Hi everyone, I never thought I would find myself purchasing a boutique bass but the day has come.
One of the guitarists in my band is an endorsing artist for Barlow Guitars. These guitars have been the first ‘boutique’ instruments I have found myself drooling over. Well Barlow extended an offer to join their roster so I decided to pull the trigger!! Barlow has historically focused on guitars but would like to enter the bass world. He is currently finishing up the first Barlow Bass.
First of Ricky Barlow does literally everything. The building, customer relations, etc etc. Also everything is done by hand except fret slotting. Build time is around 8-12 months. He is formally trained and has worked for PRS which is pretty cool!
Ricky was great educating me about different woods as I am more familiar with the basic maple/alder/ash. I picked a cocobolo top which has already begun to nicely darken. The body will be a nice hippy sandwich of cocobolo/primavera/ziricote over blonde mahogany.
He suggested a ziricote neck as well. I am doing 34” scale with stainless steel vintage frets. Schaller hardware and Ezi pickups. I have never heard of these pickups until now but they are really cool! Handwound in Israel encased in wood. I can do exposed rails or not but am leaning towards the rails.
So far the top has been sanded... only 7.5 months to go (more or less)
One of the guitarists in my band is an endorsing artist for Barlow Guitars. These guitars have been the first ‘boutique’ instruments I have found myself drooling over. Well Barlow extended an offer to join their roster so I decided to pull the trigger!! Barlow has historically focused on guitars but would like to enter the bass world. He is currently finishing up the first Barlow Bass.
First of Ricky Barlow does literally everything. The building, customer relations, etc etc. Also everything is done by hand except fret slotting. Build time is around 8-12 months. He is formally trained and has worked for PRS which is pretty cool!
Ricky was great educating me about different woods as I am more familiar with the basic maple/alder/ash. I picked a cocobolo top which has already begun to nicely darken. The body will be a nice hippy sandwich of cocobolo/primavera/ziricote over blonde mahogany.
He suggested a ziricote neck as well. I am doing 34” scale with stainless steel vintage frets. Schaller hardware and Ezi pickups. I have never heard of these pickups until now but they are really cool! Handwound in Israel encased in wood. I can do exposed rails or not but am leaning towards the rails.
So far the top has been sanded... only 7.5 months to go (more or less)
