This week’s BotW that arrived in the featureme@bestbassgear.com inbox comes from Keith, who had his bass custom built by Stambaugh Musical Design in New Hampshire, USA.
Keith (the buyer) was a part of the design process as Chris (the builder) constructed the instrument for him.
Keith writes:
Chris Stambaugh is a Luthier in Alton N.H. I am very fortunate to know Chris on a personal level as he has built me 5 (including this sweet gem) basses over the past 16 years. It was also quite thrilling to be a part of the design process on this build. The top is a quilted mahogany with ebony,alder and maple inlaid parallelograms. An Alder body and walnut backing 36″ fingerboard of Indonesian ebony. Big ol’ Bartolini’s and eventually will be placing an Aguilar pre-amp and double stacked knobs 5 piece laminate neck. Hipshot De-tuners.
Guitars built by Stambaugh are a sight to behold, no question about it. And they play and sound just as good as they look.
Would you like to have your build featured for Bass of the Week? Send an email with a few photos and the story of your build to featureme@bestbassgear.com.
it looks like a more refined and finished Wishbass. Pretty cool
That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking…Wishbass Peanut!
4 detuners reminds of the Zon Hyperbass a’la Manring. Always love what I see come out of Stambaugh’s shop. Never a dissapointment
Chris and i had the Hyperbass in mind when designing this.But with his own take on it. I myself have been blown away by Chris’s work and thank you for your comment. 🙂
The woodwork is awesome, the headstock is simple but unique and the hipshot tuners are a great addition. I’m just not a fan of the shape. I dunno what it is, maybe that it’s too fat the bottom? Just my opinion
Love it!
I do not quite get the exposed tuner baseplates; I would think that that would drive the headstock design. Does not appear resolved in that regard… the ergonomics of the upper register accessibility are impressive…
Unresolved headstock/ tuner relationship
I see a certain unresolved design issue: why are the tuner plates visible from the the front of the headstock?
Awesome wood finish and beautifull looking bass. I agree on the headstock comments. Also looks a bit worrying from the a strenght point of view that the neck bolts on directly under the pups where the body is going to be fairly thin.
Nick. UK
Manring fan? Could’ve saved a bundle by getting a Wishbass
I really like the attention paid to the inlays (from someone who may try that sometime, but in the meantime, can truly appreciate the effort required to get it right). I also like the body shape, sort of an exaggerated pistol grip on top, with plenty of upper-register room on the bottom.
The tuner plates look like they could have been shifted to the side a bit, in combination with a smaller headstock hole.
All in all, though, my comments are armchair quarterbacking. I’ve built a few instruments myself now, and can appreciate what it takes to craft work of this quality.
And as long as the owner loves it, it doesn’t matter one whit what anyone else thinks, myself included. Enjoy your bass!
What a sweetheart!!! WOW!!!
It’s sort of like me a refined version of the Danelectro Longhorn, I dig it!