The feature bass this week has gone through several changes to get where it is now and has been in the possession of the owner for over 30 years. Jay Wilson writes: This bass began as a project in 1984 when I lived in Honolulu when I was 19 with inspiration from fretless players as … Read more
If you want to talk about custom basses, the one that John Entwistle played in his later career (as in from 1985 until his passing) is pretty much as custom as it gets. For simplicity’s sake, the bass John played as shown above is a Buzzard bass. That’s not a company but rather a model … Read more
The feature bass this week was inspired by the fairer sex. This custom bass was inspired by beautiful creatures – Women! Its shape and delicate beauty creates a wonderful mental picture! It is a 34″ scale with top basswood, center and back of mahogany and a neck thru design of maple and mahogany. It features … Read more
The SansAmp Bass Driver DI (which we carry) is considered by many bassists to be an indispensable tool when it comes to tone shaping… …but can it recreate famous bass tones all on its own? This video below shows some of what this little black box is capable of doing: Yes, the bassist does use … Read more
The feature bass this week is all about the flower power. Builder Drew Wills writes: Wanted something different so I purchased a PBass body and had my talented wife painted the body in a sort of psychedelic/talavera pottery style. She enjoyed painting it so much that we purchased 4 more bodies for her to paint. … Read more
Steve Harris is considered one of those most influential heavy metal bass players of all time, and the simple answer to the question of “What is Steve Harris bass tone?” is P bass. Lots and lots of P bass. Typical to many hard rock/metal recordings of years past, the bass is usually placed squarely in … Read more
This week’s feature build is 19th century style with a modernist take. Builder Sergey Poedinko writes: Style and aesthetics came when I tried to imagine how might look like the hi-end custom bass of the 19th century. Things back days were made solid but beautiful. I like the aged look of really old musical instruments … Read more
A rather large complaint by bassists that are fans of Metallica is that in the original studio recordings for the album …And Justice For All, Jason Newsted’s bass can barely be heard. The response to this by Metallica fans who wanted to hear the best was to literally remix the entire album using the tools … Read more
The feature bass this week is made from korina, which is typically not an easy wood to work with. Builder Wesley Wilson writes: One piece Korina, covered with an image of the Carina nebula. The headstock is overlayed with an image of the Cats Eye nebula. The pickups are Wilde Bill Lawrence’s J45’s. They are … Read more
Many bass players find the delay effect to not be all that useful only because they haven’t been shown an example of where it can not only be used but used well. For one of the best examples of bass with delay added in that worked phenomenally well, we have to go all the way … Read more
