Years ago, we kicked off the Bass of the Week series by featuring the Little Guitar Works Torzal Standard bass. The company has changed its name to Torzal Guitars, but they’re still pumping out amazing instruments. This week we’re checking out a new bass they built that they say pushes forward with a deep respect for the past.
The bass is built with a J-style Ponderosa Pine body fitted with a pair of Nordstrand Audio hum-cancelling ’51 P pickups. Of course, it also has the 35-degree Natural Twist in its neck. Putting a spin on the neck isn’t just for show, Torzal says.
“Attention to good technique and good habits can go a long way, but we are asking our bodies to adapt to the instrument,” they write. “Our solution is actually very simple: angle the neck at the nut downward to allow a more neutral wrist position for the fretting hand; angle the bridge upward to allow a more neutral wrist position for the plucking hand. The strings are still straight, they’re just not in the same plane anymore, so the neck and fretboard geometry are developed on a string-by-string basis. The neck (and frets) actually rotate around the string such that a straight line (minus some relief) exists at the contact point under each string.”
Other features include neck-through construction, a hard maple neck, and a pau ferro fingerboard. All in, the bass weighs just 6.4 pounds.
