BigRedX

Unfortunately Shukers just don't "do it" for me. And to be honest, if I hadn't gone for a Sei, it would have been a Ritter or a Spalt or something else from my [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5525"]Weird And Wonderful[/url] thread. However I didn't think I was quite ready to commision a bass from outside the UK where going to catch up on the build progress and have a chat about how we are going to achieve all the features I want wouldn't be quite so easy.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='81623' date='Oct 31 2007, 09:44 AM']I've got one of those on order. They are back ordered like mad. The first batch is making it to the UK end of November. Peterson said that the interest in the Stroborack has been crazy...[/quote]

Who's going to be stocking them in the Uk then?
I'm seriously tempted...

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='81998' date='Oct 31 2007, 11:10 PM']It shouldn't really make 2 figures, but I guess some people may see it as a kitch wall decoration. I remember them being sold new in woolies for about £25 in the 70s. They were cheap crappy beginners instuments that well-meaning parents bought for their offspring in the same way argos sell their bottom of the range cheapies these days.[/quote]

But the Argos instruments play like well set-up Fenders in comparison to these...

The only reason to buy this would be if you wanted to experience how cr@p things were for aspiring teenage musicians in the 70s.

Maybe someone should do the musical equivalent of those reality TV shows where they make people live in Victorian conditions... Call it the 70s band. You'd start with a Woolies special like this one and if you had mastered "Smoke On The Water" and a few other rock standards after 6 months and your fingers weren't completely damaged you could upgrade to a Grant Precission Copy. By the end of the show if you hadn't given up in disgust, you'd finally get a classic late 70s Fender, with a body that weighted a ton, had dead-spots galore on the neck that was bolted on at such an angle that the G string was not longer over the fingerboard after the 12th fret and was finished either in sh!t brown or that semi-see-thru white that looked like they couldn't be bothered to do the finishing job properly...

When I started this thread, my original intention was only to post instruments that were in production. However over the last few weeks I've been building up GAS for one of these:



It's a Reverend Brad Houser 5 string.

Dual humbuckers, 35" scale length, retro/modern styling and a finish called Lava Swirl (obviously inspired by Kai's Powertools Texture Explorer Photoshop plugin!) For more check the [url="http://www.reverendguitars.com/reverend/archive/bass_gallery/index.htm"]Reverend Bass Archieve Gallery[/url]
Unfortunately at the moment Reverend aren't making any basses, so my best bet is a daily check of the TalkBass sales forum and the hope that I can find one that the seller is willing to ship out of the US. However there is a rumour circulating around the Reverend forums that bass production might be back next year...

[url="http://www.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=236"]Hipshot 3 string retainer[/url] also available in [url="http://www.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=239"]black[/url] and [url="http://www.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=243"]gold[/url]

Damn! How did I miss this?

Supercar were just brilliant - Highvision is one of my all-time favourite albums, plus I realy like those Yamaha Basses and you had the Miki signature model...

If by any chance the sale falls through I'll take it....

Back from London, where The Birthday Massacre were completely awesome live; the Mac Expo was very disappointing - if I didn't know better, I wouldn't have though there had just been a major upgrade to the OS and the iPhone was less than 2 weeks away from it's UK release; and The Bass Gallery was in danger of being flooded!

Jono - thanks for the link. Unfortunately you posted a Wishbass (amongst others) so please stand in the corner and think about what you did! ;-)

wotnwhy - balance could be a problem on those Jacolands, although the Jazzy also has to other strap button raised which should go some way to reducing the (potential) problem.

Paul, I have mixed feelings about CT basses. There are aspects that are great such as the upper horn scroll/hook design, and there's no denying that these are quality sounding and playing basses, but sometimes I think the details let it down - for instance the over-thick wood binding on the fingerboard and the Wishbass-eque jack socket mounting. I believe that when you get to this level of build/cost in an instrument it's the attention to detail and overall aethetics that separates one luthier from another.

I was in London over the weekend and managed to fit in a visit to the gallery on Monday where I could see the neck laminations for my bass glued up...





Unfortunately Martin and Alex were having to deal with a potential disaster in the shape of a burst water main 100 yards up the road that was fountaining water up through the pavement and showing signs of wanting to drain into the basement workshop of the Gallery, so I quickly grabbed a couple of shots of the neck and then got out of the way...

If money's no object then you want [url="http://www.petersontuners.com/index.cfm?category=73"] one of these[/url]

Sorry but there won't be any updates over the weekend as I'm off to see [url="http://www.thebirthdaymassacre.com/"]The Birthday Massacre[/url] and check on the progress of my Sei Bass

More weird and wonderful next week...

Today's basses are from Italy [url="http://www.jacoland.it/"]Jacoland[/url]

This one's a Jazzy


and this one's called Nemo


There's not a lot of info on the site about these instruments or their creator. Just lots of interesting, basses with slightly unusual features.

I'll be looking forward to seeing pics and hearing soundclips of your Spalt when it arrives...

However I'm surprised it was out of Ed Roman's personal collection considering the rather nasty things he's had to say about Michael Spalt's basses in the past. I had a quick look at the current web site and this particular 'opinion' is no longer visible. Still I'm not particularly bothered about what Ed Roman has to say - in my experience the more he slags off a guitar or bass the more likely I'm going to think it's brilliant.

Another day and another bass and more aluminium, this time from [url="http://www.industrialguitar.com/index.html"]Fouke Industrial Guitars[/url]

This is the 35 Bass


Fouke Industrial Guitars specialise in all aluminum lap steels, but also branch out into 'conventional' guitars and basses. The semi-hollow bodies are made out of an aluminium sheet, compostite, aluminium sheet sandwich and the necks are come from the major parts suppliers such as Warmoth and Moses or from parts supplied by the person ordering the instrument. This example is a 30" scale with a Kramer aluminium neck. Prices are around the $2000 depending on the parts used.

Unfortunately the only way around that situation is to have lots of basses so that you can bring the appropriate one for the job. Also you could just as easily say that in orer to get a fretless gig you've got to have either a Jazz like Jaco, a Stingray like Pino or a Wal like Mick.

Alternatively do what the above mentioned and find your own voice (and bass) and be hired for that...

+1 for The Squier VM Fretless Jazz.

If you can go a bit higher than £400 you should also look at the Ibanez Gary Willis GWB35

These are the only 2 new fretless basses under £1000 that I've liked.

Next up is from Japan [url="http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~tokai/"]Tokai[/url]

Here's a Talbo Bass


Tokai are best known for making copies of other manufacturer's instruments (often better than the originals), but they also do several original designs of which the most interesting (and most successful) is the Talbo. The Talbo design with it's semi-hollow engine-grade aluminium body original appeared in the 80s in guitar form only. When it was re-vamped in the late 90s the range was expanded to include the bass and the Jr (with built-in amp and speaker). The Talbo bass is probably my favourite of all the aluminium bodied basses, the body shape I find very comfortable and ergonomic.

I believe Bassassin here on BassChat has one of these. I'll be getting one just as soon as I can find a good one at a sensible price. The ones I've seen in the shops in the UK all appear to be seconds with casting marks on the bodies (something that I've never seen on examples for sale in Japan) and seriously overpriced compared with what you would pay for a perfect example in Japan.

I'll do my best to try and fine player pics for some of the previous Weird and Wonderful selections, just so people can see that these basses are beind used...

The tuners on the Phaedrus are quite safe from 'accidental adjustment' as the strap buttons on the bass are located in such a way that the tuners are past the line of the player's body. Have a look at the video of the Quadrant Bass being played to see.

Welcome to BassChat!

That Dingwall looks very tasty indeed!

Please, please, please can I see some pics of your Spalt? Which model do you have?

[quote name='cetera' post='78833' date='Oct 24 2007, 02:17 PM']I have a Staccato MG bass. One of only approx 35 made I believe....

Nice bass, but it sits in my collection and isn't used live....[/quote]

Any chance of some pics?

Sorry for the thread hi-jack... so to get back on track, is the Aria the same one that I've seen posted many times on TalkBass?

[quote name='steve-soar' post='78586' date='Oct 23 2007, 11:52 PM']anyone remember Mick Jagger's brothers Staccato Bass?[/quote]

There was one for sale recently on eBay - I might have been tempted I've I hadn't just bought the Gus Fretless.

There was also an overview of Staccato and their instruments in one of this year's Guitar Buyer magazines.

Next up is [url="http://www.vikingmovie.com/phaedrus/"]Phaedrus[/url]

This is called the Quadrant. Here's a view looking from the 'body' end


A close up of the machineheads and pickup


And Ned Steinberger checking one out at NAMM


Phaedrus takes the Steinberger concept of a minimal bass the it's extreme. This is bassically a 3/8" strip of steel with strings, a pickup, and associated electronics attached to it. There's 3 versions, the 4-string Quadrant, 5-string Destructor and the single string Proton. I'm not sure exactly what the availability of these basses is at the moment. When I first came across them the site had it's own domain, but now it's piggy-backed onto vikingmovie.com. Phaedrus inventor Thayer DeMay isn't brilliant at answering emails, but lat time I was in touch, the Quadrant was at a special offer price of $500

Today's basses are from [url="http://www.spaltbasses.com/"]Spalt[/url]

Here's a pair of Hybrids - a Magma with Lightwave pickups


and a Terminator


And a vViper Bass


Appologies for the poor quality of the pictures, but these are pretty much the best I can find without trawling through several hundred pages of TalkBass posts where I know that somewhere there is a stunning set of photos of a 6 string Hybrid Bass. The site seems to have been "under construction" and is low on information, your best bet for details is to read [url="http://www.bunnybass.com/e-zine/interviews/michaelspalt/michaelspalt.shtml"]this interview from Bunny Bass with Michael Spalt[/url]

The Hybrid basses are high up on my list of 'must-try' instruments - I find the combination of the aluminium chassis and adjustable figured wood body parts looks elegant and practical.

The vViper bass while more conventional looking has an interesting take on the movable pickup concept, with a pivoting pickup rather than the more usualy sliding arrangement.

Lorne, that's completely understandable, if they were mine I wouldn't even contemplate selling them (although I would have them strung up with all 8 strings, but then again I love the sound of 8 string bass and it suits one of my playing styles very nicely). I think that the Bich style body is an elegant solution to the tricky problem of finding places for all the tuners (and Kramer obviously thought so too). If you come across one up for sale that you aren't interested in I'd much appreciate a "heads up".

[url="http://www.mikeyguitar.com/index.asp"]Mikey Guitar[/url] is what you're looking for

Don't get one. As others have said, the square neck will be uncomfortable and the reduced number of strings could be limiting (although I'm a big fan of 1 and 2 string basses). However if you're intersted in the concept, check my weird and wonderful thread later this week for something similar...