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A Twist on Bass Design

Jerome Little designs guitars at Little Guitar Works. He received a grant from the Lemelson Foundation for Invention, Innovation, and Creativity, which supported the research, design, and construction of the first Torzal ergonomic electric bass.

If you haven’t heard of the Torzal twist before, it’s something I’ve been quietly working on for the last 15 years or so.

The idea came about as a way to address the potentially disastrous consequences of repetitive strain injuries, which typically manifest as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Tendonitis.

The twist is designed to alleviate flexion (bending) in the wrists.  It’s the bent wrists which put undo strain on the tendons, and when the tendons become inflamed in the carpal tunnel of the wrist, it pinches the Median Nerve, which is a big bummer for a bass player.

I know that we’ve all come to believe that a twisted neck is bad, and if it wasn’t design to be twisted in the first place, then it usually is.  But the Torzal works.

If you’re having trouble picturing how it works try a quick model, like holding four pencils together in the same plane, then rotating the ends together but in opposite directions to create a twist.  This is what the strings are doing, and the fretboard follows that geometry such that the playing action is the same as a regular bass, and the relief is adjustable with a truss rod, just as on a regular bass.

 

Now, for the first time, this particular bass was taken a step further by adding the multi-scale “fanned frets” to the equation.  This adds the benefit of a longer scale for the bass strings and a short scale for the treble strings.

Ralph Novak patented the fanned fret concept in 1989 (the patent has expired), and although I’ve been a fan (no pun intended) of his work and Sheldon Dingwall and others who’ve employed the concept, I had never done it myself.  I came up with a method for cutting the fret slots using my existing fret slot templates and a pair of saw guides which index on the templates.

In the “old days” I cut the twist in the neck blank using a machine I built which consisted of carriage with a jointer cutter head powered by a skill saw motor which traversed on rails set to the desired twist and in proportion to the taper of the string spacing.  The neck blank sat on a table which could be raised incrementally for successive passes of the cutter. These days I have a buddy with a vertical mill CNC machine which creates the perfect geometry with much less labor than my old fixture.

Once the neck blank is cut, I route and install the truss rod, profile the neck, and glue on the fingerboard in two laminated pieces (so it will bend more easily).  The rest of the construction is fairly typical, however, most of my basses have a radiused body, kind of like a lot of Warwick and Spector basses.  This radiusing on the top and back is done with a router and fixture.

 

This fanned fret 4-string is based on my Torzal “Standard” model, which is a neck-through construction with a 35° twist in the neck.  From the “zero” plane of the body, that total twist consists of 20° downward rotation at the nut and 15° upward rotation at the bridge.

On this bass,the neck is wenge and flame maple, with a killer zircote fingerboard.  The customer specifically requested some of the lighter sap wood edge of the board to be used, which goes well with the exotic figure of the maple top.  To keep the weight down and add some roundness and punch to the tone, it has a light weight spalted maple core, and a thin flamed maple back.

For hardware, it features one of the first production sets of the new Toone & Townsend individual string bridges (I helped beta test the prototypes), Hipshot Ultralight tuners, Nordstrand Fat Stack pickups and an Audere preamp with individual coil tap switches for each pickup.  The Audere also comes with an LED battery indicator, which is a welcomed feature.

 

Jerome Little earned a bachelor’s degree in music and acoustics from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. In November 1996, Jerome displayed the Torzal at the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History.

Jerome has worked for Parker Guitars, Collings Guitars and luthiers Luke Wilson and Lance McCollum. Check out more of his work at Little Guitar Works

 

Want to share your bass work, custom builds, or tips and tricks with the eBass community? We are looking for guest blog posts. If you’re interested, contact Justin at justin@bestbassgear.com

23 thoughts on “A Twist on Bass Design”

  1. I could see me playing this kind of bass because I do feel the pressure on my wrist using the standard fret broad.

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  2. It’s interesting, but looks like a lot of gimmick not to mention a lot of getting used to for whoever plays it. Also balance is an arbitrary thing, notice the angle the bass is “balanced” at, this bass will only balance if that’s the exact angle you use in your playing position. Don’t get me wrong balance is important for sure but is a balancing point is very personal to an individual.

    I also foresee for anyone who purchases one of these twisted necked basses many problems in the future with fret buzzing and getting a reputable guitar tech to do any sort of neck/fret work. If someone came into my shop looking for any sort of repair done to it I’d have to respectfully decline.

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    • I have a bass with a twisted neck made by Jerome, and it really doesn’t take any adjustment to get used to, even less so than a fan-fret instrument. But as far as repairs go, I see your point. Worse comes to worst, I’ll send it back to Jerome for a tune-up.

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      • I have 2 of Jerome’s basses, a J-bird 5 string “straight” neck and a 5 string J with a bolt-on twisted neck. The Torzal neck does require a little “getting use to”, but plays really well, and I can slap, tap and do anything else that I can do on my “normal” basses. I have taken it to a local luthier (Mark Brown, in Campbell, CA0, and he has no problem working on it, when needed. And Jerome has offered to field a phone call from Mark, if needed.
        Jerome makes beautiful, very, very playable instruments.

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  3. I think where you position your bass is the critical factor in avoiding carpal tunnel problems. Ideally you want the center of your bass right at your navel, with the neck angled at anywhere from 30 to 45 degrees. The object is to play your bass with both wrists as straight as possible. A slight bend is OK, but a severe bend can lead to trouble. Go to Google Images and find pictures of Marcus Miller, and look where he has his bass. It’s right where it should be to avoid any problems.

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  4. Great work and great idea Jerome–I hope to try one out one day–takes ergonomic to a whole new level! Do you have any trouble adjusting the neck? How do you go about it?

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  5. Yes, these basses are for sale. I’ve been building custom orders for several years now–4 string, 5 string, headless, fretless, carbon fiber–you name it! I build straight basses too. Click the link to my website and drop me an email!

    The necks are adjustable by truss rod just like any other bass. I can understand it would seem intimidating at first, but they really function like any other bass. Just remember when you’re “reading” the neck, take it string by string. As far as playing goes, you’d be surprised how easy it is to get used to–feels more strange to go back to a straight bass.

    Thanks for including me in your blog, Justin. Keep up the great work!

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  6. Yes I’ve heard of it but have not looked at it mseylf, my German is not good. Holmes seems to have used Kfcrzinger as a major resource so I have assumed that Holmes gave all the fragments that Kfcrzinger did. There is also an Italian work on Papias which is supposed to be top notch, but I haven’t looked at that either. I am planning on working on my German over the next 12 months so I hope that I can go back and revisit many of the German resources. Thanks for the note.

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  7. I need some humor in my life, so I picked up Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. There have not been, as yet, any laugh-out-loud bits, but the ovalrel feel of the book is lighthearted and funny and, as such, is doing the trick.I can’t get through ANY Bill Bryson books without laughing out loud. It startles people in hospital waiting rooms

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    • Im not like a big fan of the guy and wouldnt even know who he is but a friend of mine gave me a book of his to read some years ago (I dont even remember the name of it) and he told a story about his brother having a black eye and borrowing his sisters make-up kit and going into the bathroom. After some time he emerges…with two black eyes
      That book made me howl a few times.

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  8. You know what? ,.. I was bouncing up and down on my hlloow skull like a pogo stick at the beginning, dont ask me how I do this, it just happens, Im going to talk to a bishop next month about it, but anyway, after registering the song through once, I was convinced it was a boring reel, but it had a great ending, then something must have snapped in my mind, to the gnut of a broken box, and I began to think of the song as a whole, would the end be as astounding as it was if you didnt build it up in the way that you did? had I inherited a little brain damage?.. I suppose a few more whistles and bells through the first 2 quarters may have preened the animal for the show sure, that’s what I think Tim and Brad are CRUELLY relating to in thier SCATHING attacks above, but a build up’ is one of the most effective and sensational constructions, a real spike in the punch, to be enjoyed by all when orchestrated well, and I really appreciate your contributions in total and think your song Deep’ is a hit, and is up there with the best on this site so far. Thank you so much for sharing your work, I am voraciously eager for more, it’s scrumptious stuff.

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  9. I’ll see what I can do, but I think the poor guy is traumatized. They’re pterty simple though it’s mostly a matter of gluing everything together, waiting for it to cure, then sticking the lights in the back. Good luck!

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  10. Wow! They really have a unlvlieeabbe chemistry. The girl seems so awesome, she really makes it all! What a lucky guy Thanks for the good work we truly appreciate! This way I got jaw dropping shots of my amazing fiance!

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  11. I hope he considers allowing his patent to expire some day after he retires or makes enough dough to live comfortably. Just like the multi scale bass I believe a lot of could benefit from this design but quite a bit cannot afford a custom made bass guuitar. That being said,I’ve been loosely following Jerome’ s work on this design for a few years and I am glad he is producing instruments as last time I had read about him I dont think he was quite at that stage and still ironing out some details. Anyway,as much as he’s put into this he definitely deserves to reap the rewards,which I believe isnt strictly monetay for Jerome. He was always very passionate about this. I wanna try one of those but alas,I fall into that “cant afford one”cateragory.

    Reply

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