Most music trade shows got canceled in 2020, but that didn’t stop the flow of great ideas and instruments. It was that year at the virtual Holy Grail Guitar Show that Manne Guitars unveiled their new Multi instruments including the Multi Bass, which was created with the ideas and input of Daniele Camarda.
“This is an instrument I came up with conceptually and Andrea [Ballarin] designed,” the bassist explains in a video. “The idea of ‘Multi’ comes from multi outputs and multi timbres. I wanted to have many sounds, but also be to process sounds as multiple outputs through different pedalboards or different channels on my computer.”
To do this, they put a custom piezo in the bridge with adjustable height saddles, a Nordstrand Zen Blade pickup at the end of the fingerboard, and a button piezo at the end of the neck for resonance and sounds from the body. They fitted it with two outputs: a main mix and a separate piezo output.
Camarda’s Multi Bass 6 is built with a shortened 31-inch scale and 28 frets. The custom-built instrument was crafted with a chambered Italian chestnut body with an Italian poplar top. Its set-in neck is made from maple and beech.
Hear more on the concept (and a mind-blowing example) from Camarda: