A new bass was born today.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:
The Brooks Nachtkrapp Airborne (Chris Laut Signature)
Chris Laut is the lead singer/ bass player in German rockband Ohrenfeindt. Chris commissioned me to build this hybrid of a Non Reverse and a Reverse Thunderbird. With a personal touch to accentuate his former career as an airborne commando for the German forces. The burgundy colour symbolises the baret and the gold plated badge is the emblem you get if you have done more than 50 parachute jumps.
The camo pickguard symbolises the uniform of course.
Specifications:
- Neck through with mahogany body wings
- Nine ply mahogany/walnut neck
- Ebony faceplate on headstock
- Burgundy finish
- Rosewood fretboard
- Jumbo frets
- 34" scale
- Handcut bone nut
- Three ply white-black-white pickguard With Camo print
- Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop
- Spokewheel trussrod
- Gibson reissue Thunderbird pickup.
- Hipshot Ultralite tuners
- CTS pots
- Sprague capacitor
- Rotosound RB 50 strings
- German Paratrooper badge on upper horn
- Weight 3.8 kg
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A few months ago I made a sketch of an idea I had for a new bass build. A hybrid of a Non Reverse Thunderbird and a Reverse Thunderbird. The shape of the Non Reverse and the nine-ply neck-through plus raised faceplate of the Reverse.
Since I'm from Europe, I was looking for a European counterpart of the American Thunderbird, for the name.
I came up with
Nachtkrapp, which translates as Night Raven.
This mythological creature lives in the night and steals little children from their beds. It carries them in his bone chest to its lair where the children are devoured...
Chris Laut saw my sketch and contacted me with the idea to build this bass for him, with a more personal twist.
We shared some ideas. Initially Chris wanted me to finish the bass in camo-print. But I suggested to make the pickguard in camo-print and have the bass finished in the more classy looking burgundy.
Chris asked me to replace the Brooks flame emblem on the upper horn with the gold plated Airborne badge which by coincidence had roughly the same outline and the Thunderbird logo (and the Brooks flame embem).
Chris always wields a Thunderbird on stage (named Bride or Babe).
He is also an airborne paratrooper for the German army.
