Show us your Martin Keith Basses

[just_chill]

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I’m excited to share some progress pics from Martin! He said it’s headed to the finisher in the next week or so. A recap on general specs;

• Headless 6 string, 34.5" scale, 19 mm spacing
• Swamp ash body, buckeye burl top, black accent veneer, with a TBD transparent white finish on the top and grain filling on the ash (hence headed to the finisher)
• Maple neck with wenge center stripe
• Wenge fretboard with some neat fretboard inlays
• Two Aguilar Super Doubles in a wooden ramp with exposed poles, electronics still being sorted out

Oh wow!!! Beautiful!!! I really like the inlay design! Also, I agree that the placement “K” logo is really nice looking!

 

[smperry]

Speaking of details, this will be heading to me soon. Once it arrives, I’ll probably make a standalone thread for this, my seventh Martin Keith Guitars bass.

 

[emjazz]

Speaking of details, this will be heading to me soon. Once it arrives, I’ll probably make a standalone thread for this, my seventh Martin Keith Guitars bass.

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Very, VERY excited to see how that one comes out!!

 

[just_chill]

Speaking of details, this will be heading to me soon. Once it arrives, I’ll probably make a standalone thread for this, my seventh Martin Keith Guitars bass.

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Yowza! Looking forward to seeing this one fully unveiled!

 

[emjazz]

Speaking of details, this will be heading to me soon. Once it arrives, I’ll probably make a standalone thread for this, my seventh Martin Keith Guitars bass.

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Marshall, what strings are going on this bass?

 

[smperry]

Marshall, what strings are going on this bass?

La Bella Deep Talkin Bass stainless steel flats, but with the tailpiece design it can also take the La Bella Bass VI flats (with the guitar sized ball at the end). Up until recently I used Bass VI flats on my other 6 tuned E-F and liked them. I found myself missing the B when playing with others so I switched back to B-C.

 

[smperry]

It’s here, and it’s so awesome. More later.

 

[emjazz]

It’s here, and it’s so awesome. More later.

Oh MAN…I’m so completely excited to see the final product!!!

 

[Fuzzbass]

No ETA on mine, but it's being painted this week!

 

[smperry]

A few quick pics

 

[Fuzzbass]

A masterpiece! Gorgeous photos, too. Congrats!

 

[Les Fret]

A few quick pics

Great looking bass! The only thing I don’t like is that the neck pickup is so wide. Is there a reason for this?

The string spacing is 16.5mm I guess?

Hope you can make a sound clip of it when you have it. Very curious about the sound!

 

[smperry]

Great looking bass! The only thing I don’t like is that the neck pickup is so wide. Is there a reason for this?

The string spacing is 16.5mm I guess?

Hope you can make a sound clip of it when you have it. Very curious about the sound!

Thanks. The Bartolini candy bar pickup was by choice; I didn’t want the usual jazz bass ears. Bridge spacing is 18mm.

I have it now so I’ll definitely record some audio sometime. It’s a huge but throaty sound. You can definitely tell it’s a hollowbody.

 

[Les Fret]

Thanks. The Bartolini candy bar pickup was by choice; I didn’t want the usual jazz bass ears. Bridge spacing is 18mm.

I have it now so I’ll definitely record some audio sometime. It’s a huge but throaty sound. You can definitely tell it’s a hollowbody.

ok great! Thanks. I would love to hear it.
Personally I think I would have choosen a bridge pickup instead of neck, to have more contrast with the piezo sound. Like the Godins A4's have. But that's just personal.

 

[emjazz]

ok great! Thanks. I would love to hear it.
Personally I think I would have choosen a bridge pickup instead of neck, to have more contrast with the piezo sound. Like the Godins A4's have. But that's just personal.

That can always be done as a custom order

 

[emjazz]

A few quick pics

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It’s lovely to see another shape as a bass from Martin. Gorgeous.

 

[mikezimmerman]

Very cool!

 

[smperry]

ok great! Thanks. I would love to hear it.
Personally I think I would have choosen a bridge pickup instead of neck, to have more contrast with the piezo sound. Like the Godins A4's have. But that's just personal.

I’ve had a Godin, and this is better. I also have two other Keith fretlesses with bridge pickups. This was intentional based on the sound I wanted.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Marshall, that looks amazing! I very much like the use of nonrectangular shapes for the bridge, tailpiece, and soundholes. The wood choices are elegant and classic-looking. Hope you get many years of satisfying use out of it.

 

[smperry]

A masterpiece! Gorgeous photos, too. Congrats!

Thanks!

It’s lovely to see another shape as a bass from Martin. Gorgeous.

Thanks!

Very cool!

Thank you!

Marshall, that looks amazing! I very much like the use of nonrectangular shapes for the bridge, tailpiece, and soundholes. The wood choices are elegant and classic-looking. Hope you get many years of satisfying use out of it.

Many thanks. The wood choices were 100% Martin’s call. I just wanted a certain sound for my jazz bands where I often play upright. I’m slightly less comfortable on sixes than I am fives so this will definitely inspire me to practice.