My friend Gil sent me a heads up for this week’s featured bass, and I’m glad he did. This intriguing instrument is a one-of-a-kind acoustic fretless 5-string bass built by Daniel Whitt of Whitt Guitars.
“At Whitt guitars, I build guitars that inspire creativity, capture the imagination and throw everything for a loop,” the bass builder writes. “I don’t build run of the mill, cookie cutter copies of anything. If there is an idea I am unsure if it will work, I try it to find out.”
The bass is built with spalted maple back and sides supporting a western red cedar top. Its braces are carved out of the cedar billet, not glued on later. Whitt used a paaduk theme on the bass by using it on the fingerboard, binding, bridge, tail, finger rest, and pickguard. Even more interesting, several of those components are covered in bison leather for a unique and primal aesthetic.
The bass is fitted with a Kent Armstrong pickup with hidden volume and tone controls. Other features include Wilkinson tuners, a nitro lacquer finish, and a carbon fiber-reinforced sapele neck.
For more info, check out the Whitt Guitars website.
Whitt Guitars 5-String Fretless Archtop Acoustic Bass Photos:
