Today, we’re sharing a tribute instrument built by Mister MikeV. His fretless “Fish On” bass takes some pretty obvious cues from legendary luthier Carl Thompson to celebrate one of his favorite players.
“Originally, the idea was to take the classic maple/purpleheart motif and build a tribute to one of my fav players – Les Claypool,” he shared with us. “I’ve always needed ‘training wheels’ on my fretless basses, so that’s where the idea for maple fret lines originated. Somewhere along the way, I got the idea in my head that adding a piezo was an option I couldn’t live without… so I designed and schemed to build my own bridge for the bass. I christened the build the ‘Fish On’ – a nod to one of my favorite Primus songs ‘Fish On,’ and the sturgeon fish inlay was a further nod to the lyric from that song: ‘caught a hundred-pound sturgeon on twenty-pound test.’”
The purpleheart and maple theme runs throughout the entire bass: its body, neck, fingerboard, bridge, and more. Its top is a stunning piece of flamed maple.
In addition to the Artec piezo under the bridge, MikeV fitted the Fish On with EMG J5L and J5S active pickups. The magnetic pickups have a volume control and a three-way toggle, while the handmade piezo preamp has volume, treble, and bass controls.
Congrats to Mister MikeV for his great build!
