Guitar Of The Month - February 2021

Three's No Crowd

I've been building guitars and basses for around 8 years - many for my own use or for fellow band members but occasionally I take on commissions for folks who want something a little bit different.  This is one such build.

It's a shortscale (30”) headless four string bass - a commissioned build that seeks to blend a traditional look with some very modern features.  It uses the Nova Guitar Parts headless system from Andre Passini in Brazil – an excellent and ‘great bang for the buck’ system – and is also fitted with the unique Super-Quad pickups from SimS Pickups in the UK.

Each Super-Quad can switch, with SimS patented Tri-Logic switching system, between a split coil, single coil, and full humbucker.  And some clever wizardry in the switch means there is no volume change between the options!  The choice of configuration is indicated by a red, blue or green LED, although the pickups themselves are fully passive.

And this bass, as far as I or SimS know, is the first one in the world with THREE of them!  

Here is the spec and some finished shots:

Scale Length:                      30”
Top Wood:                          Walnut
Back Wood:                        Mahogany
Neck:                                    9 piece Mahogany and Maple Laminate
Fretboard:                          Ebony
Pickups:                               SimS Pickups ‘Super-Quads’ (UK)
Electrics:                              Master volume and tone; On/Off toggles per pickup; SimS Trilogic Switching per pickup; 9v for LEDs
Headless System:             Nova Guitar Parts (Brazil)
Weight:                                7 lbs 0 oz

The build thread is here:

Thanks for looking!