{"id":396,"date":"2019-09-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/?post_type=bass&p=396"},"modified":"2026-09-13T08:46:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:46:47","slug":"bass-of-the-week-kb-guitars-magical-root-bass","status":"publish","type":"bass","link":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/?bass=bass-of-the-week-kb-guitars-magical-root-bass","title":{"rendered":"Bass of the Week: KB Guitars Magical Root Bass"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KB<\/p>\n

Ken Bebensee is known for building unique designs inspired by the works of Stradivarius and D\u2019Aquisto, but he also takes his cues from nature. This week we\u2019re checking out an instrument that he literally took from nature called the Magical Root Bass.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day, back in 1998 I was hiking along a creek in the redwood forest near Big Sur, California when I found a small root burl and thought it would be fun to make a bass out of it,\u201d he wrote on the KB Guitars website. \u201cThe shape evolved into something quite different than what I had originally planned. Though in essence, this basic bass instrument is fantastically lightweight, easy to play and the tone is warm and rich.\u201d<\/p>\n

The luthier fitted the burl body with a neck of flamed maple and walnut with a rosewood fingerboard. Originally, he loaded the body with a Bartolini pickup, which he replaced with a Lane Poor pickup, and finally reverted to a Bartolini BBCX quad coil. After owning it for over a decade, he added a by-passable preamp for extra tonal texture. Finally, he included Sperzel tuners with a Drop-D tuner. <\/p>\n

The Magical Root Bass is not traditional in any sense of the word, but that doesn\u2019t matter to its builder. \u201cIt makes me laugh when I hear some of the comments people make about this bass,\u201d Bebensee says. \u201cSome people hate it and some people love it. However, there is only one bass like this and it is truly magical. There are inclusions that God intended through the bass where the light shines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

\n\t\t <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\n\t\t <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ken Bebensee is known for building unique designs inspired by the works of Stradivarius and D\u2019Aquisto, but he also takes his cues from nature. This week we\u2019re checking out an instrument that he literally took\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1538,"template":"","meta":[],"builder":[],"class_list":["post-396","bass","type-bass","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/bass\/396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/bass"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/bass"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"builder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fbuilder&post=396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}