Humans have been obsessed with gold for millennia. Something about it draws us in, and Alpher Instruments took advantage of that on the Mako Prime V2 “GoldBot.” Its black walnut body has a satin gold metallic paint finish, its ebony fingerboard has EVO gold frets, and even the hardware is gold. Set against an ebony pickguard, the gilded bass seems like a piece of treasure.
However, the GoldBot has more going for it than eye candy; it also has ear candy. Alpher built the four-string with three Nordstrand hum-canceling 51P pickups and an interesting control layout. In lieu of standard volume and tone knobs, the bass has three on/off buttons corresponding to each pickup. This effectively puts all the control into your hands. The pickup buttons are, of course, finished in gold.
Check out this awesome overview by Amos Heller to hear the GoldBot in action.
