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Most creative bass?

#42
AbluesBassist has a super interesting bass that Adam Charette made for him...

At the time that these basses came out they had features that no one else had:
Fender - started it all, rock would not have come about without bass (or atleast rock as we know it.) Funk just plain wouldn't exist.
Dan Armstrong - material (lucite)
Alembics - construction and electronics
G&Ls - electronics
Warwicks - woods (first to use wenge and bubinga?)
Warriors - E string
Lightwave - Pickups
Conklin - wood that appears to melt into other wood, and extra string monstrosities.

There are plenty more forward thinking makers though

That nomad bass with rubber strings that sounds like an upright
The washtub bass
that 2tek bridge
the first aluminum neck (was it kramer or that other guy)
The first graphite neck (was it G gould's modulus or someone else.)
who made the first 8 string, 12 string, 5 string, 6 string, 7 string, fretless,
 
#44
Debased said:
Yves Carbonne's Jerzy Drozd fretless Legend XII:

27.jpg


31.jpg


15.jpg


12.jpg
Click to expand...

That's the first neck I've seen with a bolt on body! :confused:
 
#49
Subculture13 said:
Mikey Basses

A PATENTED system that is both fretless or fretted, and hte flick of a switch. I work with the luthier and inventor. It's crazy, and it works, really really well.

Fretless mode:

Mikey Basses

Fretted mode:
Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

I don't expect that you'd tell me, but ever since I saw that video on the mikeyguitar website I've wondered how that system works. I'd love one day to see the details of it.
 
#52
Disco_Gee said:
I don't expect that you'd tell me, but ever since I saw that video on the mikeyguitar website I've wondered how that system works. I'd love one day to see the details of it.
Click to expand...

I wonder how this works... do the frets flip over so that a flat side is up?

correction on the link... Invalid Link Removed

I'll venture a guess... The frets rotate on a rod that goes from one side to the other (perhaps in the binding) either flat side up or round protruding side up. A flip of the switch rotates the frets.

It seems like this would be pretty difficult to implement. There has to be an easier way. I am impressed though.

I have seen the basses (forget the name) where the fretboard was stuck on by a magnet. You could take the fretted board off and slap on a fretless. The one I saw in person worked really well. But the comapny got sued and went out of business in the early 80s.
 
#54
mangle said:
most creative bass ever [reference photo of early Fender P]
Click to expand...
Yes! Yes! You have to know when this first appeared
THERE WERE NO BASS GUITARS!​
ok, I feel much better now.​

:)​

And I kind of have mixed ideas about the Jerzy Drozd basses, but they do look very creative. I think the bolt on body concept's time has come! The 6 string looks healthier. I'm wondering about neck dive with the hollow body ....
 
#56
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.
Click to expand...
+1 on that one. Talk about re-inventing the instrument from the ground up in one fell swoop. And the cool thing was that it wasn't just some outrageous, silly design produced for "shock value," it was designed from a practical, form-follows-function way of thinking.
 
#57
David Vector said:
+1 on that one. Talk about re-inventing the instrument from the ground up in one fell swoop. And the cool thing was that it wasn't just some outrageous, silly design produced for "shock value," it was designed from a practical, form-follows-function way of thinking.
Click to expand...

+1

The XL2 is just an incredible piece of engineering. I quite like Michael Manring's Hyperbass too, I thought the idea of putting all those piezo transducers in it was cool.
 
#59
WarriorJoe7 said:
I wonder how this works... do the frets flip over so that a flat side is up?

correction on the link... Invalid Link Removed

I'll venture a guess... The frets rotate on a rod that goes from one side to the other (perhaps in the binding) either flat side up or round protruding side up. A flip of the switch rotates the frets.

It seems like this would be pretty difficult to implement. There has to be an easier way. I am impressed though.

I have seen the basses (forget the name) where the fretboard was stuck on by a magnet. You could take the fretted board off and slap on a fretless. The one I saw in person worked really well. But the comapny got sued and went out of business in the early 80s.
Click to expand...

That was my initial thought but I figured it would be far to difficult. It didn't look like there was enough space in the binding.
 
#60
I'll venture a guess at the fretted fretless bass dealy. When you push the lever the frets will move down into the neck and forward. Whilst the fretless fretlines move in the same direction and up to fill the position left by the frets. To me something like this would be more robust than swivelling frets. But still very intricate

Edit: Oh never mind I just read teh website it says it's based on rotating fret mechanism as everyone suspected
 

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