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suggest a new exotic bass for me...

Y

yoyossarian

Dec 17, 2007
47
0
#1
I've been playing a modulus Q6 for the last 6 or so years, and I love it...but recently played an elrick (bart soapbars, bart pre-amp) and fell in love with the tone, feel and looks. I also love the look of ritters, beneventes, fordera, drozd etc...exotic and meticulously hand crafted. I haven't had the chance to play barely any of these, but am really wanting to get something akin to these instruments in look and build, with a similar tone and playability to the elrick I played.

I'm sure some of you will just say, buy an elrick, but I am hoping to widen the search with other instruments of the same caliber.

I want to stay under $2500 if its used, or under 5000 if its new (perhaps custom built).

lemme know what you guys would get if you were doing the shopping!
 
#3
......... buy an Elrick. buy THAT Elrick.

j/k. woof. with that price range you're gonna have a LOT of options. i have a Dingwall AB I on the way that i've yet to get my grubby little hands on, but the mid-build pictures just blew me away. and i can't think of one bad thing i've read or heard from anybody that has ever played one concerning the design or craftsmanship quality. quite the opposite.

.......... you could buy me another Dingwall as a back up?
 
#4
I just can't warm to most of that handmade "boutique" basses. They just tend to be over the top, and I can't help but feel I would have to be dressed like a pimp to play one.

I'm sure they sound good, but a bass doesn't have to look pimp daddy to sound good.

Anyway, if I was gonna get a custom axe, I would go for an Alleva-Coppolo.
 
#6
Bass Dawg makes a good point. these kind of threads are silly in a way because an instrument that's going to be with you as long as something in this range (my Dinger is going to be the first high-end bass i've ever owned) is such a personal decision that i don't know how much a stranger's advice is worth.

one person's "unnecessarily blinged out pimp daddy look at me" bass is somebody else's understated elegance.

i'm crazy excited about the tech and design that goes into a well made fanned fret system. but i understand how that might not be somebody else's idea of a...... good idea.

yay redundant statement!!
 
#8
I hear you guys and fully agree, buying an instrument is highly personal...I just don't look around as much as others so I figured I'd ask what people like that has similar characteristics to the basses I mentioned.

also...the elrick sold months ago, I can afford one now, but couldn't then.

singlecuts are growing on me.

perhaps I'll just put a down payment on an elrick (or maybe benevente) and pick what I want in features, power windows, power locks, power chords.
 
#11
The question you've asked here is like going into a comic book convention and asking "who's your favorite comic book hero?". It is however a great way to find out about luthiers that you hadn't known about previously.

Some of my favorites that you haven't mentioned:

Ristola Instruments....a good friend and built my 6 string...I like narrow spacing as well, and a shorter scale length. Beautiful bass. Since I own one I won't gush about Brian's basses, but I will say that they are worth a look. I love Brian's work.

Ken Lawrence....some of the most beautiful, best playing instruments I've ever come across. These are pricier than the others I'm mentioning, but worth every penny if they appeal to you....a true artist.

Jon Maghini...I've played a few of Jon's basses and one 6 string in particular just knocked me out. It's one I'll always think of as one of my favorite basses I've ever played. His basses tend to be on the heavier side unless you ask for something lighter. Not a big deal but worth mentioning.

Chris Stambaugh....Chris is incredible. He'll make you whatever you want for a price that will suprise you. His work is as good as anyone's. His instruments have a very organic feel and sound, if that makes sense to you....very warm and woody naturally.

These guys I've all met and are not only incredible builders but genuinely wonderful people.

I haven't played one but am very curious about W&T, or Wood and Tronics. I believe they're out of Italy. They seem to be doing great things.
 
#13
The responses in most of these threads are pointless. There's a given amount of people who dislike boutique basses and their advice is often not to get one because they're not worth it. There is also a given amount of people who simply nominate what they play for affirmation.

What YOU need to do is establish the tone(s) you're going for and figure out what you like from a feel perspective. I hate to oversimplify the process, but once you know what sound and feel you want, it's a cakewalk.
 
#14
spade2you said:
What YOU need to do is establish the tone(s) you're going for and figure out what you like from a feel perspective. I hate to oversimplify the process, but once you know what sound and feel you want, it's a cakewalk.
Click to expand...

I agree and disagree. Yes, what you said is true. There are however a great deal more builders than there used to be. If he's more aware of his options than he can start to narrow his search. You've had the privilege of having multiple custom builds made. That may not be an option for this person. It becomes even more important when you're looking to have that one main bass built to look at all of your options very carefully.
 
#15
My approach may seem oversimplified, but despite having a lot of boutique basses, I rarely have had opportunities to play similar basses before ordering. It may seem daunting, but the global online bassist community is big enough that it's possible to find people with experience and know how to coax most given tones out of a bass. Knowing one's necessary specs is one thing, but figuring how to get the sound isn't as hard as most make it. Knowing what sound the player is after often seems to be on the back burner, but should probably be the primary objective.
 
#16
Human Base Class X!
Dont see them often and they are pretty exotic!

humanbase.de

DSCN1190.jpg

DSCN1191.jpg
 
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#17
spade2you said:
Knowing what sound the player is after often seems to be on the back burner, but should probably be the primary objective.
Click to expand...

This, unless you want wall art (and that's...ok too). In my case my next "boutique" will be a Roscoe fretless. Why? Well, plenty of kool-aid in the Roscoe forum :D

But actually I have a specific tone goal in mind. I play in a number of different bands with different sounds/styles. I like to have a minimum number of instruments, and I tend to prefer fretless. I also have switched to trying to match my "favorite" instrument wrt spacing and low weight (important to me) and scale (less important but a factor). My fav is a Rob Allen Deep 5. That covers the "jazz" side of the sounds, and I can force it into funk territory but it will never get an aggressive roundwound fretless tone. So as a counterpoint I want something that will cut like a knife and be the nasty yang to the RA warm/fat yin. And a Roscoe fretless will do that in spades. Plus they can come in under 9lbs (important to me), are 35" scale (same as the D5), and far more importantly, are 18mm spacing so they match every bass I have - and string spacing is critical to me, far more than scale length as evidenced by my playing 30" scale as well (but with 18mm spacing).

So figure out your tone goals, your ergonomic needs, then find the brands that fit those criteria.

And just to emphasize the yin/yang, two quick clips of RA vs Roscoe:

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#18
Lottsa nice brands already mentioned in this thread, but lemme just throw one more into the fray:

ACG http://www.acguitars.co.uk/index.php

Back before I joined TB I was already pretty familiar with a lot of the "boutique" brands. Quite a few of them had already earned a spot on my GAS list: Alembic, Fodera, Wal, Tobias, Pedulla, Sadowsky, F Bass, Modulus, Dingwall, Curbow...

Once I came to TB I started to learn about even more astonishingly cool-looking exotic basses (as well as even more astonishingly ostentatious-looking over-the-top exotic basses...but hey, there's a market for everything).

But the only bass I've discovered here that's been so appealing as to weael its way into the esteemed company that already populated my GAS list are those ACG instruments. They are just freakin' gorgeous imho.
 
#20
My vote for an "exotic" bass with great tone would go for Dingwall, without a doubt

Having said that, there are MANY great luthiers out there and I've had the privilege of trying several of them and several their masterpieces (Ritter, Fodera, MTD, Ken Lawrence, Status to name a few). In terms of a singlecut, my vote would go to Ken Lawrence

Still, one first needs to identify the tonal direction (as well as other specific design details) that he/she is heading and let the luthier be aware of that. The more specific one is, the fewer the chances for misinterpretation are. If one works in this line of approach, the results are more or less a success. It has worked for me so far with more than a handful of luthiers and the end result has been more than a dozen great basses
 

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