Kelvin Daly has been building instruments since 1992, always with an artistic bent. “My original training in visual arts and sculpture migrated into building functional musical objects as I became more seriously involved in playing music,” he writes on his website. It doesn’t hurt that he has apprenticed with the legendary Carl Thompson since 1998.
This week we’re featuring a gut-rumbling bass Daly custom-designed for a player. The 7-string Subcontra Bass has an enormous 38-inch scale and is tuned E A D G C F A. The lowest string, which is an octave below a standard bass’s E, registers at just 20.5 Hz. Besides the functional depth of the instrument, its construction is a thing of wonder. Its body core is kaya (aka African Mahogany) with a padouk stripe, while ebony and hand-dyed flame maple adorn the top. The back details are bocote and more hand-dyed flame maple. Its neck is a seven-piece laminate of sapele, ipe, cocobola, and pau ferro topped with an ebony fingerboard.
Other features include Hipshot hardware, custom-wound Kent Armstrong soapbar pickups, and a 3-band EQ.
