Status custom one-off doubleneck 5-string bass and 6-string guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This particular guitar/bass satisfies both my current obsessions at the moment, namely (1) doublenecked guitar bass combos, and (2) headless guitars and basses. I was pretty sure I'd never seen a doubleneck from Status before, but reading the seller's description on this eBay auction it seems that this beast has been created by customising a Status Series 2000 bass with a graphite through neck and basically adding the whole guitar section. The work was carried out by AC Guitars, who also hand-carved the bolt-on guitar neck from maple and ebony.

The seller had this made for a Genesis tribute band (we'd best gloss over that quickly before I start one of my anti-tribute band rants) but which work obligations meant that he wasn't able to participate in. That's a very specialised instrument and a lot of financial outlay for a project that didn't come to fruition.

Yet again I have to get on my usual hobby horse and say that the necks are the wrong way around. OK, call it "opinion" if you will, but I truly believe that it makes much more sense to have the bass neck BELOW the guitar neck. It's simply a better layout, giving improved access to the strings on each neck ...unless you like a bass slung really high up on your chest. (I don't.) The balance of the instrument should also be improved, although maybe that isn't such an issue when the necks are headless.

Also, think about it, if you wanted a doubleneck guitar/mandolin combo, you wouldn't put the smaller mandolin neck beneath the guitar neck, would you? Illogical.

Despite all that, it's a really interesting piece and showcases some excellent custom work from AC Guitars. Currently listed on eBay UK with a starting price of £725.

G L Wilson

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Stradi Symphony Five-string Fretless Bass

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The design of this Stradi Symphony Five-string Fretless Bass incorporates visual elements from both the electric bass and stand-up acoustic double bass, but at the same time it is quite a minimalistic design with no visible pickups, control knobs or switches being allowed to sully the face of the instrument. In fact, the sole control on the bass is a volume slider and that is to be found located on the backplate on the reverse of the instrument (seems a weird place for it, I'd imagine it could get knocked there). Note how the fingerboard (wenge, apparently) continues all the way to the base of the body beyond the bridge, giving the whole bass a very sleek and elegant appearance.

The specs are as follows:

Body: Walnut and oak with curly maple top
Neck: Hornbeam sides with maple center and walnut lines, two 8mm carbon fibre pipes from headstock to bridge working as resonant chambers and stiffening rods
Fingerboard: One, thick piece of quartersawn wenge. Side dots made of brass with acrylic centre eye.
Tuners: Gotoh
Bridge: Black oak with Stradi cutom piezo pickup underneath
Electronics: Stradi Sweet Transistor Preamp for piezo, Volume slide pot on backplate, 9v battery operation
Strings: Rotosound Tru-Bass

I can't say I'd personally want to keep those horrible black plastic-coated flatwounds on there. One thing that polarises fretless bass players is the whole thorny question of flatwounds versus roundwounds. I am very definitely in the roundwound camp. So, OK, they are going to mark your lovely black minimalist fingerboard - but the lovely sustain they will produced will more than make up for it. But then if you really ARE looking for an upright bass sound which is often more percussive and has a lot less sustain than an electric bass, maybe the RotoSound Tru Bass strings are worth a try?

Item is located in Poland and the starting bid is set at US $2,470.

G L Wilson

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Please read our photo and content policy.