Full Hollow Body Archtop
4 string Fretted bass
Redwood Root burl body
Rosewood fretboard
Flamed maple / Walnut neck.
Passive Ulyate pickups
6 1/4 lbs.
One day, back in 1998, I was hiking along a creek in the redwood forest near Big Sur, Ca. when I found a small root burl and thought it would be fun to make a bass out of it.
The shape evolved into something quite different than what I had originally planned. Though in essence, this basic bass instrument is fantastically light weight, easy to play, and the tone is warm and rich. I have kept this bass as my personal bass for the past 10 years.
I’ve recently re-oiled and polished the finish and replaced the original Bartolini with Lane Poor pickup, and back to a Bartolini BBCX quad coil pickup with a redwood burl cover.
It makes me laugh when I hear some of the comments people make about this bass. Some people hate it, and some people love it. However there is only one bass like this, and it is truly magical. There are inclusions that God intended through the bass where light shines. This bass has been passive for the first 12 years so I thought I would install a by-passable pre-amp. —Ken Bebensee
