BITE Guitars

24 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

Are 5ers/6ers available? Any images?

6ers no, 5ers yes: https://bite.guitars/product/5er/

2+3 headstock

4+1 headstock

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

It’s crying  out for the top of the body to be shaped a bit like this ACG and follow the “bite” shape! 

Yeah, we had something like this our mind, but first, the ideal spot is hard to find, and second, it's hard to route, so we went with a plain accent line instead. What matters to us is that the accent line does not follow the body contour in parallel but has a life of its own.

@wateroftyne

We've meanwhile enabled customer ratings to allow for first-hand feedback: https://bite.guitars/customer-ratings/

and BITE Buddies including 5 test locations in the UK: https://bite.guitars/bite-buddies/

On 05/03/2020 at 13:44, binky_bass said:

Gotsta target your target audience!

Even if people are conditioned to like something, (which on one hand I see your point, but on the other I don't 100% agree with as I don't own any Fender basses and I really love the look of all the non-fender headstock I do own (ACG, De Gier, Bee Bass, Conklin, Overwater, Aries, Yamaha, Warwick etc.)) you need to target what they like, be it due to conditioning or not. We're all conditioned in varying degrees, essentially 'conditioning' is what turns the blank slate you are born with into an individual personality.

That being said, I still really do not like (personal opinion) the headstock Bite offer at all. It is (to me) clunky awkward, a bit ugly and really spoils the basses aesthetics and I wouldn't buy from them because of this and this alone. In my humble opinion of course. 

On 05/03/2020 at 15:46, jazzmanb said:

I Spotted the bass on youtube being played by the tapping guy (very well) ,the headstock looked different so I knew it was a lesser known builder but given who was playing thought it must be a decent builder

.I Don't love or hate the headstock ,its just different .Like all the nearly Fenders are.Different like a Bongo is,different like a Dingwall is .

I really don't like the shape of a bongo or a good chunk of basses out there.Some costing 1000s but someone clearly does . I don't like the look of most of the Fenderlikes again some costing a lot of money but clearly some do .I Don't see why BITE and their headstock can't have a place . Some will like it some will not . 

On 05/03/2020 at 11:21, Stub Mandrel said:

I think the point is to show what it would look like with a more conventional headstock.

An option could be buying one and and chopping refinishing the headstock.

.. or order the 4-in-ine headstock: https://bite.guitars/product/4-in-line/

On 06/03/2020 at 16:06, jazzmanb said:

It hasn't alienated all the Fender looky like players out there thus far with their slant on a different head stock .To be fair they've all wandered not too far from the blueprint fender style 

On 06/03/2020 at 15:19, Graham said:

I liked the sound of the pickups in the demo video, which would be enough to make me long-list one ahead of playing one, now there's a headstock option that I don't find completely off-putting. 

On 06/03/2020 at 12:50, Pea Turgh said:

Tony the Tiger stripes, obvs!

On 06/03/2020 at 12:43, BigRedX said:

So if you were why would you consider one of these over a proper Fender, or one of the established and respected copyists such as Sandberg, Maruszczyk, G&L, etc.

On 05/03/2020 at 17:24, binky_bass said:

A Bongo and its overall style is 100% different, and yes totally Marmite. But a 'Fender Copy' with a different headstock pretty much alienates 90% of the market. Sure 10% will dig it, but as a business do you want the 90% or the 10%?

@Skybone

We've manwhile introduced our 24-fret premium model Evening Star with our proprietary body shape: https://bite.guitars/product/evening-star/

34" with figured top

35" XL scale with artwork

 @LukeFRC @Stub Mandrel

Frequency of comments: I am very appreciative of the fact that users of Basschat UK took note of us small builders from Vienna and raised questions, which in turn gives us the opportunity to make our point. Thta said, as much as we are trying our best to stay on top of things happening online, we are only a small team and we've got basses to build, so we don't have the physical resources to monitor and comment on everyhting about us, so please don't be too harsh on us on this count. Also, some posts, such as on Youtube or FB, can be commented on in passing while others would need a quiet weekend morning to consider and respond to. 

 

@binky_bass @prowla

Union Jack: My sincere apologies. We changed the flag. I hope the one presently on display gives no further cause for complaint.  

 

@BigRedX

About the headstock: 

- Is a straight one cheaper to build than an angled one? - Yes.

- Is a straight one less prone to snap one day? - Also yes. No leverage working against one's beloved neck. 

- Is a straight one "better" for sound? - My desire to keep replies short and simple may have gone down the wrong way with some, so here's the long version: 

 

We take neck stiffness extremely serious. Our headstock is thicker than the conventional standard (routed at 17 vs. customary 15mm), we leave extra wood under the nut as pictured in my earlier statement above, and we also shifted wood from the neck pocket bottom to the neck heel (neck heel thickness 28 vs. customary 25,4mm) so that the neck screws have some extra stretch to "bite" into the neck (if done properly, the screws are never supposed to "bite" into the neck pocket bottom, otherwise you won't achieve direct coupling). 

 

Why all these efforts to make the neck thicker, while leaving the playable stretch as thin and comfortable to play as everyone is used to? A tuned 4-string set exerts a tension of 1000 newton (100kg). The neck spans 2 thirds of the scale length and its cross section measures only a tiny fraction of the body's, so in terms of wood, nothing matters as much as a good, stiff neck.

 

We consider a strong, present, resonating growl the most important sound property in a bass. Others may have other priorities, we don't judge, but strong and well-defined output is ours. That's why we went to great lengths to develop our own pickups which generate 1000mV output (as opposed to an average 300mV of pickups with comparable passive design). Without the support of a solid, stiff neck, a strong pickup is of no use. We found that we could implement OUR sound intentions best in a bolt-on, straight headstock design and that's that. 

 

Sceptical anyone? Of course you are, you've never heard of us before. Whoever wants to try our sound and building quality, you can do so in Vienna, New York or the comfort of your home, as we offer a generous return policy, you'll find all info on our front page. 

 

@wateroftyne @binky_bass

Headstock shape: You may have a point, I have to say interest notched up notably since we introduced the short headstock and even more so its matched version which we offer without extra charge. Generally speaking, it really would have felt wrong to us to be the 100th builder with a 4-left headstock just slightly different from 99 others for trademark reasons. We felt way more comfortable with 2-left-2-right and our distinct bite, but here's a question, how would you go about "offering a more traditional headtsock"?

 

@Skybone

Here's our take on custom: in many people's minds it is tantamount to handmade, not in ours. We never pinned "handmade" to our chest. By contrast, we consciously bank on means of digital production (and transparently say so), thus yielding the benefits of consistent quality, cost and time efficiency, and it also enables us to explore new ways of applying artwork to the bass guitar. That body surface together with the pickguard is a big area. We are trying to make something of it in our secret menu for those who want options beyond our configurator. Here's a glimpse on what comes out of it.

Quite a number of orders come into being by way of the ASK US A QUESTION button at the bottom of our configurator. People make use of configurator options as much as they are avialable and then hit this button to ask us if this or that can be done beyond their selected configurator choices.

On 20/01/2020 at 12:43, jazzmanb said:

We're so used to the Fender head stock,its a design classic that its really hard to accept anything other than imitations of it.The headstock is what made me say "what is that ?" when I saw the bass on youtube 

A fresh review of a BITE Jawbone out now: 

Also, what is that now?

10 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

I think it’s called a volute 

Yes, but wrongly so. We elaborate on this misnomer here: https://bite.guitars/neck/ under the heading "Reinforced Headstock Heel"

14 minutes ago, edstraker123 said:

Thanks for the input Wolfgang. Does the longer headstock  and therefore additional weight cause neck dive at all ?

I also flagged an Adamovic bass as exquisite in the ebay section of the marketplace and the headstock shape of that one has been universally condemned too. I guess beutry is in the eye of the beholder.

Good luck with the brand.

Thanks a lot! And no neck dive known to mankind.  Our longer headstock is still ard. 20 mm shorter than Fender's and carries only compact tuners. Our bodies are made from alder, a bit downsized and pool routed, so the average BITE bass weighs between 3,8 and 4 kg and is well balanced.

@jazzmanb @jrixn1 @Richard R @stewblack @wateroftyne @edstraker123 @mcnach @Pea Turgh @Graham @Jean-Luc Pickguard @BrunoBass @Lfalex v1.1 @BassApprentice @PeteHantzios 

On 19/01/2020 at 14:16, wateroftyne said:

Hi Wolfgang

Can you explain this in a little more detail, please? I wasn't aware angled headstocks were inferior to straight.

There are two ways you can go about building an angled headstock. The first one is pictured below, you route it all from one piece. It's a bad idea because it gives you the short grain in the headstock, prone to break and bad for resonance.

Alternatively, you can glue it together from two pieces as a so-called scarf-joint, still you have a glue joint where you don't want to have one for strength and stability reasons. The second picture shows the leverage forces at work in an angled headstock.

The third picture shows how we route our neck-headstock transition: we leave an extra amount of wood underneath the neck's weakest spot. You can compare our drawing with Fig. 4 pictured. This is the extra plus of stiffness our basses have for strong output and sustain.

Source: https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/26529-whats-in-a-neck?page=2

Hi everyone,

This is Wolfgang from BITE Guitars. You guys have been sceptical but fair, thanks, I appreciate this. Yes, we do things differently, from the product design to our online configurator to the way we organize production. Whenever you do things differently, it's bound to raise eyebrows and questions. I'd be surprised if it didn't. So here are a few explanations.

We are not in it for the quick buck, we do nothing on the cheap and we do not source in China. We try to be as transparent as possible, pls check out "Guitar Building 4.0" on our ABOUT US page. Our production is highly digitalized for consistent quality and still our head of production is a licensed luthier who also builds violins with the craftsmanship of his own hands (in Austria you need several years of training, a craftsman examination and a compulsory license to build guitars). 

Our basses were developed in cooperation with professionals from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the venerable luthier school in Hallstatt, and scrutinized and tested by the knowledgeable audience of the Guitar Summit's boutique area, notably trade journalists and bass professionals. Response was overwhelming and till this day we havn't had a single quality complaint. How many bass manufacturers employ graduate bass professionals to QC and test slap each instrument? We do anyway. 

On 18/09/2019 at 18:20, Lfalex v1.1 said:

That headstock is not good. Seems overly long and clumsy.

A straight headstock like ours gives maximum firmness for output and sustain (unlike an angled one). As for straight headstocks, we all have grown to appreciate the 4-left tuner arrangement as industry standard. So why does BITE arrange its tuners 2-left-2-right? 4-left is a pretty crowded party. All 4-left shapes differ slightly between manufacturers for trademark reasons. There are clearly beautiful 4-left shapes out there, but elbowing our way into the 4-left crowd just didn't seem right to us, we wanted to create something of our own.

Our headstock is almost an inch shorter than the ubiquitous 4-left headstock. Since our bodies are also a little reduced in size, the overall proportion between body and headstock is right. This counterweight is important for eliminating dead spots. In addition, our necks have a D-profile that players generally find pleasant and relaxing and that also adds strength along the entire neck and thus contributes to consistently strong output across the whole fretboard.

Another reason for our headstock shape could be called contingency product planning. You don't want to go through trademark registration every time you add a product variation. Our headstock leaves enough space for adding a fifth or even a sixth machine head and also to flip it and reposition the logo for a left-handed version.

To put our headstock in perspective, here's a video of Overdriver Duo (Brazilian sensation with over 2bn clicks and counting). It shows their Jawbone PJ from various angles. 

On 18/09/2019 at 15:13, BassApprentice said:

Also don't think the price is right either - lots of well respected Jazz/P basses around about €1,000

We are talking custom bass. Over a billion choices in custom quality, a fast and visualized online configurator, immediate ordering, worldwide direct shipping, zero tropical wood, high output pickups, etc. This is completely new terrritory in many aspects. It's impossible to offer all of this at entry level prices. 

On 19/09/2019 at 19:37, Cato said:

Are we 100% sure those are the actual pickup covers that come with finished bass ...?

Yes, but we meanwhile offer our pickups also with plain white and plain black covers. Why did we brand them in the first place? They are a proprietary development. We had Germany's foremost scientific pickup experts contributing, GITEC president Prof. Manfred Zollner, GITEC board member Tillmann Zwicker and renowned pickup physicist Helmuth Lemme. We finally achieved what we had in mind: passive pickups with a record output but still a clearly articulated growl that cuts through the mix even with tone rolled off, no muffled mud. Hear it for yourself in Nathan Navarro's review.

On 19/09/2019 at 16:54, Twigman said:

hardly 'custom' with such a limited options list, particularly when it comes to finishes.

For technical reasons and for easy use we focus our configurator on the most popular choices. We can do a lot more than that, ranging from special body finishes, including oil & wax, all the way to implementing special wiring ideas. Those are things that need a little interaction between you and us and require individual pricing, that's why we offer them separately in our SECRET MENU. 

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