One of our more popular items we sell are bass tuning machines. Oftentimes, owners of older basses will replace the machines on their vintage instruments. While the originals still work, the gears are long past their prime simply due to wear, so replacements are necessary. Once the replacements are installed, it’s common the owner will … Read more
The feature bass this week is described as a “considerable upgrade.” Builder Michael Jones writes: I had never attempted a guitar build before so I opted to go with a kit from ‘the Fret Wire’; they were great to work with and were willing to accommodate special requests. I started this build in April 2017 … Read more
The feature bass this week has a very nice Michigan White Ash body. Builder Bob DeKorne writes: A bandmate asked me to build him a “bass mate” for his beloved old Tele – maple neck, ash body, aged white pick guard. So I took him a slab of 1 3/4″ Michigan White Ash, and he … Read more
There are many bassists who would immediately say “WHY would you do this?”, especially considering there is a zero-modification option where the thumb rest is concerned. The answer is that adding on bridge and pickup covers and a thumb rest to a Fender bass is done mostly for appearance. True, there are some bassists who … Read more
The feature bass this week was inspired by two of the builder’s favorite bass players. Builder Augusto Sanchez from White Whale Guitars writes: The inspiration for this bass was born in the idea of making an hybrid that two of my favourite bassist could use: Stuart Zender and Les Claypool. Body woods are: walnut on … Read more
We get asked (a lot) if there are any demos of what certain pickups we sell sound like. For Bartolini P pickups, there is a helpful video below that will give you an idea of what you can expect. The pickups heard in the video below are the Bartolini 8S, Bartolini 8SU, Bartolini 8CBP and … Read more
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
