Graphite (Steinberger vs Status)

[ped]

Great post Chris 

[bassaussie]

25 minutes ago, ped said:

Great post Chris 

Yeah, but I'm still not clear on whether he likes them or not!

Seriously though ....  awesome post. Definitely looking forward to more posts.

[Chris2112]

My next great love in this field was Status Graphite. It came at a period in my late teens and early 20's when I was obsessed with Level 42 and Jonas Hellborg, so the instruments had a certain allure even before I had held one. The first I ever played was an S2 in a shop in Newcastle and though I couldn't afford it at the time, I was hooked. 

Before I start talking about my first Status bass, I want to refer to a post I saw on Basschat many years ago regarding a jazz bass with a Status neck that was for sale. If memory serves, this was a very early model with the old 'GMT' logo on the headstock and pickups (I think I am correct in saying the very early Status instruments were branded GMT for 'Green Machine Technology' and a company of the same name is listed on Companies House, based in Colchester with a Mr. Robert Green as the director). This particularly bass was had a yellow tinted carbon fibre neck and interestingly, there were some visual imperfections seen in the weave. This was because it is not always possible to get the graphite cloth laid exactly flat into the mold and that can produce a 'creased' effect in the finished product. What this indicated was that whilst this was still 'space age' technology in the literal sense, we were still looking at handmade products crafted by visionary designers who were still figuring things out. 

Fast forward to my first Status, a 1996 headed Stealth six string. This thing was utterly flawless, and showed how Status Graphite had gone from innovative upstarts to undisputed masters of the field. The finish was like glass, the weave was utterly perfect and there was barely a manufacturing mark on it. As an aside, I think the 90's were the high point for Status basses in general with products like this and the Jonas Hellborg bass with it's 36v preamp. The wood selection from those days was also uniformly stunning, just a real high point in bass design in general and the old catalogues from those days make me very nostalgic, even though I didn't start playing bass myself until the year 2000 or 2001. I am a stickler for small details and the old 'Hyperactive' pickups with the red script and rounded edges were just divine, they sounded incredible and the rounded edge was ideal as a thumb rest.

The Stealth was just incredible and is one the bass I really regret selling. The tone was so deep and rich, with loads of midrange flex and burp. It was very light, balanced perfectly and felt so sturdy.  

I later picked up a Matrix with a P/J pickup configuration. I enjoyed this bass and it had a good sound but otherwise was not particularly noteworthy for me. Light, excellent balance, top quality hardware as one might expect. 

I don't think I've owned any other Status basses save for a 1987 Series II. Now, this one was a world-beater in terms of design. I still don't think the 'flagship' Status product in the 'S' series has been bettered. The tone was very aggressive, the notes really just flew out of this thing. I was playing it through an Ashdown Mark King amp at the time and it probably came at the zenith of my love for bright, super-modern tone. General opinion seems to be that tonally, the later basses were never quite as bright or aggressive as the Series II models. I had always believed that the 'cricket bat' design of attaching wooden wings to the carbon fibre neck and body portion had accounted for this. Even with the extended set neck, no other Status 'S' bass had as much carbon fibre in it as the Series II did. Mine literally looked as though it had come out of a time machine, even the brass hardware was bright and clean. In terms of basses, at the time I thought 'if I ever felt like a bass imposed 0% impediment on my ability to play, this is it'. 

All these years later though, it's the Stealth 6 string that keeps me awake at night. I have often thought about putting a call in to the workshop and seeing if - if only - they could make another as a special order. If they still had the old rounded Hyperactive pickup casings and the mold to build the headed Stealth I 6 string shape again, I would not hesitate to make an order. However, I had heard in the past that Rob was not particularly keen on 'one off' builds like this. Maybe some day I will make that call. On the other hand, I will always love the original Kingbass and yet I've not owned one of those...

 

Apart from when I'm playing UZEB stuff, I rarely slap these days and yet Status was always about so much more than that for me. The finger style tone is incredible and hearing that tone from my own amp was like going from watching a VHS to sitting in front of a super-rich 4K monitor running at 100FPS. It was '3D' in a way, with a depth and character that seemed more than just a flat wave of sound washing out of your amp. For all his design and engineering genius, more needs to be said about Rob Green's ability to wind a pickup and voice a preamp. Incredible...

 

In my next and final post, I will round up a few thoughts on other things I've owned like Zon, SKC Bogart and Zoot basses, as well as putting forward a few thoughts on some other notable names in this corner of the bass world. The stuff on Bogart will probably be of interest to some, as Stefan Hess is like the Rob Green of Germany and yet the basses that his products went into are arguably still relatively unknown and underappreciated outside of mainland Europe and they are probably the last bargains to be had in this field. I've kept my Bogart Blackstone longer than I kept any Status, so maybe there is something to that...

[wintoid]

Better and better, I was thinking about Bogart lately. Thanks for another interesting post!

[Cuzzie]

35 minutes ago, Chris2112 said:

My next great love in this field was Status Graphite. It came at a period in my late teens and early 20's when I was obsessed with Level 42 and Jonas Hellborg, so the instruments had a certain allure even before I had held one. The first I ever played was an S2 in a shop in Newcastle and though I couldn't afford it at the time, I was hooked. 

Before I start talking about my first Status bass, I want to refer to a post I saw on Basschat many years ago regarding a jazz bass with a Status neck that was for sale. If memory serves, this was a very early model with the old 'GMT' logo on the headstock and pickups (I think I am correct in saying the very early Status instruments were branded GMT for 'Green Machine Technology' and a company of the same name is listed on Companies House, based in Colchester with a Mr. Robert Green as the director). This particularly bass was had a yellow tinted carbon fibre neck and interestingly, there were some visual imperfections seen in the weave. This was because it is not always possible to get the graphite cloth laid exactly flat into the mold and that can produce a 'creased' effect in the finished product. What this indicated was that whilst this was still 'space age' technology in the literal sense, we were still looking at handmade products crafted by visionary designers who were still figuring things out. 

Fast forward to my first Status, a 1996 headed Stealth six string. This thing was utterly flawless, and showed how Status Graphite had gone from innovative upstarts to undisputed masters of the field. The finish was like glass, the weave was utterly perfect and there was barely a manufacturing mark on it. As an aside, I think the 90's were the high point for Status basses in general with products like this and the Jonas Hellborg bass with it's 36v preamp. The wood selection from those days was also uniformly stunning, just a real high point in bass design in general and the old catalogues from those days make me very nostalgic, even though I didn't start playing bass myself until the year 2000 or 2001. I am a stickler for small details and the old 'Hyperactive' pickups with the red script and rounded edges were just divine, they sounded incredible and the rounded edge was ideal as a thumb rest.

The Stealth was just incredible and is one the bass I really regret selling. The tone was so deep and rich, with loads of midrange flex and burp. It was very light, balanced perfectly and felt so sturdy.  

I later picked up a Matrix with a P/J pickup configuration. I enjoyed this bass and it had a good sound but otherwise was not particularly noteworthy for me. Light, excellent balance, top quality hardware as one might expect. 

I don't think I've owned any other Status basses save for a 1987 Series II. Now, this one was a world-beater in terms of design. I still don't think the 'flagship' Status product in the 'S' series has been bettered. The tone was very aggressive, the notes really just flew out of this thing. I was playing it through an Ashdown Mark King amp at the time and it probably came at the zenith of my love for bright, super-modern tone. General opinion seems to be that tonally, the later basses were never quite as bright or aggressive as the Series II models. I had always believed that the 'cricket bat' design of attaching wooden wings to the carbon fibre neck and body portion had accounted for this. Even with the extended set neck, no other Status 'S' bass had as much carbon fibre in it as the Series II did. Mine literally looked as though it had come out of a time machine, even the brass hardware was bright and clean. In terms of basses, at the time I thought 'if I ever felt like a bass imposed 0% impediment on my ability to play, this is it'. 

All these years later though, it's the Stealth 6 string that keeps me awake at night. I have often thought about putting a call in to the workshop and seeing if - if only - they could make another as a special order. If they still had the old rounded Hyperactive pickup casings and the mold to build the headed Stealth I 6 string shape again, I would not hesitate to make an order. However, I had heard in the past that Rob was not particularly keen on 'one off' builds like this. Maybe some day I will make that call. On the other hand, I will always love the original Kingbass and yet I've not owned one of those...

 

Apart from when I'm playing UZEB stuff, I rarely slap these days and yet Status was always about so much more than that for me. The finger style tone is incredible and hearing that tone from my own amp was like going from watching a VHS to sitting in front of a super-rich 4K monitor running at 100FPS. It was '3D' in a way, with a depth and character that seemed more than just a flat wave of sound washing out of your amp. For all his design and engineering genius, more needs to be said about Rob Green's ability to wind a pickup and voice a preamp. Incredible...

 

In my next and final post, I will round up a few thoughts on other things I've owned like Zon, SKC Bogart and Zoot basses, as well as putting forward a few thoughts on some other notable names in this corner of the bass world. The stuff on Bogart will probably be of interest to some, as Stefan Hess is like the Rob Green of Germany and yet the basses that his products went into are arguably still relatively unknown and underappreciated outside of mainland Europe and they are probably the last bargains to be had in this field. I've kept my Bogart Blackstone longer than I kept any Status, so maybe there is something to that...

I can’t add much more except to say, great post and yes my Status Stealth with the 303 preamp and monorails is the nuts

[4000]

3 hours ago, Chris2112 said:

My next great love in this field was Status Graphite. It came at a period in my late teens and early 20's when I was obsessed with Level 42 and Jonas Hellborg, so the instruments had a certain allure even before I had held one. The first I ever played was an S2 in a shop in Newcastle and though I couldn't afford it at the time, I was hooked. 

Before I start talking about my first Status bass, I want to refer to a post I saw on Basschat many years ago regarding a jazz bass with a Status neck that was for sale. If memory serves, this was a very early model with the old 'GMT' logo on the headstock and pickups (I think I am correct in saying the very early Status instruments were branded GMT for 'Green Machine Technology' and a company of the same name is listed on Companies House, based in Colchester with a Mr. Robert Green as the director). This particularly bass was had a yellow tinted carbon fibre neck and interestingly, there were some visual imperfections seen in the weave. This was because it is not always possible to get the graphite cloth laid exactly flat into the mold and that can produce a 'creased' effect in the finished product. What this indicated was that whilst this was still 'space age' technology in the literal sense, we were still looking at handmade products crafted by visionary designers who were still figuring things out. 

Fast forward to my first Status, a 1996 headed Stealth six string. This thing was utterly flawless, and showed how Status Graphite had gone from innovative upstarts to undisputed masters of the field. The finish was like glass, the weave was utterly perfect and there was barely a manufacturing mark on it. As an aside, I think the 90's were the high point for Status basses in general with products like this and the Jonas Hellborg bass with it's 36v preamp. The wood selection from those days was also uniformly stunning, just a real high point in bass design in general and the old catalogues from those days make me very nostalgic, even though I didn't start playing bass myself until the year 2000 or 2001. I am a stickler for small details and the old 'Hyperactive' pickups with the red script and rounded edges were just divine, they sounded incredible and the rounded edge was ideal as a thumb rest.

The Stealth was just incredible and is one the bass I really regret selling. The tone was so deep and rich, with loads of midrange flex and burp. It was very light, balanced perfectly and felt so sturdy.  

I later picked up a Matrix with a P/J pickup configuration. I enjoyed this bass and it had a good sound but otherwise was not particularly noteworthy for me. Light, excellent balance, top quality hardware as one might expect. 

I don't think I've owned any other Status basses save for a 1987 Series II. Now, this one was a world-beater in terms of design. I still don't think the 'flagship' Status product in the 'S' series has been bettered. The tone was very aggressive, the notes really just flew out of this thing. I was playing it through an Ashdown Mark King amp at the time and it probably came at the zenith of my love for bright, super-modern tone. General opinion seems to be that tonally, the later basses were never quite as bright or aggressive as the Series II models. I had always believed that the 'cricket bat' design of attaching wooden wings to the carbon fibre neck and body portion had accounted for this. Even with the extended set neck, no other Status 'S' bass had as much carbon fibre in it as the Series II did. Mine literally looked as though it had come out of a time machine, even the brass hardware was bright and clean. In terms of basses, at the time I thought 'if I ever felt like a bass imposed 0% impediment on my ability to play, this is it'. 

All these years later though, it's the Stealth 6 string that keeps me awake at night. I have often thought about putting a call in to the workshop and seeing if - if only - they could make another as a special order. If they still had the old rounded Hyperactive pickup casings and the mold to build the headed Stealth I 6 string shape again, I would not hesitate to make an order. However, I had heard in the past that Rob was not particularly keen on 'one off' builds like this. Maybe some day I will make that call. On the other hand, I will always love the original Kingbass and yet I've not owned one of those...

 

Apart from when I'm playing UZEB stuff, I rarely slap these days and yet Status was always about so much more than that for me. The finger style tone is incredible and hearing that tone from my own amp was like going from watching a VHS to sitting in front of a super-rich 4K monitor running at 100FPS. It was '3D' in a way, with a depth and character that seemed more than just a flat wave of sound washing out of your amp. For all his design and engineering genius, more needs to be said about Rob Green's ability to wind a pickup and voice a preamp. Incredible...

 

In my next and final post, I will round up a few thoughts on other things I've owned like Zon, SKC Bogart and Zoot basses, as well as putting forward a few thoughts on some other notable names in this corner of the bass world. The stuff on Bogart will probably be of interest to some, as Stefan Hess is like the Rob Green of Germany and yet the basses that his products went into are arguably still relatively unknown and underappreciated outside of mainland Europe and they are probably the last bargains to be had in this field. I've kept my Bogart Blackstone longer than I kept any Status, so maybe there is something to that...

This so illustrates how personal a bass - any bass - is. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with several Stealth 1s, and I only liked one of them, which I’ll admit was very good, although it was nowhere near as good tonally as a Barracuda I played at the same time. It was a 4, one of a few 4s I’ve played, but I haven’t liked any of the other 4s. The one 6 I played, which was for sale in The Gallery, I absolutely hated. I mean hated. Extremely well made, yes, but the neck and the tone were, IMO, awful. It just wasn’t musical in any way, shape or form IMO.

Please note I’m just showing how different opinions of the same instruments can be, which is why I would always advise someone to try a bass before they decide. Asking someone else really doesn’t mean much in the scheme of things unless you know they like exactly the same things you do.

I’ve been very impressed with the Bogarts, aside from the fact the body shape is extremely uncomfortable for me, which means I could never own one. The necks are sublime, some of the nicest necks I’ve played and, with the possible exception of the Peavey B Quad 4 and the early Vigiers, easily the nicest graphite ones. 

I still wish I’d bought that Frame bass though. That ticked most of my boxes. It looked great too!

[bassaussie]

I can pinpoint where my love for Status basses came from (and, in the process, sadly give away my age!! )

I started playing bass in 1980, when I was 12. When I first saw a Steinberger, my jaw literally hit the floor, I couldn't believe what an amazing instrument it was. I was really lucky to do work experience in the store in Sydney that had Steinbergers, I think this was 1983, and I was hooked. Headless was clearly the future of bass guitars!

Anyway, a little after this, Tears for Fears released "Shout", and shortly after, Killing Joke came out with "Love Like Blood". I can remember watching various video shows with my nose glued to the screen just to get a better idea of what I was looking at. I think "International Musician" did an article on a Status Series II, and I must've looked at the photos a million times. I was so blown away by how modern but how beautiful they were.

 

[LeftyJ]

I always hated the look of those paddle basses and other headless basses when I started playing bass. The headless (and more specifically, Status Graphite) virus hit me when I spotted a beautiful, pure white S2 Classic with Roman numeral inlays for sale. It looked so utterly beautiful, the modern and elegant bodyshape looks so good with the headless neck. And the white of the body with the all-black fingerboard with white numerals and black hardware just looks stunning. Sadly it had just been sold... 

It took me another 11 years (!) of waiting until that very bass popped up for sale again, but this time I snagged it. That was 3 years ago now, and I'm hooked.

[Cuzzie]

There is a Steinberger L2 on FB selling groups up in Leeds I think if anyone is interested 

[wintoid]

10 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

There is a Steinberger L2 on FB selling groups up in Leeds I think if anyone is interested 

Thanks Cuzzie, I don’t use Facebook unfortunately. What price is it?

[Cuzzie]

Hope this helps

 

[Cuzzie]

Happy to send him a message with your email/phone number if you want and you can take it from there

[wintoid]

D'oh, silly me, I've already been in touch with this gentleman via BC.  Thanks so much Cuzzie.

[Cuzzie]

No worries 👌🏾🤘🏾👊🏾

[Chris2112]

And so, to summarise my thoughts on a few other bits and pieces I had owned...

A good few years ago, I had owned a Zoot fretless bass with a carbon fibre neck. I wasn't sure where the neck had come from, though Zoot offered them as an option at the time and I had seen a few others around, though none as a semi-lined fretless like the one I had. It was alright, but never sounded quite how I had wanted it to. With a Bartolini humbucker, full maple body and carbon fibre neck I really expected something wild, but it never quite hit the mark for me.

I had owned a Zon Sonus at one point that was a bit of an eye opener, in truth I had probably sold it off a little too quickly and should have kept it longer. It may have been a Sonus Special model because it did have an ash body with a bubinga top and two Bartolini singlecoils. At the time, I was a little disappointed in the tone because I was coming to it off the back of a slew of Status Graphite basses. Joe Zon had wanted to reinvent the Jazz bass for the 90's with the Sonus and I think he did well with his intended goal, creating a distinctive instrument that was very lightweight and with great balance. I had hoped it would be more bright and hi-fi than it was, and it definitely wouldn't compete with a Status in that regard. These days, I would consider Bartolini to be my favourite pickups by a country mile and I feel that I would give the Sonus a warmer reception now. At the time, I still thought it was incredible and the craftsmanship was stunning, but it wasn't enough to make me want to keep it forever. 

As much as I adore Zon basses, the company is really in an odd place at the moment. I know they had moved addresses in the past couple of years, IIRC it was because the lease on their workshop ran out and the building owner wouldn't renew (or at least not on reasonable terms). That seemed to start an annus horribilis for Joe Zon, with a number of posts and threads on Talkbass with owners complaining of having been unable to get in touch with Joe or having paid either in part or in full for a bass, often several years ago, and yet still not having sight of it. The fact that a number of buyers were waiting for their basses but new basses were being made and sold for trade shows (presumably then delivered to customers or sold for the trade show) was an understandable cause of anger. There was a particularly bizarre episode involving a now-deleted thread about some guy who was a long-time Zon customer slandering the company over a bass that he had ordered and that seemed to grease the wheels to get it delivered to him, before he tried to retract his posts and say the whole thing had been a misunderstanding. It knocked my confidence in the company after seeing Zon as a long-time stalwart of the custom bass scene. I truly believe that Joe Zon makes the coolest graphite-necked instruments in America today but I would never buy one new. It doesn't take much effort to send an email to a waiting customer.

This thread would not be complete without a mention of Stefan Hess, the German builder behind SKC Bogart. I am not sure how Stefan got started in the world of graphite, but he was instrumental in the production of a number of high-end instruments in Germany from the late 80's and beyond. His own Bogart Blackstone basses are probably his most well-known works, but he also made graphiter products for other builders. 

The Clover Slapper, also known as a the SKC Clover Slapper, was a headless grahpite-necked bass using a 'cricket bat' style neck and body piece with maple wings, brass hardware and Bartolini pickups. Some of these were made in 36" scale and sound absolutely massive. Kai Eckhardt had used a 34" 5 string model with John McLaughlin in the late 80's. 

Kai Eckhardt also used another of Stefan's products, this time in a Schack bass - many readers here might remember the old 'basslobster' site that hosted videos of virtuoso players before youtube was even a thing. That site had a video of Kai playing a Schack double-neck with graphite necks. SKC produced the graphite necks for a Schack at the time, though nowadays I believe Schack make their own necks following their resurrection. 

Stefan's own SKC Bogart Blackstone basses are notable because he didn't just make the carbon fibre necks, he worked with new materials to produce the body. The 'Blackstone' material referenced in the name of the bass is a composite foam injected into a body shell, designed to have the tonal characteristics of alder wood but with total uniformity in mass and construction. In truth, I think the final product is a bit heavier than alder wood, but I commend Stefan for his desire to design and create. SKC Bogart folded for a while around the turn of the Millenium, but Stefan has been back building basses now for several years. 

I currently own a 1994 Blackstone 5 string that had previously belonged to Stuart Clayton (he used it in his video cover of Alain Caron's 'D-Code' and by youtube views I think that makes it the most famous Bogart bass in the world!). I've written about this bass extensively elsewhere on the site and it still remains in my regular rotation today. It has some very aggressive sounding Bartolini pickups and a Noll preamp. These basses have always been very underrated on the used market and continue to be something of a well-kept secret outside of Germany. They most regularly pop up on the German Ebay, and I would quite like a fretless model some day. 

 

 

 

[itu]

Basslab, another German company, any comments on that?

[Chris2112]

I've never actually played any Basslab instrument but I'd love to try one. The blue six string that has turned up here on occasion has been sorely tempting to me. They use a hollow-form like the Status Stealth, so that bodes well. 

Vigier and G. Gould remain on the list of things I want to try. 

[Lfalex v1.1]

49 minutes ago, itu said:

Basslab, another German company, any comments on that?

Yes. I want an L-bow.

That is all,  I'm afraid!

 

[wintoid]

2 hours ago, Chris2112 said:

And so, to summarise my thoughts on a few other bits and pieces I had owned...

A good few years ago, I had owned a Zoot fretless bass with a carbon fibre neck. I wasn't sure where the neck had come from, though Zoot offered them as an option at the time and I had seen a few others around, though none as a semi-lined fretless like the one I had. It was alright, but never sounded quite how I had wanted it to. With a Bartolini humbucker, full maple body and carbon fibre neck I really expected something wild, but it never quite hit the mark for me.

I had owned a Zon Sonus at one point that was a bit of an eye opener, in truth I had probably sold it off a little too quickly and should have kept it longer. It may have been a Sonus Special model because it did have an ash body with a bubinga top and two Bartolini singlecoils. At the time, I was a little disappointed in the tone because I was coming to it off the back of a slew of Status Graphite basses. Joe Zon had wanted to reinvent the Jazz bass for the 90's with the Sonus and I think he did well with his intended goal, creating a distinctive instrument that was very lightweight and with great balance. I had hoped it would be more bright and hi-fi than it was, and it definitely wouldn't compete with a Status in that regard. These days, I would consider Bartolini to be my favourite pickups by a country mile and I feel that I would give the Sonus a warmer reception now. At the time, I still thought it was incredible and the craftsmanship was stunning, but it wasn't enough to make me want to keep it forever. 

As much as I adore Zon basses, the company is really in an odd place at the moment. I know they had moved addresses in the past couple of years, IIRC it was because the lease on their workshop ran out and the building owner wouldn't renew (or at least not on reasonable terms). That seemed to start an annus horribilis for Joe Zon, with a number of posts and threads on Talkbass with owners complaining of having been unable to get in touch with Joe or having paid either in part or in full for a bass, often several years ago, and yet still not having sight of it. The fact that a number of buyers were waiting for their basses but new basses were being made and sold for trade shows (presumably then delivered to customers or sold for the trade show) was an understandable cause of anger. There was a particularly bizarre episode involving a now-deleted thread about some guy who was a long-time Zon customer slandering the company over a bass that he had ordered and that seemed to grease the wheels to get it delivered to him, before he tried to retract his posts and say the whole thing had been a misunderstanding. It knocked my confidence in the company after seeing Zon as a long-time stalwart of the custom bass scene. I truly believe that Joe Zon makes the coolest graphite-necked instruments in America today but I would never buy one new. It doesn't take much effort to send an email to a waiting customer.

This thread would not be complete without a mention of Stefan Hess, the German builder behind SKC Bogart. I am not sure how Stefan got started in the world of graphite, but he was instrumental in the production of a number of high-end instruments in Germany from the late 80's and beyond. His own Bogart Blackstone basses are probably his most well-known works, but he also made graphiter products for other builders. 

The Clover Slapper, also known as a the SKC Clover Slapper, was a headless grahpite-necked bass using a 'cricket bat' style neck and body piece with maple wings, brass hardware and Bartolini pickups. Some of these were made in 36" scale and sound absolutely massive. Kai Eckhardt had used a 34" 5 string model with John McLaughlin in the late 80's. 

Kai Eckhardt also used another of Stefan's products, this time in a Schack bass - many readers here might remember the old 'basslobster' site that hosted videos of virtuoso players before youtube was even a thing. That site had a video of Kai playing a Schack double-neck with graphite necks. SKC produced the graphite necks for a Schack at the time, though nowadays I believe Schack make their own necks following their resurrection. 

Stefan's own SKC Bogart Blackstone basses are notable because he didn't just make the carbon fibre necks, he worked with new materials to produce the body. The 'Blackstone' material referenced in the name of the bass is a composite foam injected into a body shell, designed to have the tonal characteristics of alder wood but with total uniformity in mass and construction. In truth, I think the final product is a bit heavier than alder wood, but I commend Stefan for his desire to design and create. SKC Bogart folded for a while around the turn of the Millenium, but Stefan has been back building basses now for several years. 

I currently own a 1994 Blackstone 5 string that had previously belonged to Stuart Clayton (he used it in his video cover of Alain Caron's 'D-Code' and by youtube views I think that makes it the most famous Bogart bass in the world!). I've written about this bass extensively elsewhere on the site and it still remains in my regular rotation today. It has some very aggressive sounding Bartolini pickups and a Noll preamp. These basses have always been very underrated on the used market and continue to be something of a well-kept secret outside of Germany. They most regularly pop up on the German Ebay, and I would quite like a fretless model some day. 

 

 

 

Phew.  In between your posts, I decided to abandon the quest for a Steinberger, and plumped for the very tempting Bogart in the classifieds here.  I had wanted a 4 string, but at the tempting secondhand price, I am prepared to have a go at learning 5 string.  Really looking forward to receiving it.

So it's a relief so see that you didn't say all Bogarts are dogs

[Lfalex v1.1]

39 minutes ago, Chris2112 said:

Vigier and G. Gould remain on the list of things I want to try. 

The seven Vigiers I've played were superb. 

One Passion S2 IV.

Three passion S3 V

One passion S3 IV fretless

One Excess IV

One Passion S4

They were all good in their own way. All superbly made. The three five strings had very little to choose between them in terms of sound and feel. They're very consistent. 

 

 

 

 

[Chris2112]

15 minutes ago, wintoid said:

Phew.  In between your posts, I decided to abandon the quest for a Steinberger, and plumped for the very tempting Bogart in the classifieds here.  I had wanted a 4 string, but at the tempting secondhand price, I am prepared to have a go at learning 5 string.  Really looking forward to receiving it.

So it's a relief so see that you didn't say all Bogarts are dogs

If it's that white 5 string one, that looks really cool. Stefan has recently started an official facebook page and is always available if you have questions or need support. Karl Clews and I administrate a Bogart Owners group on Facebook, that's also a good resource. 

[itu]

There is also this former Modulus neck builder, whose name I tend to forget... Jerry Dorsch. He has built several necks for those who find him. He is in States, so customs etc. may affect the price quite a lot.

[itu]

And please: cut the quotes a bit, there's no need to repeat everything.

[wintoid]

1 hour ago, Chris2112 said:

If it's that white 5 string one, that looks really cool. Stefan has recently started an official facebook page and is always available if you have questions or need support. Karl Clews and I administrate a Bogart Owners group on Facebook, that's also a good resource. 

That's the one, yes.  Unfortunately I don't use Facebook, but I've seen a few Youtube's of Karl playing Bogarts.

Sorry @itu if the quotes have been excessive, although I don't think I'm the only one.

[Misdee]

Terrific YT vid demonstrating the sound of various graphite neck basses. Would have been nice to hear some fingerstyle playing too, but still a fascinating listen :

 

They all sound good to me, but I am particularly partial to the more midrangey tone of the Schack. The Stati and the Bogart sound pretty similar to my ears, a bit mid-scooped.