JAZZY

As I was not a bass guitar player, I had for a long time neglected the idea of making an “ideal” instrument. In the past I had made the necks and bodies of instruments belonging to customers who had specific requests; many of them had asked me to remove the keys thus converting a “fretted” into a “fretless”. During the execution of these works and above all analysing the results obtained, came to me the idea to make something of my own. Then one day, while I was in the car; driving to our hotel at the DISMA MUSIC SHOW (Rimini 2000) I said to Pippo Matino (Godin bass endorser and Akai pedals): “Do you know that you are really great? I’d like to make an instrument just for you!” The answer, after looking at me with a look mixed of surprise and amazement, was affirmative, and so we started talking about the timber, the form, the pickup and other things. After that we called on each other more than once and after having tried the instrument a few times during the working phase I finally handed over the instrument. He used it immediately for some recordings amongst which that of Mr. Agostino Marangolo; the instrument is ideal for studying the recordings, because it did not produce background noises, ideal for the definition of the notes and what more for the intonation over the whole keyboard, to this you must add Pippo’s hands…. and there you are I’ve said it all!!! Fundamentally, the instrument is based on the characteristic techniques of the blazoned Jazz Bass, which without doubt represents a point of reference for many bass players; there are some essential improvements like the choice of the “Badass” bridge, the ebony fretboard the choice of timber both for the body and the neck and the shape that results to be thinner. At the same time, I am developing other instruments similar in design and in the choice of hardware (pickup bridge and mechanics) but with very different timbers used in the first version so producing a particular timbre. In fact right now I am beginning to make an instrument using ash timber for the body (single board), flaming maple for the keyboard and bird’s eye maple for the neck. Another instrument, already, under work has the body made of alder (single board), Indian rosewood for the keyboard and bird’s eye maple for the neck.

EVOLUTION BASS

The Evolution bass represents the instrument to which I have dedicated more than three years for the designing and is still at the moment under a phase of working. Essentially the body with an ergonomic profile, is obtained from a board of mahogany and a top of flaming maple glued together, from these are extracted two spacious tonal chambers, half obtained from the mahogany and half from the maple. The above-mentioned chambers are tuned with one another and so they are called “Tonals”, when tapping with your finger on the body you can hear three distinct tones corresponding to a fundamental note, to the third and to the fifth. Both top and bottom are hand carved; its form favours a good adherence to the musician’s body and the balancing of masses in a way that the instrument remains in an optimal position during the playing phase. The neck is made with bird’s eye maple and, as in nearly all my instruments, it is not varnished but is finished off in Tung Oil. The profile is asymmetric, the head is inclined backward and from it you can go to the truss rod in order to regulate the neck. The fingerboard is made with extra quality Ebony on which it is possible to obtain inlay in mother-of-pearl or abalone. The bridge, made by Mike Christian, has some Piezo bearings with the possibility to have acoustic sounds and magnetic pickups, that belong to Bartolini, which may be coupled to the sound of the piezo in way to obtain wide sound horizons; the tuning machines belongs to Grover.