Bass Of The Week: Sei Offset Flamboyant 7-String

This week’s Bass Of The Week from Mark is a Sei 7-string in what they call an “offset flamboyant” shape. This instrument screams pure luxury in every way, from the woods to the hardware to the light-up LED side markers and everything in between. As you’ll read in Mark’s story below, it took a year to make and was well worth the wait.

From Mark:

Sei (pronounced ‘say’) Basses are among the world’s best and are built to order by Martin Petersen and his team at The Bass Gallery in London. I wanted one for 12 years and can still remember the awe I felt when I played one for the first time.

When I was eventually in a position to order one, I’d moved from 6 to 7 string basses. I was in a band where I could trade solos with the guitar player and really love the flexibility of the 7.

It took a while to decide on the spec and it was finalized during an afternoon at The Bass Gallery. It’s walnut body with a lacewood top and back in their ‘Offset Flamboyant’ shape. I wanted to include something for my super-supportive wife on the bass so the veneer is bolivar dyed claret which was the nearest thing to my wife’s favourite colour of pink that we could get.

The wenge/maple thru-neck carries purple side LED’s and a birdseye maple board with my signature laser-etched in mother of pearl at 12th fret. The single pickup is custom wound by Aaron Armstrong and just ran thru a volume control to XLR and mono jacks (this has since been modified to also include a tone control). There’s a little walnut topped series/parallel switch on the side as well, an idea from another Sei bass (I did ask permission to use it!).

The bass took just over a year to make and was so worth the wait. The quality of the craftsmanship is unbelievable and it’s such a comfortable bass to play. It always amazes me how the thru-neck goes between the layers of lacewood and how stunning the grain of the lacewood is. Little wonder as the company who did the finishing usually do roulette tables! The bass has sounds from rich lows to a rounded highs and it really sings. Other players who have tried it comment that although it’s 7 strings, it’s easy to play. OK, the dispute over “do you need more than 4 strings” lives on, but there’s no argument about just how great Sei basses are.

Here are some more photos of the instrument:

More photos including what it looked like during construction are in this Facebook photo album if you’d like to see more detail.

Very nice build, Mark!

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