bass_ferret Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Now they look cool - I would not even call them weird. How does that bridge work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 17, 2007 Author Share Posted September 17, 2007 The Gus basses start at around £2500 for the basic model and go up to prices even I don't want to think about for the ones with all the toys such as piezo pickups, MIDI and other custom options and finishes. For the bridge each saddle is a domed shape with an appropriately sized groove in the top over which the string passes. These are mounted on individual substantial blocks of aluminium which the string passes through. The string is in contact with the body of the bridge from the moment it passes over the saddle to the anchor point for the ball end. This means that there is no vibrating string length after the break point of the saddle. Adjustment of the action is done by allen key from the underside of the bridge which raises and lowers the individual saddles. Intonation is slightly more difficult - a hex wrench loosens the top section of the bridge from the string blocks beneath and allows each individual bridge unit to be moved backwards or forwards in the slots on the bass plate. Its an unusual system that combines design elements from a traditional hard-tail strat bridge with the more modern individual bridge pieces found on many basses in recent years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odub Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 2 and a half grand ey. Reet, If I'm ever good enough to warrant a plus 2 grand bass I'm going to buy one, thats not going to be for 20 or 30 years of solid practice though. What we need right is this: Those handbag or exotic car sharing schemes, where you pay a fee every month and get to borrow for a limited time something you couldn't otherwise afford. You get to hand it back after a couple of weeks showing off or intensive playing, and try out the next bit of exotica. I reckon given the amount of money I see being lost in the used bass section day in, day out, it wouldn't end up being that huge a cost either, relativly speaking. Whose got 20 grand startup money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 17, 2007 Author Share Posted September 17, 2007 Moving swiftly on from basses that I know really well to some with almost no information other than a few translated lines on their web site: [url="http://www.ludguitars.com/homepage.htm"]Lud Guitars[/url] I present the O Bass and the X Bass From Italy (I think - the web site is in Italian and English) come these two headless design basses. Information about the basses is more minimal than the body of the O Bass... The X Bass features a chambered body and a good combination of classic and modern design features. However even the O Bass looks as conventional as a Fender when you compare it with the radical Lud archtop guitars... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnt Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 [quote name='ped' post='61083' date='Sep 16 2007, 11:26 AM']Searching google is pretty useless - I tried 'Dodgy basses' and it came up with a GB ;0)[/quote] Doesn't help that there's a band named Dodgy. What's that about - reverse headology? I'm a fan of the [url="http://clusty.com/"]Clusty[/url] search engine, which categorises results, and a search for "weird basses" leads to a few interesting sites, such as [url="http://altguitarbass.com/weird/"]http://altguitarbass.com/weird/[/url] , or the [url="http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om25550.html"]Wishnevsky[/url] site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elom Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Having an unusual bass is great. If there is a bass player in the audience then I will guarantee that they will come up to me and say something along the lines of "What on earth is that bass?" (It's a Fender Performer for those who haven't heard me go on about it before) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 Thatnks for the links Brian, there's more than a few basses on the altguitarbass site that'll be featuring here at some point. Pity the photos used were so crap. Hopefully the ones I'll be showing will do the instruments justice. As for Wishbass... There's a certain rustic charm there, but the guy's built getting on for 1000 instruments now and he doesn't appear to have learnt anything new. Aesthetics is a very subjective thing but while I could forgive one or two lumpen body shapes as being down to the pieces of wood that are being used, when I see them over and over again I realise that style and grace are not really in Wishnevsky's dictionary. Also once you start looking a little closer than most of the photos on his site allow you realise that all is not well with the construction and finish of these instruments. There is potential to make selected Wishbasses into nice instruments, however the time and money involved will not make them particularly good value... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 And on to the next bass. These are from [url="http://www.nortonguitars.com"]Norton Guitars[/url] - WARNING: the site features annoying music so you might want to turn your speakers down/off A Merlin Bass A Skel Bass and a Mephisto Golden Eagle All the Norton istruments are constructed arounf what they call the "Mainframe" a central aluminium construction that holds the bridge assembly and pickups on their sliding rails. The neck and body wings are attached to this. It's possible to tilt the body wings in relation to the central Mainframe to change the angle to strings present to the plucking hand. This allows you to change the angle of your wrist when playing to something more comfortable should you require it. Have a look at the Bass Gallery and Mainframe Slideshow sections to get a better idea of how this works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 This thread is excellent. Thanks BigRedX for all your work putting this together.. Doesn't help the GAS though. There's already a couple of basses I wouldn't mind getting hold of!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassmonster Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 The Mephisto Golden Eagle looks like a warwick vampyre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Amazing piece of design, that - just exactly what is needed from a technical point of view, and nothing more. I don't know if Patrice Vigier is associated with Basslab in any way but there is a pic of him with the basslab bloke here (basslab chap on right) Keep em coming!! Cheers ped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telebass Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 A brilliant thread! Couldn't remotely live with anything shown, but nice to know what there is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Yes its kind of a fetish thing isn't it ;0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 noones posted a wishbass yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Ah, but the thread title is 'Weird and [i]Wonderful[/i] Basses'. If 'twas 'Weird and Totally Sh*t Basses made by a Sad Old Hippy' then they'd be in there at #1 with a musket-ball, yarr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 hehehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wotnwhy Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 does anybody else see a slight resemblence to Ovation basses in those Norton Designs? i'm talking bridge and headstock really, rather than body shapes. and i'm seriously diggin that Mephisto Golden Eagle! yum yum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowhand_mike Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 just seen this, and really like the Bas designs, especially the zebra, always been a fan of les claypools basses but i think bas's are better, shame i havent got a spare £5000 laying around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilmour Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 (edited) [quote name='Crazykiwi' post='62632' date='Sep 19 2007, 12:51 PM']noones posted a wishbass yet [/quote] I might be wrong - but isn't there a fundamental problem with Wishbass as they are built without a Truss Rod? If memory serves me right this is one of the main reasons that they are able to keep the costs so low for a 'Boutique' bass. I might be wrong, theres a review of one in an olg Mag I've got somewhere, I'll see if I can dig it out. Edited September 19, 2007 by gilmour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Played a wish bass once - it was sh*t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 20, 2007 Author Share Posted September 20, 2007 (edited) Ta for all the comments - good to see that people are enjoying this. Ped - I believe that the photo of Patrice Vigier and Heiko Hoepfinger (pf Basslab) is from a Frankfurt show, so it'll just be European luthiers getting together. However I've come across a couple of other German basses that seem to have commom features with Basslab, which I'll be posting here at some point. CK - I posted my views on Wish earlier in the thread. Theres just too many things on a Wishbass that need to be put right before it could be a decent playable instrument, for me to consider including it here. Actually it is possible to make a decent bass without a truss rod provide that you don't want to go wild with different tunings, string guages and tensions. The very first bass that I owned, a 1961 Burns Sonic, has no visible neck re-enforcement although it does have a neck profile akin to a baseball bat split in two and was built at a time when there was very little choice of strings. 46 years on it's still a playable and very nice sounding bass. Edited September 20, 2007 by BigRedX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 20, 2007 Author Share Posted September 20, 2007 And somewhat later than planned here's Tuesdays selection from [http://lacemusic.com/index.php]Lace[/url] The Lace Helix From the makers of Lace pickups here is a brand new bass which should be available very soon. They were on display at this year's London Guitar Show which is where I was able to try them out. The body shape is based on the Lace Cybercaster guitar, and the pickups are the new Lace Alumitones which have a radical design, which is supposed to give active output and tone from a passive circuit. Difficult to tell in the cacophany that was the LGS, but ggod to play and I'll be definitely giving this bass another try as soon as their in the shops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E_MaN Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 Those Lace Helix are quite cool, the red one reminds me of old american hot rods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilmour Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 Yeah nice, not sure about the headstock though, but the through necks looks like ones of those basses that begs you to pick it up and play it. THis thread is no good for GAS, I've already spent a lot of money this year on a bass I never use, but now I'm thinking maybe I do need that ........(insert name here)... after all. I'm sure my partner can put up with one more unused instrument in the house. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 That Lace looks cool. Interesting place to put the jack socket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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