See the business listing for this bass builder here
The feature bass this week is a hollow body with beveled top (cool!)
Builder David Smith from Christopher Bass Guitar writes:
I’ve been a bass player for 35 years and full time luthier for about 18 years. For the first ten years the main part of my business was building f-5 mandolins. On the side, I logged red spruce trees in Maine, cut and sold the tonewood, manufactured CNC top and back plates for various archtop instruments and sold them to other luthiers. Over the course of time, selling CNC plates became the majority of my work, and building instruments took a back seat. Early last year I decided it was time to build the electric bass I had always wanted to build, but never had time to get to. Building that bass reignited my passion for building instruments and along with building a couple acoustic basses I refined the design of the first electric bass and this is the result.
It’s a bevel-top hollow body electric bass. The top and back are curly soft maple, and the “core” is cherry. Neck is lightly curled rock maple with an ebony fingerboard that has a compound radius, and large size acoustic guitar frets. Inlay and truss rod cover are mother of pearl. The pickups are Bartolini quad coil humbuckers.
This bass is passive with volume, blend and push pull tone/coil switching knobs. Right now the tone/coil switching knob lets me choose both pickups in humbucker mode, or the two outside coils in single coil mode. I plan on adding a 3 way switch so I can choose outside coils, inside coils or humbucking. Running this bass passive allowed me to load all the electronics through the pickup routs into the fully enclosed/shielded control cavity, so no control cover on the back.
Since this bass was completed I have six more in progress with several small refinements to the design. Several of them will have active electronics and several will be passive. Once they are finished I will start on an acoustic/electric hybrid with either an arched or bevel top. The top will be truly “acoustic” and free to vibrate, but it will also have an electric pickup to blend with a piezo.
Well done!
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Beautiful work of art and form!
Thanks!
Nice! I lkie the design and color. Would love to hear what sounds like!
I’ll try to make a recording soon and post it on the website.
http://www.smithcreekmandolin.com/christopherbassguitar.html
Beautiful bass!! Would love to hear what it sounds like!! A video please!!
WOW! I usually dont care for some of these builds. They are often overdone but this one is classy. Nice work.
Thanks! I really appreciate the “classy” comment. My goal was to build a bass that would look classy, but not look “out of place” on stage with a rock and roll band.
you can watch the build process here…
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/hollow-body-bevel-top-dual-build.1207073/
So you mention more in pipeline. Do you have them for sale?
Hi Tom. I will be selling the six I am working on as soon as they are finished, which should be over the course of the next month. Buffing out the finish on them right now. Assembly and electronics up next. Here’s a link to a temporary webpage with some pics of the six basses in progress. If you or anyone else is interested contact me through the website and I can answer any questions you have. Thanks!
http://www.smithcreekmandolin.com/christopherbassguitar.html
some people were born to be artists.
I really think this bass is basically gorgeous, but l dislike the straight bottom where the horn should be. If a complimentary shaped horn like the top one was applied, it would be just sublime and virtually unbeatable cosmetically. l don’t really understand why this has been done because access to the top frets is almost impossible in its current shape. I suppose it might have been a prototype…Apologies for the negativity!
No worries, not negative, everyone has different taste, and I actually did go back and draw a version with a lower horn. I like the look of that also, but it immediately lost any distinctiveness and originality.. If you’ve ever seen an f-5 mandolin you might recognize where some of my influences come from. As far as the ftres go, it was designed to have 20 accessible frets like a P-bass or Rickenbacker. The last 4 frets are there mainly because the neck is set in the body.
Hi Dave, you’ve explained your reasoning very well indeed and l get where your coming from…The bass is absolutely magnificent in looks, but as you’ve said we all have our different tastes.
Sweeeeeeet! Nice work! Man, are you talented!
Absolutely gorgeous. How can we hear it?! 🙂
Yes!!! Would love to hear it:) thanks
What a work of art would love to own one
Pure sculpture well executed; bravo!
Original body shape and a stunning finish!
OMG that is a thing of beauty!! Talk about love at first sight. Amazing job, well done.
Gorgeous bass man! I really like that take on the mandolin in the design of the body too! Keep up the great work!
Beautiful instrument!!!
Hi, this bass looks (and surely sound) like a (my) dream ! As an ASPERGER (~ medium scale… Lol) I’m trying to play bass since 1985 (I’m 50) but I had a ‘wood passion’ since… Maybe before my souvenirs, so looking at that bass brings tears in my eyes, so perfect looking and ‘feeling’ !
Thanks a thousand time to share your Talent.
Franck
Absolutely stunning!
I’ve searched for a hollow body electric bass for years, and this looks like the one for me! Have you made any 5 string models?
Ted, I will be doing a 5 string version early next year. Before that I’ll be making a couple acoustic/electric hybrid basses. If you keep an eye on my website or the “Luthier’s Corner” section of Talkbass you can follow the progress of both.
http://www.smithcreekmandolin.com/christopherbassguitar.html