One of the larger groups of customers we have at Best Bass Gear are men and women who play bass in church. Make no mistake, there are some seriously talented individuals who play in houses of worship. Some think of worship music as being nothing but big orchestral musical pieces using large pipe organs, many … Read more
Stabilized buckeye can make for a wild looking bass. Special note: There is a video below from the owner of this instrument that further explains how this wild look is achieved. Owner Micah Terry writes: This is my second build with Shawn. Back in 2015, I started researching Luthiers to possibly build me a custom … Read more
It’s one thing to hear an isolated Rush studio track played by Geddy Lee, but totally another to hear the raw live sound. Below is Rush playing The Spirit of Radio live with Geddy’s bass isolated. You hear all the string buzzing, all the fret clacking, all finger dragging across the strings, all the string … Read more
Max Kay’s nephew Jeremy Kay makes an appearance in a Reverb video (seen below) describing how to get that beloved Motown bass tone played by bass great James Jamerson. Something very important to note in the video is that Motown did not use amplifiers for studio recordings. What they used was their version of a … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here The feature bass this week is a lefty that started out as “beautiful yet a little bit ugly”, and it lights up. Greg Silva from Wrong Way Customs writes: This build began with the simple idea to build a green bass. I also had a piece … Read more
The Fender Jazz Bass was originally introduced in 1960 as the “Deluxe” model, and shortly afterward renamed to “Jazz Bass”. From ’60 to ’62, this bass featured stacked knob controls. The chrome upper portion is the volume control and the black lower is the tone control. What came after the stacked knob controls is what’s … Read more
The feature bass for this week is a very nice semi-hollow 32-inch scale that takes some inspiration from a 1930’s Martin instrument. Builder Tom Rodriguez from Rodriguez Electrics writes: The bass I entered was a custom build for a customer that wanted a mahogany body & neck and an ebony fretboard, semi hollow bass. He … Read more
We are often asked (especially for Bass of the Week feature basses) to hear what specific bass gear sounds like. Below is a video demo of something we carry, the Bartolini 9CBJD. This particular pickup set is designed to have an extended and more resonant frequency range. They’re also designed to have more definition without … Read more
In this build step we shape out the forearm contour. This contour is not absolutely necessary but many bass players like it because it makes for a more comfortable playing experience whether seated or standing. Below: Guitar body, Surform file, 80-grit sandpaper, adjustable F-clamp, small sanding wood block for use as caul. Below: The line … Read more
See the business listing for this bass builder here Touch Singleton from www.singletonguitars.com scores another BOTW with this fine build. Touch writes: Custom Made Sensei5 for NY Session Player, Ray Archie 1 Piece Swamp Ash body with Quilted Maple Top Flamed Maple Neck with Bubinga Board Hipshot Bridge with Acoutiphonic Saddles Hipshot Tuners Audere 4 … Read more
