if you could have your own sig bass by any compnay you want...

[Tait]

fender, mahogany pbass body, jbass neck, a bartolini mk1 pickup in the mid and bridge postions, and no scratch plate

EDIT: woah! i cant believe that i wanted this! June 16th 2007? that was ages ago! now i'd go for an ibanez SR with ash body, but with only a seymour duncan ceramic musicman pickup, two band EQ (in a line like the SRX) and a much chunkier neck (maple with a rosewood fretboard). somewhere between a stingray and precision - like the one on my taitycaster.

Edited May 15, 2008 by lwtait

[NAS]

This one!

[The Burpster]

Anything out of the PRS Private Stock workshop @ Stevensville.....


Check out No. 443 in the Gallery of Private Stock on their webby for an absolutley jaw droppingly beautiful EB IV fretless...... (7th row down from top!)


I'm just waiting for the production model of the gary Grainger V string to come out before I push my elderly mother down the stairs!

[Sean]

For me it would be a Lakland Darryl Jones 4 but with a P/J pup (Fralin) configuration, D-tuner and an oiled neck. The Lakland Duck Dunn is a modified Bob Glaub so I don't see why I can't modify someone else's sig bass to be mine! Oh yeah and it would be in Black with a rosewood board and pearl PG.

There's only £3k and 9 months waiting stopping me!

[bremen]

[quote name='Ba55me15ter' post='9273' date='May 30 2007, 03:35 PM']Mine would have a magic 5th string which disappeared with the flick of a switch.[/quote]

Visionary!

[JakeBrownBass]

Me thinks it'd have to be warwick

Streamer bolt on, 2 jazz pu's, simple bass, treble, pickup mix & volume controls.

Probs Ocean Blue with gold hardware.

White LED side dots.

Oh, and deffo 5 string tune BEADG

I think thats it!

^_^ Jake

[Bilbo]

I think its all GAS!

I have never seen the particular attraction of a 'signature' bass. If you can't make beautiful music on a regular 'stock' bass by Wal or Fodera or Sei or whatever other manufacturer floats your boat, what makes you think that that specifying the material that they make the nut out of is going change that? I have never heard a 'signature' bass that had a 'signature' sound. They all sound like basses to me.

I think it all a bit of a pose, frankly.

[Machines]

bilbo - it's a bit like buying a new car, it doesn't matter what colour it is or what the seats are made of - it'll still go from A to B. It's all about personal preference. I thought you might understand that given your choice in instruments.

[Bilbo]

That's my point. What does it matter? If its got a body, neck, strings, pick-ups and machine heads and sounds like a bass, it is a bass!

So why go out and spend 3 or 4 grand on getting 'Johnny Luthier' to build you a 'special' thing when you could buy a beautiful instrument 'off the peg' for £2k and then buy a top notch amp and still have enough change to buy the entire Miles Davis back catalogue! Twice!

Because you can? I still don't get it! I think the 'signature' bass thing is ego driven. Its the music that matters not the tools.

[Dubs]

Ahh what a good thread…I love the “if money was no object” kind of school boy thinking.

Hmmmm…for me it would have to be something based on a Warwick I’d have a super thin Wenge neck with dark blue LEDs making a “BW” on the 12th fret. Smallish body – custom design that’s something between a Thumb and a Streamer with 1 big Musicman humbucker positioned towards the bridge. Black hardware (and at the risk of sounding a bit gay) with sparkley bits in it. 4 strings…if you cant do it with 4 then you’re not trying hard enough

I’ve honestly never played a Warwick I didn’t like (except for a 5 string Streamer Jazzman) so I’d probably just take a ‘stock’ 4 string NT Thumb and change it very subtly to suit my individual ergonomic needs.

[john_the_bass]

yes but if you can make your own sig bass to your own spec - out of whatever wood you want, with the pickup config that you want, neck material, etc that does exactly what you want it to, rather than having to have 2 different (and possibly expensive) basses to produce 2 different tones, when the bass you design might what you want in one package.

[Shockwave]

Hmm, I have a good idea what i would like electronics wise but body shape i have no idea.

If i was playing rock or simple stuff i would have a 5 string Ironbird bass, Otherwise it would be a 5 string Wave bass.

[Machines]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='199619' date='May 15 2008, 02:37 PM']So why go out and spend 3 or 4 grand on getting 'Johnny Luthier' to build you a 'special' thing when you could buy a beautiful instrument 'off the peg' for £2k and then buy a top notch amp and still have enough change to buy the entire Miles Davis back catalogue! Twice![/quote]

Because not everyone likes 'off the peg' equipment ? Personally I can find everything I want from off the shelf gear - i'm lucky there. But there are a lot of people who want x number of strings, with a y scale made from <insert name> wood - this is because they find it the most comfortable and prefer the sound/appearance.

To assume every person can find a non-custom instrument that suits them perfectly is quite silly.

[ashgeezer]

My x wife once said to me that i was a simple man with simple tastes and she was spot on.
Theres nowt wrong with my mex precision, it plays fine and looks fine, although i would like to change the neck to a maple fretboard as i love them but cant see me doing anything to it in the near future

[WithoutRisk_BassPlayer]

I found my perfect bass already: Fender Stu Hamm Urge II, its actually amazing (imo). I'm in the middle of customizing it atm; black hardware, respray white and abalone pickguard and then it will be perfect!

I wouldn't mind having the same neck and body as the Urge II but with a MM humbucker in it that could be a bit fruity!

[Bilbo]

[quote name='Machines' post='199685' date='May 15 2008, 03:46 PM']To assume every person can find a non-custom instrument that suits them perfectly is quite silly.[/quote]

To assume that, having played a tiny percentage of the available 'off the peg' basses, that anyone is sufficiently discerning enough to HAVE to have a bass made of Argentinian Zebrawood with a 34.667 inch scale, a Zygote reinforced pick up and perfectiminium machine heads in order to be able to execute your unprecedented ideas on sound makes assuming every person can find a non-custom instrument that suits them perfectly sound positively enlightened.

My point is that NO instrument will suit you perfectly. You have to work WITH the instrument in order to make beautiful music. Trying to create the perfect instrument as a one off exercise is, in my opinion, a fools errand. Of course, if you want a 29-string monster, you ain't going to get it off the peg but most custom basses are ordinary 4-5-6 strings with fairly conventional set ups. Its just self indulgence.

For the record, a Wal Custom is, ironically, not a custom bass. It is off the peg.

[Machines]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='199719' date='May 15 2008, 04:19 PM']For the record, a Wal Custom is, ironically, not a custom bass. It is off the peg.[/quote]

An off the peg custom bass - nice one .

[lee4]

A copy of my Status Groove,4 strings,P pup in the neck position,Ash body finished in clear satin,no scratchplate,chrome hardware.

[Doc B]

A set of 4 Warwick Thumb NTs with Streamer Std electrics (vintage humbuckers, 2 vol, 1 tone) in fretted and lined fretless both in 4 and 5 string, natural finish of course - whatever woods were used for the early 1990s versions. I'd also have the yin yang position markers from the Streamer SS2 on the fretted ones.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='199719' date='May 15 2008, 04:19 PM']My point is that NO instrument will suit you perfectly.[/quote]
I'd suggest perfection means different things to different people.

Ironically I'm working on a custom 5 string that hopefully will be as close to perfection to me, in the different types of music I play, as basic physics will allow. Might even have a few to sell on if any people are interested in them.

[bnt]

If I win the lottery, I might have a word with [url="http://www.chrislarkinguitars.com/"]Chris Larkin[/url] to see what he can do, but to answer the original question, I would still like Tune Bass Maniac to make me a signature bass, perhaps based on the [url="http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~tune/tune/twx-through.neck/twx-through,neck,series.htm"]TWX Through-Neck[/url] in Chestnut. Mmmm.

Whoever makes it, I want a 35" (or 36"?) 6-string with some custom electronics:
- Single MM-size humbucker in "sweet spot", with coil tap/phase switch
- piezo saddles to 13-pin out, + mix - using something like a [url="http://www.rmcpickup.com/polydrivei.html"]RMC Poly-Drive IB[/url] system.

I think I'd have a lot of fun putting the spec together, and seeing and hearing the results, which is (I think) part of the idea of a signature bass. It's about more than "getting the job done"!

Edited May 15, 2008 by bnt

[LukeFRC]

i would make my own.
get a nice bass, the craic of making it and playing around with tools and stuff.

having said that my idea would be to make a ridiculously cheap bass. But plays good. Ive just got an urge to make a semi hollow body out of ply (a la Danelectro), finish it in a silver sparkly finish, screw a P style neck to it. and see what sort of sound it would make.
If i got another company to make it it would be squier, simply cos i couldn't be arsed with the i have a [insert expensive bass manufacturer's name here] kudos rubbish.

[The Burpster]

I feel some of you are missing the point......

This is not a 'perfect bass' thread its a signature bass thread....

the two are not necassarily the same or even in the same street!!!

Is there a perfect bass? I often wonder....

If there was and you had it made, would you play it? I doubt it....


Signature basses are made in the essence of a musicians 'career' bass.... NOT the best ever achievable instrument......

By some of your posts, you would think that Pino worships the Fender sig model made in his names sake?

I very much doubt it...

I'll put money on him havng a collection of 'lovelies' that are his faves.....

MK's had more companies make a sig. bass with his name on it than I've had medium warm pizzas......

Which are his Faves? well they cant all be can they?

[7string]

Just read my way through this thread..

[quote name='BigRedX' post='9240' date='May 30 2007, 02:39 PM']The sort of R&D required for a true signature instrument is one that only the really big manufacturers can absorb, as the player works their way through the various options seeing what works and what doesn't.[/quote]

Taking this point, it would be great to have the same bass made with differing combinations of woods, pickups, scale lengths, hardware, finishes and so on. I imagine that if you were designing for Fender (for example), they would be able to build multiple examples like this. Only then would you really know exactly what works for you.

Unfortunately, for most of us down the custom route it boils down to a huge amount of research (luckily I enjoy the fact-finding part !) to decide on which features we need. Blend that with the experience of your luthier and the combination will get you as close as possible to the bass you want.

[metalmickey]

To actually answer the question............

Warwick

Star Bass 2

Set Ovangkol Neck with flame maple top, mahogany back and sides, nirvana black oil finish.

Wenge fingerboard with black block inlays

35" scale

24 frets

Passive MEC CRB humbuckers

Active electrics with bypass switch

Black hardware

Or sumthin like that........... :ph34r: