LeftyBassist.com

I asked my brother if he could improve the sound of my '76 P-Bass. Then I went off to college. He eventually sent me his creation.

First, he stripped off the sunburst finish and drilled out all the screw holes, plugging them with big dowels. He gave everything several clear coats of varnish brushed on, so you could see the dots and the various planks of wood they used to make the body, and then he installed a Badass bridge and a Bartolini humbucker, wired to two volume knobs and one tone. He carved a hole for a nine-volt battery under the pickup and gave it a plastic lid, lined all the cavities with copper foil, and then made a clear Plexiglas pickguard so everyone could see his handiwork.

It had an amazing sound, a cross between a P-Bass and a Sting Ray. Kind of a rubbery-yet-grinding deep treble with a massive lower end. But everybody hated it. They thought my brother had committed a murder or something. They couldn't even bear to look at it. The repair guys in guitar stores always curled their lips at it.

I could never figure out why people got so angry at it.

As something of a purist, I can understand completely. It seems like a horrible thing to do. But, whatever I or anyone else think, it's your bass, and if you're happy with it, who are we to argue?

But I'll make a point of never lending a bass to your brother...

Eeek!

When I first opened the box, I did briefly feel like throwing up, I must admit.

However, my brother loves functional art, exploded views, and cutaway illustrations of machinery, so you can see the innards. That's why he used the clear Plexiglas pickguard. And once I heard how it sounded, I didn't care how it looked.

It's sort of become a metaphor for a lot of things.

Sorry, I had to.



In all seriousness, I think it's cool you let your brother go apeshit on your bass and you ended up liking it despite the horrorshow.

Cool story.

how in the bloody hell did you do that?!?

The more people expressed their disgust, the more attached I became to it, sort of like you would to a poor disfigured cat or dog that everyone hated. I eventually stopped playing it because it's so heavy. I got a proper Sting Ray eventually.

But it doesn't sound as good as the Frankenbass.