OK....These two are NOT mine but just came across them.
The top one a friend who frequents the Hamer Fan Club Forum built. He's (Roy) a talented builder up in Canada called RS Guitarworks. He blended a couple of Gibson bass designs into one for this on a Korina body he made.
Link Removed
The bottom one is ON EBAY and new. The bridge pickup slides thru positions to change the tone. Yes, others have done this before but this one appears to be AUTOMATED. Scary.
Link Removed
Info from the EBAY listing below for more details:
___
SSS BASS (SWEET SPOT SELECT) THUNDERBIRD CLONE
Hi, and welcome to the first offering of an ‘SSS Bass’ (Sweet Spot Select) on eBay. The SSS Bass uses a built-in pickup positioning chassis that moves the “J” pickup to any desired location within that chassis. This means the SSS Bass uses pure magnetic pickup power for tone to your amp, not a synthesized model reproduction.
When the pickup is moved to a new location, a unique tone you may be searching for can then be locked in. This unique tone changes the complete voice of the bass. It actually turns the bass into what seems like a totally different instrument, yet it maintains the playability you are used to. This can be especially beneficial in the studio when you don’t have to drag several basses to the session to capture the tone that you, or your producer, are looking for.
The pickup movement is produced electronically by a shielded high performance DC gear motor and is controlled by an on-board micro controller.
In a two pickup bass guitar set-up, the SSS Bass uses the “P” pickup as a constant, and the “J” pickup as a variable for producing tone. Movement of the “J”, as little as ¼”, changes the voice of the bass.
Here’s more on how the SSS Bass works: The bass uses the internally shielded EMG P/J setup operating at 18 volts for the best depth as possible. The distance from the bridge to the “P” pickup is where the SSS Bass device is located. The SSS Bass device sets up the “J” pickup in a pickup saddle. When the “J” pickup is in the bridge position, the tones are bright and clean. When the “J” pickup moves toward the middle of the chassis, the tone begins to growl. When just below the “P” position the tone becomes extremely low end. Tone blending the two volume controls and the tone control between the “P” and “J” pickups enhances the overall sound.
The pickup selector switch allows you to select only the “P” pickup for that unique ‘P-Bass’ sound, or the “J” pickup for SSS tone management only. However, when both pickups are selected for blending is when the infinite tone variations are shaped.
SSS movement is controlled by eight momentary push buttons located within fingertip reach. The SSS uses six of the buttons to program and store pickup locations into a memory chip. The other two buttons energize the device to move the “J” pickup either forward or backward within its chassis assembly. If a particular tone position is one that is to be saved, you can program that pickup location for future recall. Just press and hold one of the six position recall buttons until the LED blinks (about two seconds). The pickup position can also just be used as a temporary selection. When a pre- programmed position recall is wanted, you simply push and release the pre-programmed button and the pickup will return to that exact location.
The speed of the movement end to end is pretty quick at ¾ of a second. Power consists of one nine-volt alkaline battery for the motor and a six-volt lithium battery for the on-board control electronics.
This SSS Bass is a four string 34" scale instrument with 22 frets on an ebony board with a double adjustable truss and graphite reinforcements for neck strength. The Bass uses Schaller’s Roller Bridge for string spacing, intonation, action height and sustain. Smooth 22:1 machine head tuners are also used. A built-in battery compartment holds two 9V batteries for pickup power. Also, two volumes and one tone control, a pickup selector switch, and an on/off switch for the SSS controller. The body is solid mahogany and sculpted for flowing lines and ergonomics.
So, in summary, the difference between standard bass designs and the SSS Bass is first, the use of a constant pickup along with a variable pickup used for tone blending. The fully programmable pickup position search, store, and recall capabilities allows you full control of the device which provides the flexibility to recall pickup locations on the fly, while on stage, during rehearsals, and especially in the studio. Plus, the SSS Bass's playability would be the same as opposed to 5 different basses all with a different ‘feel’.
There are no 200-page manuals to read to operate the SSS Bass. The control program is pre-loaded into the control processor. You just push a button to move the “J” pickup forward or back, find the tone for a particular tune or set and then press and hold one of the six program buttons for two seconds. When the green LED flashes on the button panel, that position is now programmed and ready for recall. Easier than programming the stations on your digital car radio!
There is a sound sample link in the EBAY listing to hear how this thing sounds:
http://cgi.ebay.com/SSS-BASS-SWEET-...itar?hash=item2a003e95a5&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
)
