The Power of the (Mahogany) Bongo

[drTStingray]

I must confess the picture of this 6 string Bongo in the PDN2012 series (honeyburst, mahogany body, roasted birds eye maple neck, pao ferro fretboard) made my heart skip a beat. Now a six string is beyond me, but a 4 or 5 in this configuration is a mouthwatering temptation. The burst colour seems to tone down the futuristic look of the body shape to my eyes, also.

[attachment=118670:bongo 6 mahogany honeyburst.jpg]

Edited September 18, 2012 by drTStingray

[Roland Rock]

That's nice. And it proves that they're not made out of toilet seats after all.
Strangely, I like that one, yet vastly prefer the Big al in solid colours, especially the crazy green one.

[cloudburst]

Music Man Wrongo. :-)

CB

Edited September 18, 2012 by cloudburst

[bartelby]

A Bongo that doesn't look like a bog seat!!

I like that!!

[drTStingray]

It sure looks woody anyway!!

I've yet to see a 4 or 5 string but these look yummy to me. The necks are wax and oil finish, roasted birdseye and look stunning also.

[cloudburst]

Yeuch. It's like putting up paisley curtains in the space shuttle.

CB

[Dingus]

I am not too keen on this particular burst, be it on a Bongo or any other bass for that matter, but as ever, each to their own taste. I think Bongos look good in solid colours- apparently a lot of the original colour options for these basses were chosen to reflect the range of colours for B.M.W cars at that time, as a reference to the BMW / Dreamworks design team who helped with the design of the bass.

[xilddx]

I'm not a SB fan, nor a Bongo fan, but that looks nice. It's the hideous pale rosewood fretboard I can't stand.

[cloudburst]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1347979914' post='1807577']
...apparently a lot of the original colour options for these basses were chosen to reflect the range of colours for B.M.W cars at that time, as a reference to the BMW / Dreamworks design team who helped with the design of the bass.
[/quote]

Interesting. Never realised this. Thanks for posting.

CB

[BassTractor]

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1347974765' post='1807446']
Yeuch. It's like putting up paisley curtains in the space shuttle.[/quote]

No real yeuch from me, but you're spot on.

best,
bert

[drTStingray]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1348000071' post='1808022']
I'm not a SB fan, nor a Bongo fan, but that looks nice. It's the hideous pale rosewood fretboard I can't stand.
[/quote]

It's pao ferro (as featured on fretless Musicman basses) - I agree it looks a bit insipidon that wide 6 string neck, but the 4 string Ray looked far better - the varnished birds eye maple headstock helps - not visible in the Bongo pic.

[Dingus]

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1348003046' post='1808087']
Interesting. Never realised this. Thanks for posting.

CB
[/quote]

EBMM drafted in the Dreamworks design team after Sterling Ball read a newspaper article on them and their work for B.M.W and realised that they were located close to the E.B.M.M headquarters in California. (B.M.W use an American design consultancy because North America is by far their biggest market , and so therefore are keen to maximise the appeal of their cars to the sensibilities of American consumers.) The bass got it's name because Sterling Ball found out that the codename Dreamworks used for the secret B.M.W project they were working on at the time was Bongo, hence the Musicman Bongo bass.
Somewhere out there on the internet is the rough drawings of the prototypes for the Bongo that Dreamworks submitted to Sterling Ball, and they look even more futuristic than the final product. Someone did something right, anyway, because the Bongo is one of the best designed basses of all time , in my estimation.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Dingus

[charic]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1348054276' post='1808515']
Somewhere out thre on the internet is the rough drawings of the prototypes for the Bongo that Dreamworks submitted to Sterling Ball,
[/quote]

Now these I'd like to see

[Dingus]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1348007861' post='1808189']
It's pao ferro (as featured on fretless Musicman basses) - I agree it looks a bit insipidon that wide 6 string neck, but the 4 string Ray looked far better - the varnished birds eye maple headstock helps - not visible in the Bongo pic.
[/quote]

Pao ferro is a great sounding wood for fingerboards- kind of a halfway sound between maple and rosewood is how a luthier once descibed it to me, and I would have to say that I agree. Its quite a bit harder than rosewood, so thats probably why it's a bit brighter sounding . They use it for fingerboards on the top of the range U.S.A Spector basses and for the fretless EBMM basses , if I remember correctly. I like the way it looks- kind of pinky brown- and I'm a bit surprised that anyone could find it so offensive, but it just shows you how tastes can differ.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Dingus

[drTStingray]

Yes pao ferro is used on EBMM fretless necks - it looks great on mine (which is also in the colour now known as honeyburst!!)

Only a couple of Bongos have been produced before in a trans colour over a figured wood - one was mahogony for an artist. The bass had been played by quite a number of the American forum members as it appeared at an 'open house' event - it had become revered as a great sounding instrument - so the availability of this (if you pre-ordered it about 9 months ago) on a Bongo has sparked a lot of interest from fans who are awaiting their arrival this month. SOme American dealers have also pre-ordered some so there will be some available (Musicman 20 has enquired and as none have been ordered in the UK, EBMM have said they will allow them to be shipped, on individual agreement).

They were available across the whole bass range offered, including lefties and fretless - so people are awaiting Big Als, Reflexes and Sterlings. People have ordered some quite unusual configs - I think there's a Bongo 6Hp, for instance.

I read some recent stuff from Sterling Ball which referred to him particularly liking BMW's modern take on the Mini (to the extent he had one for a while) and that this had been part of the move to involve BMW, after he realised their Dreamworks team was in California - they were very happy to be involved and the Bongo was their code name for the bass guitar project. (Of course, the Mini had been designed/developed in the UK by Rover by the time BMW got involved and subsequently bought out just that model and factory - no doubt the Dreamworks team got involved in the car after they bought into Rover).

Edited September 19, 2012 by drTStingray

[cloudburst]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1348054488' post='1808517']
Now these I'd like to see
[/quote]

[attachment=118812:bongo1.jpg][attachment=118813:bongo2.jpg][attachment=118814:bongo3.jpg]

[BassTractor]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1348054488' post='1808517']
Now these I'd like to see
[/quote]

What CB says. There's also this built prototype with seven knobs:

[attachment=118842:MM Bongo prototype 338.jpg]


and one of the last ones before production started:

[attachment=118843:MM Bongo proto - last proto.jpg]


best,
bert

[cloudburst]

So, making it a 2 octave neck seems to have been an eleventh hour decision. Interesting.
And they obviously didn't foresee the toilet-seat banter, otherwise they'd have made the final one a different colour. You'd think.

CB

[Duarte]

Bongo. Best bass I've ever owned...

while we're on EBMM prototypes, anyone see the Sterling one?

Edited September 19, 2012 by Duarte

[Duarte]

[IMG]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn320/ZDuarte/TOWN8019CustomImage2247071.jpg[/IMG]

[drTStingray]

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1348090623' post='1809302']And they obviously didn't foresee the toilet-seat banter, otherwise they'd have made the final one a different colour. You'd think.

CB
[/quote]

The white version didn't last long - very rare and quite sought after. They said they discontinued it because of problems matching the neck and body colours but I have always wondered if the TB banter influenced it.

Apparently the Sterling was intended to have single colis but the MM single coil pick up hadn't been perfected by then so appeared on the Bongo first.

Back to the mahogony Bongo - someone on the MM forum has received his Bongo 6H so more pics should be available soon. Be interesting to see the headstock treatment on a Bongo.

Edited September 19, 2012 by drTStingray

[Musicman20]

That Sterling is basically the Big Al concept ain't it?

[drTStingray]

[size=6][sub][size=4]A couple more droolworthy pics[/size] [/sub][/size]

[size=5][sub][attachment=118872:pdn Bongo.jpg][/sub][/size]

[size=5][sub][attachment=118873:PDN Bongo headstock.jpg][/sub][/size]

[size=5][sub]Yes I would like a Bongo 5 please!! Or a Stingray...............etc etc! [/sub][/size]


[size=5][sub][size=6][sub][size=4][quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1348094033' post='1809369']
That Sterling is basically the Big Al concept ain't it?
[/quote][/size][/sub][/size][/sub][/size]
[size=5][sub] [/sub][/size]
[size=5][sub][size=6][sub][size=4]Well the pick up arrangement is - lacks the pointy pointy body though.[/size][/sub][/size][/sub][/size]

Edited September 20, 2012 by drTStingray

[Dingus]

[quote name='Duarte' timestamp='1348090755' post='1809307']

[/quote]

This thing looks killer, although not in that colour , if you know what I mean. I would buy one of these like a shot. I have never liked the Big Al, but have daydreamed more than once about the three single coils on a more conventionally shaped Musicman bass, only to find out now that it nearly happened a long time ago!

Edited September 20, 2012 by Dingus

[Dingus]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1348091316' post='1809318']
The white version didn't last long - very rare and quite sought after. They said they discontinued it because of problems matching the neck and body colours but I have always wondered if the TB banter influenced it.

Apparently the Sterling was intended to have single colis but the MM single coil pick up hadn't been perfected by then so appeared on the Bongo first.

Back to the mahogony Bongo - someone on the MM forum has received his Bongo 6H so more pics should be available soon. Be interesting to see the headstock treatment on a Bongo.
[/quote]

I find it hard to imagine that Sterling Ball would have been swayed so easily by a few toilet-taunts, not least of all because the white stingray with a black scratchplate looks much more like a toilet than the white Bongo ever did :



I first became aware of the whole Musicman-toilet thing when a female bass player who I met between sets in a bar who had this very colour scheme on her Stingray described it to me as her plastic toilet seat bass, and that must be back in pre-EBMM days . Personally, I think we need to get away from the idea that looking like a toilet or indeed toilets themselves are bad things. Think about how pleased you are to see one when you really need to use one. Where I would have to draw the line is if EBMM were to start offering some kind of roadworn toilet finish with a kind of not -cleaned -in-months relicing effect. That would be a step too far.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Dingus