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Most creative bass?

#21
Yves Carbonne's Jerzy Drozd fretless Legend XII:

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#26
It all depends on how you define creative. Wishnevsky is creative in that the basses are truly his "creations". I kind of like labgnat's post because it has a Carl Thompson headstock, a Mørch / Thompson cutaway, a Ritter style bass tremelo, neck through body (Rossmeisl), who knows, it might have a 34" (Fender) scale ..... Obviously the "hiding your sources" part is not too well observed;- creative none-the-less, by perhaps another read of the word.

While the fanned frets on the Dingwall's are a little more creative;- that idea was featured on the Link Removed a couple hundred years ago. Sort of like Leo Fender's headstock. Blasts from the distant past often pass for originality, which might or might not be considered creative. I like to see someone bringing a new direction to it all while building upon past standards, such as an electric instrument voiced like a double bass, but specifically suited to an amplified dance music ensemble instead of borrowed from an orchestra.

I probably should have included Ken Smith, who (I think) started putting more strings on the basses, which by extension led to the basses with up to a dozen strings. "Creative" is a highly subjective term, so this might be an anything goes thread. No doubt the Drozd bass in creative in several ways. Lots of good stuff here, and don't just follow my definition, be creative .....
 
#27
labgnat said:
the most innovative creative basses i've seen are the ones
with the twisted necks to improve ergonomics and keep from hurting your wrist when playing in 1st position, those are way cool and so are the basses that you flip a switch and go back and forth between fretted and fretless. that's pretty hip
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You'd like this maker's work. He collaborated with Little and did a Torval neck that's pretty sweet, along with some other very unusual creative designs.

There's a bass that grows frets with the flip of a switch? You gotta be joking. I'd say that's creative. And there's that one with frets above the octave and none below, pretty interesting and also creative.
 
#33
Steinberger XL2 - for construction, materials technology, design, ergonomics and tuning system. Nothing at all comes close to this for 'thinking ouside the box' in bass guitars, and nothing has since. Genius.

Honourable mention - Ron Wickersham for Alembic electronics.
 
#34
XansNiceSweater said:
Okay, I love the workmanship and all that of that Drozd.

But at the same time I really don't like it.

Creative: Probably the Krappy Guitars "punk bass" [one string] or "Toilet Seat bass" [self-explanatory]
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Do you like my humble 6-string version any better? I realize that it can't compete with a Krappy Punk bass or a Toilet Seat Special, but it's the best I can do. :o

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These Legend basses use some of the most innovative construction techniques I've seen on a bass guitar. The "body" is actually more of a hollowed-out shell into which the partially-solid/partially-hollow "top" is inlaid.

Some work-in-progress pics of Yves' bass:

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#38
dogfishslayer said:
How do you even play that? It must be for kicks.
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Nope. Yves plays that 12-string as easily and fluidly as most top bassists play a measly four-banger.

Listen to this link of the ten-string version on a half-decent sound system, but even that won't do the sound of the instrument justice. It sounds breathtaking in person, and Yves' intonation is damn near perfect across the board:

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