"Hi, Everybody
Having been justifiably and comprehensively trounced by @2.5itim's beautiful, beautiful guitar last month, I'm going to try again with my ugly duckling Psilos Bass, in the hope - this being the holiday season for a decent proportion of the western hemisphere - that everybody else is sunning themselves rather than submitting their jaw-dropping contributions.
And what about the southern hemisphere, you ask? Well, for a start at least, I'm banking on bribing @curtisa shamelessly with our wonderful warm, flat English beer next time he graces our shores. Bound to work.
The Psilos Bass. What can I say. It has been built for Mick, someone I've done smaller jobs for before, who gave me the basic outline shape to work from (based loosely on a very stretched and distorted mental aberration from his beloved ACG) and the concept which was:
"minimalist; nothing visible from the front; unfinished look - but finished actually; contact-lens shaped body cross section; magnetic and piezo; lightweight; some of your odd stuff - you know, Andy - the weird stuff you do"
The final spec and features include:
- 34" scale 4 string ultra-modern single cut
- Flamed Sycamore body
- Maple / ebony neck
- Maple full length fretboard, fully flush and integrated into a 20" radiused body
- Back concave radius
- Modified rear-mounted headless tuner system
- Herrick Custom magnetic pickups, rear-mounted and hidden from top (individual coil per string)
- Artec Piezo element under bone acoustic saddle
- East UK MPM-02 Magnetic / Piezo blend unit
- Luminlay fret markers
- Concealed but fully accessible controls, rolled to operate
- Neck profile continues along single-cut top horn length
- Finished in Osmo Polyx Raw 3044 - designed to allow satin finish of light woods without them darkening or yellowing
- Weight 7lbs 4oz
- Balance - perfect on strap; perfect over knee
- Described by one guitar professional as 'superb feel and playability but quite the ugliest bass I've ever seen in my life'. Folks, it doesn't get much better than that as an endorsement
Tortuously long build thread here
Here it is:
Sound clips?
Well - here's Mick with his first touch of his new baby on the strap:
...and on the knee. His dog, Shala, was clearly VERY impressed:
And here's what he had to say about it:
"This bass, the aesthetics, it's construction, the feel, the balance, the attention to detail all exceeded my expectations...even though I knew Andy would be creating a masterpiece."
So, folks, you KNOW it's your duty to vote for this. However beautiful and wonderful the other entries will surely be, don't be distracted. Just look into my eyes - don't look away - don't blink - say after me, "Psilos Bass.....Psilos Bass.......Psilos Bass... Psilos Bass...."
