Basses In-Stock

Here's a selection of bass guitars I have on hand. Some are prototypes, some are 'production' models with the favorite options already included. If you're looking for a guitar that's got custom shop features without waiting, these guitars will rock your world.

The BV-400 Bass

•Hand made P-styled bass
•All African mahogany body with a glued in 5 piece mahogany/zebra wood neck.
•Compound scale fanned fret layout with a super smooth synthetic fingerboard.
•Custom 12th fret bass clef inlay and 20 medium sized frets.
•Scale lengths of 34.75 x 32.25 provide much more balanced string tension and a much sweeter tone than conventional setups.
•The individual bridges eliminate string to string crosstalk and provide tremendous sustain.
•The neck is 1 3/4 wide at the nut and 2 3/8 at the last fret.
•String spacing is standard 3/4 inch.
•Guitar is currently setup with standard size strings {105's} and very low and fast action.
•Standard volume and tone controls, pickup is a very good sounding import.
•Finish is 3 hand rubbed coats of Tru oil.
•Bass will ship in a brand new Musicians Friend gig bag.

Woods

•African Mahogany, Alder and Maple bodies

•Laminated Multi-wood bodies, necks, - even tops!

•Exotics available upon request
•Mother of Pearl, Abalone or synthetic Inlays

Body Styles & Shapes

•Traditional & vintage

•Neo-modern
•Reverse headstocks
•Fanned frets

•If you can draw it, we can make almost anything!

Electronics

•We recommend Manlius and GFS pickups.

•ANY pick-up manufacturer, combination, configuration or wiring scheme you like.

Put the knobs and switches where YOU want them!
•Have pickups that you like already? We can use them too.

Hardware

•Locking tuners

•Tremolos

•Wrap-around bridges

Why Fanned-Fret ?

The "fanning" of the frets results from manipulating the scale length of the bass side of the neck relative to the treble side: the fret spacing is wider for the long scale and closer for the short scale.

Looking inside a grand piano, or at a harp, we see that the string lengths vary with the pitches of the strings. But fretted instruments are traditionally constructed to a single scale length, negating the benefits of scale length relative to pitch. Since there are relatively few strings on most stringed instruments, compromises are made and string gauges are manipulated for workable results. Players, accustomed to the compromises of single scale-length construction, are often pleasantly surprised by the richness and clarity of Fanned-Fret® instruments. When the fanned-fret concept is applied to the six-string guitar, the resulting instrument has a "focused" sound - clear, articulate and balanced. Some players say "more in tune" or "more accurate."

One of the real advantages of the Fanned-Fret® concept lies in its application to instruments like the seven-string guitar, eight-string guitar, five-string bass, six-string bass, baritone guitar, and mandolin. The range of tunings and number of strings force compromises that make these instruments poor performers or even impractical when constructed with the traditional single scale-length. The fanned-fret concept addresses those problems and makes these intruments playable and practical.