The official "Show your basses" thread part 19!

[MovinTarget]

So, when a cop searches your case and tells you that you are under arrest for carrying a concealed weapon, you can say "what, the sword or the bass"?

No officer, haven't you ever seen a bass pick before?

 

[Rod Barchetta]

Why yes sir Rod Barchetta that is a sword in my case. Never go anywhere without it. Is that odd? You don't have a sword in your bass case?

1) Yeah, that's certainly not typical.
2) No, my case did not come with the necessary accessory slot for the sword.

That is what I call a custom set up. Thank you for sharing the photo.
How about a little more info on the bass and the sword?

 

[fourstringdrums]

That's one way to rake in the likes

 

[evilfirbolg]

1) Yeah, that's certainly not typical.
2) No, my case did not come with the necessary accessory slot for the sword.

That is what I call a custom set up. Thank you for sharing the photo.
How about a little more info on the bass and the sword?

The bass was made by Steve Wise in Austin TX. It was something I dreamed as a teenager and a good friend and fellow bassist, Mark Williams, told me of Steve, who had a few basses made by him. Steve thought the idea was crazy but wanted to give it a go. He told me he had never made a bass that someone else completely designed. It was something I had actually put a lot of thought into, and even math, to make what for me at 17 would be the ultimate bass. The process began around 1984 and the bass was finished around 1988. Steve was gracious enough to allow my dishwashing punkrock jazz head self to pay him as he went so every week I'd ride my bicycle to his shop and give him whatever money I had left over from my bills and whatnot. I played a fretless Rick at the time in my punk rock bands.

The bass itself is a mahogany body with curly maple and ebony panels on its face. The neck is rock maple. My pursuit was tone and sustain and to my mind the idea was getting as much mass as possible, and sorta practical, inline with the strings. Thus the big crazy tail and shape. Also I wanted 36" scale fretless. partly for tone and sustain and partly because I have very large hands. I also wanted an ebony fingerboard. The neck goes through the body and an original Leo Quan Badass bridge is sunk into it, another one of my ideas to give it tone and sustain. The pickups are the original Seymour Duncan actives which I regularly had to replace from sweat getting in those little buttons and killing em. The bass was being finished up just as I was about to leave on a tour and Steve insisted on putting fret lines on the neck, which I hate. I can't see the dang fingerboard anyway when I'm playing. I just wanted sidemarkers, but he had seen me play and how active I am and swore I'd like em. I never did, but I have lived with em. On a design note I can attest the the idea worked magnificently. While probably not the most practical bass in the world, it sounds like no other and it will sustain well into next week. My take has always been that bass is SUPPOSED to take effort. It is literally a musical expression of effort. But thats just me. I became known in my little circle of Austin by this bass and its tone. Typically going through an 18 and a 15 after visiting a Seymour Duncan head. I go through Ashdowns now into a SVT 8x10 on one side and an 18 and 2 15s on the other.

The sword was actually forged by another Austinite, a crazy fellow by the name of Daniel Watson of Angel Sword. I have been a swordsman since childhood and it is merely one of many, the one that has always lived with this bass.

 

[MF-Winzlow]

TLDR: Leaves only look good when they are located in someone else's yard -
Nice basses though...

 

[groovepump]

I absolutely agree!

View attachment 4435247

I like the thumb rest location. I never thought to do that. Nice!

 

[AB Nate]

The bass was made by Steve Wise in Austin TX. It was something I dreamed as a teenager and a good friend and fellow bassist, Mark Williams, told me of Steve, who had a few basses made by him. Steve thought the idea was crazy but wanted to give it a go. He told me he had never made a bass that someone else completely designed. It was something I had actually put a lot of thought into, and even math, to make what for me at 17 would be the ultimate bass. The process began around 1984 and the bass was finished around 1988. Steve was gracious enough to allow my dishwashing punkrock jazz head self to pay him as he went so every week I'd ride my bicycle to his shop and give him whatever money I had left over from my bills and whatnot. I played a fretless Rick at the time in my punk rock bands.

The bass itself is a mahogany body with curly maple and ebony panels on its face. The neck is rock maple. My pursuit was tone and sustain and to my mind the idea was getting as much mass as possible, and sorta practical, inline with the strings. Thus the big crazy tail and shape. Also I wanted 36" scale fretless. partly for tone and sustain and partly because I have very large hands. I also wanted an ebony fingerboard. The neck goes through the body and an original Leo Quan Badass bridge is sunk into it, another one of my ideas to give it tone and sustain. The pickups are the original Seymour Duncan actives which I regularly had to replace from sweat getting in those little buttons and killing em. The bass was being finished up just as I was about to leave on a tour and Steve insisted on putting fret lines on the neck, which I hate. I can't see the dang fingerboard anyway when I'm playing. I just wanted sidemarkers, but he had seen me play and how active I am and swore I'd like em. I never did, but I have lived with em. On a design note I can attest the the idea worked magnificently. While probably not the most practical bass in the world, it sounds like no other and it will sustain well into next week. My take has always been that bass is SUPPOSED to take effort. It is literally a musical expression of effort. But thats just me. I became known in my little circle of Austin by this bass and its tone. Typically going through an 18 and a 15 after visiting a Seymour Duncan head. I go through Ashdowns now into a SVT 8x10 on one side and an 18 and 2 15s on the other.

The sword was actually forged by another Austinite, a crazy fellow by the name of Daniel Watson of Angel Sword. I have been a swordsman since childhood and it is merely one of many, the one that has always lived with this bass.

More photos of both?

 

[evilfirbolg]

I'm out of town stuck in hotel. All I have in my phone. I'll get some more pics once I get home.

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

View attachment 4435615

Cool. Is that a compensated nut like on a MM? Sorta looks like it but I can't tell.

 

[fretno]

Cool. Is that a compensated nut like on a MM? Sorta looks like it but I can't tell.

No that is some unusual nut. It’s French and the whole thing is odd really absolutely magical. You would swear it plays itself. Really weird phenomenon. It’s just effortless.

 

[Ric5]

Here is a 1993 4004L. I got it used on ebay about $900 back in the early 2000s. It was played hard for a few years before I got. I was very unhappy with the factory wiring. I rewired it VVT with 500k ohm volume pots and a 1000k ohm tone pot. I used it on this recording here >>> (3220) It's Been Awhile Minutes to Midnight cover - YouTube after that I went thru several experiments with pickups and wiring ... I finally settled on a 1/4 pound seymour duncan in the bridge and a 3001 pickup in the neck with a toaster cover. It also has an Audere 4 band preamp. one of the things I did to improve the tone was to angle the bridge pickup like Rickenbacker does on the 4003 basses. The black inlays are stickers and the trc is DIY.

 

[Ric5]

Here is an early 2000s 4004cii Monty Brown. The TRC is flamed maple The The triangle inlays are stickers and the neck was finished with shellac. The gold hardware has been changed black. The bridge pickup is a 15k ohm single coil made by Sergio. The neck pickup is a 3001 pickup with a high gain cover. It is wired passive with stacked pots and a toggle. I got this bass cheap on ebay. The previous owner converted it into a 5 string and made a couple mistakes and I fixed them The bridge was too far forward and I had to put black tape to cover old screw holes.

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

No that is some unusual nut. It’s French and the whole thing is odd really absolutely magical. You would swear it plays itself. Really weird phenomenon. It’s just effortless.

I haven't seen. Vigier in the wild for a long time. A shop in Frankfurt sold them when I lived over there years ago. I'm sure it's a sweetheart.

 

[Hot Rats]

I like the thumb rest location. I never thought to do that. Nice!

Thanks.. I saw it originally in the Blues Brothers. Duck was playing a bass that had one.

 

[projectapollo]

This is one of the weirdest threads I've seen. In a good way.

 

[Spidey2112]

... an old Ovation electric liver bass...

I'm assuming it was donated.

 

[Ric5]

Here's another SG frankenbass. It is wired like a Rickenbacker, the bridge pickup is a 1/4 pound jazz under the chrome cover, and the neck is a Rickenbacker humbucker under the chrome cover. The pick guard is DIY spalted maple wood

 

[Ric5]

Nice work!

Thanks

 

[Ric5]

What's "Columbus Day?"

It is when Columbus sailed out to sea to prove the earth was round ... just think 400 years ago everybody thought the world was flat

 

[Ric5]

and here is my franken jazz bass ...