Bass builder Rob Allen has a way with creating clean designs that are very playable pieces of art. Our bass of the week is the luthier’s Deep model, a semi-hollow body bass available in four and five-string models that features a classic f-hole.
“The body starts out with 3″ thick alder stock and is surfaced down to 2 1/8″, and routed with large hollow chambers , leaving a 1 3/4″ wide center block,” Allen writes on his website. “These large hollow chambers in combination with the f-hole make the body lighter and less rigid, which adds resonance, warmth and overtones. The f-hole does not add much noticeable volume, it is about creating tone.”
The Deep’s alder body is topped with Hawaiian curly koa. Its five-piece neck is made of rock maple with ebony stringers and matched with an ebony fingerboard. Allen also uses ebony from the same stock for the bass’s bridge.
The electronics are designed specifically for the Deep. Allen describes the circuitry as “clean and minimal” with a master volume and stacked treble/bass control integrated into the bridge. “I’m a purist when it comes to tone and believe an instrument should do one thing really well,” he explains, “as opposed to doing a few things pretty good, and that is my aim with this bass; to give the best, fullest, jaw dropping tone possible.”
For more information, check out Rob Allen’s website.