Almost exactly two years after placing the order, it's here!
I had become really enamored with the sound of the high C on a bass, but didn't want to permanently commit one of my five strings to E-C tuning as I really need the low B, and I didn't want to deal with switching one back and forth. I've owned a few sixes but never really got along with them, yet I decided to just go whole hog and commit to getting it dialed in.
The concept for this one was to have an "exotic," top-end bass created entirely from sustainable, renewable, domestic woods. The body wings are walnut with an alder center block, and the neck is ash. Basic Fodera-ripoff specs.
Where it gets interesting - to me at least - are the top and the fingerboard.The top is old-growth redwood, felled in the mid 1800's in Mendocino county and floated down the Big River, where it sank and stayed there until being hand-craned back up over 100 years later, dried out, and milled. I love how it turned out, with a really tight grain, deep red color and streaks of minerality. Chris used a hand-rubbed cyanoacrylate-based finish (superglue!) on it to give it some extra hardness, but I wanted it to feel raw and it does!
The fingerboard was a tricky call. This bass demanded an ebony board, but I was committed to not using any exotic woods and was leaning towards roasted maple until I happened across a Martin guitar with a Richlite board. Couldn't tell the difference AT ALL between top-grade ebony and the Richlite. It was a little work to get a fingerboard blank in the right size for a six-string bass, but once sourced Chris said it wasn't any more difficult to work than normal ebony. It turned out GREAT.
Pickups are Nordstrand Zen Blades and preamp is a Nordstrand 2B. Series/parallel for each pickup. I wanted the options, but after futzing with it I don't think it'll leave Series very often. It's a BRIGHT bass right now, some of which I think is the strings (my normal light-gauge DR Hi-Beams) needing a second to break in, and some of it may be the stainless frets. Tons of versatility just by hand position and pickup panning, and it absolutely has that beautiful singing quality I was looking for in the upper registers.
The bass feels like my other three, just with an extra string. It's heavy (11lbs) but still lighter than the white bass (which is 13 lbs! and why it sounds so damn good.) Balances amazingly on strap. All of the spacings and dimensions were based off my five strings, so it immediately just felt "right," and I'm substantially more comfortable on it than I've ever been on a sixer. I don't think I'm ever going to be gigging six strings exclusively, and i have a lot of work to put in on it, but it's really opening up another doorway to check out and I'm super excited.
And yeah, if you're not familiar with Chris' work, check him out. If you can handle the wait and working with a true one-man-shop you can get a bass designed exactly to your exact specifications, handmade top to bottom by a true master with quality that stacks up to any of the halo big-dollar brands, for a fraction of the price.
The stamb' fam...
...and with the odd man out in the crew, my faker Warmoth PJ bass
Lastly, I don't have much use for wood hardshell cases and typically just sell them off, but I really wanted to have something I could fly with, so I sent Chris an Enki to send the bass to me in. It's really good!
