The selected bass this week features a unique design with some great history.
John writes:
I built this bass with the help of my friend Drew in 1981. At that time there was not a large market of replacement pick ups and parts available to the general public. You would basically buy an instrument off-the-shelf and make the best of it. I wanted to build something different that would take advantage of the emerging parts market that had become available to players.
My neighbor was a carpenter so I built the body and the electronics cavity cover from a piece of wood from his shop. I don’t recall what kind of wood I used but I do remember there were no knots and the grain was very tight. The neck was from Philip Kubicki. The bridge is one of the first Kahler bass tremolos. The pick ups are an original set of EMG active PJs. The tuning keys are from Schaller. It has an original Hipshot DTuner and a Fathead attached to the back of the headstock for added sustain.
It saw a lot of action in its day and unfortunately suffered some damage from a 15 foot fall off of a stage.
This bass was the prototype for a guitar that Drew built the following year that would eventually become the Guild Bladerunner. The Bladerunner is the guitar that most people recognize from the Aerosmith/Run DMC “Walk This Way” video.
Well done!
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I’m truly amazed at the overall design and appointments. It really has the Bladerunner staples from the pickup and bridge selection, right down to the body cuts. The finish is a lot cooler than what Guild ended up doing for the 93 guitars that they produced. As an owner of one of those few, I came upon an (even) rarer. BladeRunner bass at a pawn shop in Vancouver B.C. If I had known then what I do now, I would have picked it up and had a matched pair of 6 and 4 strings . Thanks for sharing your creation!
Thanks Chris. Most appreciated!
I really have to credit Drew for help with a lot of the design vision. I had a concept and an idea and he helped me to execute the finished product. From this the Bladerunner started to really take shape. I did the finish myself with a base coat and some electrical tape. He had a spray booth in his apartment and I spent a few days just getting it done.
I know the bass you’re talking about. They’re next to impossible to find. They play great and sound great too.
All the best!
Wow, this thing is sick! Kubicki made some great stuff. Is it a lot lighter hollowed out, and does it have any neck dive?
Hi Steve. Thanks for the kind words! Kubicki did make some amazing stuff back in the day. That neck is almost 40 years old and has never needed an adjustment. After many tours and much abuse it’s still as straight as an arrow. Rock solid neck. The holes give it somewhat of a more acoustic property – particularly with the P pickup. No neck dive – the neck is pretty light and the heavy mass Kahler whammy bridge balances out the extra weight of the Fathead and the Hipshot. It’s really well balanced. We weren’t thinking of that when we built it. Just got luck. Cheers!