Any high quality optical basses?

[Gnome]

Are there any high end basses with optical pickups being made? What do you guys think of them?

 

[war_n_peace]

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[joeyl]

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I like natural wood but that scar is a bit too much

 

[Bman83]

WOW! That is an ugly bass.

 

[Rattman]

Gee whiz... couldn't they find some less-flawed wood? I'd say it might have some effect on sustain..

 

[m.oreilly]

i love the wood. picture doesn't do it justice, imho (now that shape...). nice to see a setup like that. big fan of the "no pup" look.

 

[themajorrager]

sorry to show my ignorance but what exactly are optical pups? ie. how do they differ from regular magnetic pups?

 

[JMX]

Christoph Kost makes great Lightwave versions of his basses.

[This invalid link has been removed] (check the 1st pic of his gallery)

 

[DanielleMuscato]

sorry to show my ignorance but what exactly are optical pups? ie. how do they differ from regular magnetic pups?

Here...

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I've heard a few, and the best way to describe the tone (IMO) is that of a nylon-string, classical guitar, but at bass pitch. It has the same clarity, fullness, and open sound of a very high quality classical. They have great harmonic response and very good sustain. I don't think they are at all useful for traditional electric bass tones, though. YMMV. But, they sound GREAT for jazz, especially on a fretless...

Listen to this!
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[LaMarquis J]

heres my personal fav.........

 

[Jazz Ad]

Bassurgery

Zon, of course.
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[LaMarquis J]

Heres mine........w/midi option and additional magnetic pickup

 

[joeyl]

Bassurgery

those upper horns are seriously scary, it's too thin, et oui je parle francais being originally from l'ile Maurice

 

[fretless Bob]

Sei basses can be made with the lightwave systems.

www.seibass.com


Dave

 

[fretless Bob]

Bassurgery

i remember that guy, i hung around that booth for a while that year, he was not the most polite builder i have ever met to say the least...

and there is no way i would spend £7000 on anything but a Fodera, customer service makes all the difference,

anyway sorry to de-rail the thread a little.... back on topic


Dave

 

[rob_the_bassist]

Heres mine........w/midi option and additional magnetic pickup

you look so happy in that picture!

 

[grovest]

This is a topic I'm especially interested in. A couple years ago I corresponded with Fred H and Zon about Lightwave PUs. Around that time Lightwave was coming out with its own line of basses, concurrent with (my impression) 'third party' luthiers' use of Lightwave dropping precipitously.

Attached is a Zon Sonus with a series one LW PU- yes!

 

[LaMarquis J]

you look so happy in that picture!

just anutha day in paradise!

 

[Human Bass]

i GAS for a surgery bass...less than 2kg!!!

 

[JAUQO III-X]

I play a lightwave systems fretless 5 tuned E-C and it has a strong lyrical presence and it growls for days,the bottom response is surprisingly even and clear and it really is a funky Bass when you want it to be.