for the general feel of the design.)

The pickguard is joined up with the bridge and the neck pickup, but not with the bridge pickup, which is chrome, for contrast.

Of course, this would make it impossible to remove the pickguard without also removing the bridge. For that reason there are large hinges, so you can open the electronics cavity without moving the bridge. The electronics cavity is not accessible from the back.

There is a small brass thumbrest on the bass side of the strings. Those strings are medium-heavy gauge flatwound. The action is fairly high. It is not a slapper's bass.

 

It probably weighs around 27 pounds.

 

Also, a basic version is available, with the same design but without any of the ornamentation. No pickguard, binding or deep finish.

This model will be called the "philistine bass".

 

So, what would your ultimate bass look like?

[cornbread_medhotmail.com]

A Stingray, only lighter

[lug]

Just like benthic's only heavier, with built in casters.

[Jeff Addicott]

A stingray 5-string with a graphite neck, 35" scale, full 3/4" string spacing and a not-ugly headstock & pickguard. There would be the usual series / parallel / single coil switch, and the preamp would be the Aguilar OBP-1. For me, that would be THE ultimate machine to take to a gig.

 

For possible extra tone options, add a neck pickup and / or a Rick Turner piezo bridge.

 

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Jeff Addicott

http://www.jeffnet.org/~addicott/bass.html

[KAP]

I really like the Guild Starfire's design, with double cutaways, and a wide, round body. I'm surprised more basses don't have that "Lucille" type body, maybe because it's not as balanced as the P-bass shape.