In fall of '08 these two basses were the inspiration for this project. As usual I was motivated by anger.
Orchid is an "ergonomic" boutique bass. Anger that an ergonomic bass weighs over 10 lbs. (aesthetics aside, I did like the knob placement
...and Lace's Helix w an Alumitone PUP, a bass that I thought had a fresh look. Anger at that because nobody at Lace bothered to make sure the neck pocket depth was shallow enough to get decent action with the bridge they chose. Obviously no bass player on the design team.
So I decided to build my own ergo bass. For me No 1 in that dept. is weight, followed by balance, ability to play sitting down or standing up and comfortable to hold. Also sound and looks had to be up to snuff. The passive lace fills the sound requirement for me.
I had an Ibanez TR50 just waiting to be butchered for the cause. Caution, I work ugly!
Here's what my first proto looked like next to a Squier Jazz
Some shots from last week
I've spent a lot of time since finalizing the proto in Oct 08 deciding what to do next. This is the beginning of the current build, all 5 lbs of it. Neck pocket and PUP route.
