Fugliest bass in the world (but I love her)

Highlander · February 10, 2018, 12:05:44 PM

British eccentricity at it's best...

Chris P. · February 10, 2018, 12:29:07 PM

I really like it. Do you know those strange Burns and Strat? Let's google.

"Burnt Marvel - Originally to be built as a tribute to The Shadows... complete with Jet-O-Matic pick-ups etc. The original idea was scrapped and the instrument was reborn as the Burnt Marvel - name supplied by Brian's son (who was 7 years old at the time).

The guitar finally ended up with Rez-O-Jimmy pick-ups and hardware supplied very kindly by the Burns Guitar Company. The guitar caused a sensation at the '98 'Mad About Guitars' show in Birmingham. Jet Harris was there to greet the guitar. Sadly, whilst people from the company were enjoying the guitar, Jim Burns had unbeknown to all, passed away.

This guitar has a very strange, but serene aura."

And:

http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/JTM45/media/bWVkaWFJZDoxMDY2NTc2Mzk=/?ref=

And what's the name of this bass and guitar brand with the huge upper horn? Musicvox:

BTL · February 10, 2018, 12:34:02 PM

Nice.

That's a bass only a mother could love.

A mother of invention.

66Atlas · February 10, 2018, 02:45:20 PM

It kind of reminds me of the creature in the John Carpenter movie The Thing

& I mean that in a good way

godofthunder · March 10, 2018, 05:45:30 AM

Wow, just wow! That is amazing. As a woodworker and designer I love your approach. Carry on.

Barklessdog · April 14, 2018, 03:20:03 PM

Man that's truly ugly, but somehow I like the experimentation. Like grafting a second head on an Axlotl or a Kahler on a bass.

wellREDman · November 17, 2019, 02:06:29 AM

So after a long series of medical woes I have regained use of my right arm I'm finally back to building (and playing) again

at this stage its only light pottering in the mancave so I'm starting with some gentle sculpting of the headstock

The ergonomic placement of the hardware is locked down now so its all about making the head fit the body aesthetically. so layering and then sanding back filler, rinse and repeat

Its all looking very Henry Moore at this stage, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. I am having tremendous fun with it. Although I trained as a sculptor, back then my focus was on special effects and prop work so I never had the opportunity to do anything truly "abstract" so I'm making up for it now, I'm definitely being drawn in an organic direction, almost muscular

have created cut outs for where my thumb or knuckle likes to be when I'm playing which is adding to the physiological look. unfortunately the sticky out bit broke off(I think it was all filler) so I had to cut away and add some new wood, whilst looking in my offcuts bin I found a bit of the horn from my first bass so I used a bit of that which gave me a happy feeling, Ive managed to use parts from my ET280 in all my projects now

Highlander · November 17, 2019, 03:18:08 AM

Maybe you should start locating all those Wishbass things and put them right...? Someonie should...

wellREDman · November 17, 2019, 04:26:27 AM

Quote from: Highlander on November 17, 2019, 03:18:08 AM
Maybe you should start locating all those Wishbass things and put them right...? Someonie should...

sounds good, anyone got a wishbass they want to send me ?

Hushnel · December 12, 2019, 09:49:23 AM

A really interesting project, designed by function and ergonomics, adding in a touch of artistic intent.

I like it.

I built a funky bass about 12 years ago. It was inspired by a strange swap.

I finally had enough of the braking silicon G string on my Ashbory. I made a trade with a guy who didn't like his FleaMarket "Flea" ukulele. So we swapped. The Flea didn't work right, the saddle was missing from the bridge. I called FleaMarket Music and they sent me one at no charge. A great little uke that easily fit in the saddle bags of the Harley.

As usual I found a forum of uke players to learn more about the instrument and it's culture. I ran into a guy named Owen Holt on this forum, he built ukes and had an instrument he called a bass ukulele, it was based on these Pahoehoe strings he developed using unbreakable polyurethane. If I had known I'd of kept the Ashbory. I contacted Owen, back channel, through his Road Toad Music web site. I decided to build my own 20" scale bass ukulele, I had a tenor uke I was going to use. Owen was extremely helpful so I ordered the strings, pickup and tuners from him. I eventually decided to build it on a cigarbox, I had plenty of decent wood for the neck, I used mahogany with a Purple Heart fingerboard and a darker wood headstock overlay. I cut out mother of pearl and inlaid the headstock with a pole dancer and put two mudfap girls on the upper bout of the cigarbox. It works great. I have Aquila strings on it now, the Pahoehoe's are bit tacky, my fingers glide over the Aquila easier.

Kala Bass Ukulele are licensed by Owen to use his patents.

gearHed289 · December 13, 2019, 08:19:42 AM

That cigar box uke looks like fun to play. Cool vibe all around.

Hushnel · December 13, 2019, 09:39:57 AM

Thanks, it actually sounds better than it should.

I had a doctor that wouldn't leave me alone about building one for his son, who was playing with my good friend Albert Castiglia at the time. I gave him a "go away don't bother me kid" price of $800.00, he still wanted it. I still tried to put him off, he wanted it by October, three months away, for his son's birthday, I said I'd try. He came back from the bar with a bottle of water for me, I took it and a check for the 800 bucks was wrapped around it. He wouldn't take it back.

Good friends of mine, she wanted me to build one for her husband for Christmas, He played mine when they were down for the Key West Poker run. I told her it was too expensive, I explained to her I had already charged a guy $800, I didn't think it was appropriate to change the price, it would have been unfair to the doctor. She didn't care, she wanted me to build it and the money was not an object. I included some cool custom MOP inlay on his to try and make up for the high cost.

Thank God no one else wanted one. I really don't want to get into building stuff for others. I'm retired and I plan on staying that way.

I'll still do custom leather work for others, now and then, I don't encourage it but a lot of people know I do decent work. Back in the 90s Chopped Motorcycles became a thing, a lot of people wanted to pay big money for a hacked up custom motorcycle. I was part of the motorcycle culture. My close friend and mechanic got me doing some custom work. A friend had me make a leather cigar holder for Billy Lane of Choppers Inc. He had me go with him when he gave it to Billy, I had tooled Billy's image on it. He had me do a custom tooled seat for a build he did for this guy in Miami, Paul Cox was swamped with work at the time, I guess. So I got into that for a short period of time. I'll still rebuild/cover a seat but it will be for a friend and only for a vintage motorcycle.

I guess an example would be appropriate. A hand bag I did, tooled leather, kangaroo liner and lacing.

Pilgrim · December 13, 2019, 02:15:46 PM

Very nice!!

Dave W · December 13, 2019, 02:40:13 PM

Nice work!

Hushnel · December 13, 2019, 04:13:53 PM

Thanks, just came in from working on a belt, a Christmas gives for my brother in law. Not fancy, no tooling, last a lifetime with a little leather oil occasionally.

If I can sell off some basses I don't really use I'd like to get this 12 fret 00-18 custom vintage Martin, I would go overboard and make a hand tooled leather case for it. Actually a huge project.

I found a pic of a seat I did for Beaner years ago.