LeftyBassist.com

Today I played a mid-90s Ken Smith 5 string (righty) - I was blown away by its sound!
I must admit I never paid much attention to these basses (other than testing and hating a proto J from KSD a couple of years ago), and I was pleasantly surprised!

I don't think I see many lefty KS basses around. Is there a story with the brand? I just checked their website and the lefty upcharge is "only" 200 bucks - not bad considering what some of the other folks charge.

Would love to hear your experience with the brand.

I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to own a BSR5 neck through with soap bars. Ergonomically it fits my hands like well worn gloves and sounds like the shiznits. It would require some kind of catastrophic event for me to ever consider parting with it.

Totally different beast to the KSD line.

My first Ken Smith was a righty Burner with a crazy blue highly figured maple body wings,ebony board and was my main bass from 1992 to about 2000(I've never seen another like it).I custom ordered a BSR5 bolt on through Huber and Breese right here outside of Detroit.My last Ken Smith was the now seemingly infamous 25th anniversary Fusion Elite I grabbed from Atlanta Bass Gallery along with the Mike Lull carmel burst 4 that was there at the same time.(not a bad day huh?)I traded a jetglo Ricky that was brand new when they had done a recent run along with a semi hollow body Alembic Essence(electronics wise)with the Stanley body style and a Japanese Fender 62 RI that I hardly touched as well as cash.I had 3 Alembics,3 Pedullas and a bunch of Hammonds,Leslies,Wurlys etc..blah blah.The Smiths are very well built but some just don't care for the tone.I guess it's about preference.Great basses but the prices are just getting out of hand now.I almost got another Ken that woulda been my first 4 string Smith but Peter(Pjmuck)slid in there 3 days before I made the call to buy.Peter...Do you still have this bass lol?I have to hunt down the old pics of my basses but I think the only one I sent a pic too was Matt R right before the trade.I shouldn't have gotten rid of alot of these basses since they just can't be replaced anymore.

I just heard from the guy who let me borrow the bass this morning that the model I played is a 1997 bsr5j-mw. Bolt-on, j-bass pups. Incredible tone!

I had a BSR 5-string about 7 years ago. It was a plain bass: all ash body, no top, bolt-on, maple neck, morado fretboard. Some observations:

1. Best neck I've ever played. Thin C profile, super comfortable and fast. Super low action. Superb fretwork.

2. It was a bit heavy, hence why I sold it, but not that bad, maybe 9.5 lb. I'd still never think about ordering one because I don't think they can make a sub-9 lb bass. I also didn't like that the body is slab, so no tummy or arm cut. Smith told me once this is an option that can be requested, if I remember correctly. Small detail, but it's beyond me why bass builders still make slab-type bodies.

3. Quality was as high as it gets. They really know what they are doing.

4. I'm still kicking myself in the rear for selling it. I bought from eBay at $1600!, and sold it for the same. It was a $3200 bass back then. It's more than $4000 now.

5. At the time I also had a Sadowsky 5-24, and after comparing them a lot in different situations, the Sadowsky always won in sound big time. The Smith can sound muddy compared to many basses. But I still miss the perfect playability. In retrospective, I think that at the time I had a muddy sounding cabinet which influenced my perception of the sound. The model you played had J pickups, which BTW, are not an option anymore (I believe), and those might sound clearer than the Smith humbuckers.

6. A side note, a few years ago there was this whole war on Talkbass going on with Ken Smith. Although he's a master at what he does and is very knowledgeable, when he started participating on Talkbass he came across as a very opinionated prick who rubbed people the very wrong way, and the forum wars went on for awhile until he withdrew. Entertaining stuff.

7. And, yes, lefty Smith are extremely rare (I think I've seen 3 or 4 in the last 15 years) so unless you are willing to order one . . . Based on quality, they worth the money. I always though that G&L L-2500 sounded similar, if a bit more aggressive, and Sadowsky 5-24 would also have a similar sound flavor, although the Sad sounds bigger, punchier and clearer. Roscoe are also in the same family (when they have their typical "Roscoe" pickup locations).

8. It's a shame the Smith never have had the vision to build some lefties for stock. I'm sure they would sell, slowly but surely. . .

Here are some pics from the vault:

Wow, what a beautiful bass in all its simplicity! I really dig it. How did it compare to that MTD 535?

The MTD sound is bigger (it generates a lot more bass down low, say 60 Hz and lower). The Smith has a narrower sound footprint (not such deep bass, although the highs can get pretty glassy). I remember the MTD being very punchy and just huge-sounding. 535s are in Jazz-Bass territory, because of the pickup locations.The B-string I think was the best of all the basses I've ever played. The MTD has a full 19-mm neck and the profile, although not super chunky, was a bit thick and really a "neckful" for me. Quality wise, I'd say they are the same: both factories are known for building nothing but the best, from materials to workmanship. I dug both equally in that regard. I was never a big fan of the MTD body shape: a bit too small for my taste, and just never liked the way the bass felt on me when playing standing up. I'd definitely grab the Smith for playability, but the MTD for sound.

For what it's worth, there have been 2 separate occasions where I have heard a bass being played on TV without being able to see it first and immediately knew it was a Smith... and I was right both times. To me, they have a VERY distinguished sound that is pretty much perfect to my ear... especially in the hip-hop/R&B/funk world.

Anyway, with that said... I had an interesting little exchange with Ken Smith a few years ago.

Not sure if anyone of you have ever been to his website, but... it's horrendous. It's a designer's nightmare.

Check it out for yourself: http://www.kensmithbasses.com/

At the time, I was offering some design service to various "builders/amp makers/effects dudes" in exchange for credit towards product... Ken Smith seemed like a perfect candidate because the site is just friggin' horrible, so I approached him. I saved the entire exchange, and I've provided it for you to enjoy... this is copied and pasted VERBATIM from our email exchange:








Didn't hear back after that... probably a good thing.

I did talk to the man in person several years ago at NAMM... like '95 or so... and he was actually pretty cool. Abrasive, but comical.

He just doesn't come off that well in print.



Oh well... I still want one of his basses.

I think I would have dropped after his first response...

I agree, Ken Smith basses pop out of the mix like no other modern instruments. Every time I see someone playing one live I am amazed by the tone.
I noticed a lot of "Ken Smith bashing" on TB but I guess it is more for his abrasive New York style than the quality of products.

Agreed! I can pick out the Smith sound at a 1000 yards. And let's not forget new-age and smooth jazz. Speaking of which, I hear Zon fretless's all over the smooth jazz channels on Sirius. Another distinctive voice for sure.

Before I bought my Smith, I corresponded a lot with Ken via email and a couple of phone calls. He must have liked me or something because the 2nd time I called him he put me on hold while he dug through his old paper files to get the specs on my bass. Now, we're talking 6 years ago, which might tell you something about his take on some forms of technology since at that time his records weren't digitized (and I don't know as if they are now). But I will agree that he doesn't suffer fools gladly at all. How he define's what is a fool is another subject altogether LOL.

Agree with you 100% on the web design, Chris. First time I saw it I actually thought I was at some Smith fan's dedication site, and returned back to Google to see if I clicked on the wrong link. Reminds me of the old free web page tools AOL used to give you with your account. Ken is clearly a luthier master, but when it comes to basic web design/readability, he obviously doesn't recognize good from bad.

As for Smith basses, well the '94 CR4 I "stole" from johntheleftybassist is easily one of my favorites. The neck is to die for - possibly THE most comfortable neck I've ever played. I simply don't make mistakes on this bass, and believe me, I'm prone to them. However, the Smith sound/bass is not the mot versatile bass I've ever played. They do cut well and have a distinctive pronounced tone, not to mention a killer slap tone, but they can have a barky mid range sound that doesn't work for some musical situations. It definitely did not work for my last alternative rock reunion with my old band, as it was too up front and didn't sit back in the mix well enough (Switched back to my J and Viola! Instant rhythm section again. ). They need fresh bright strings too, as mine can get thuddy pretty quick once strings start dulling.

@ Chris. I also agree with you 100% on the web site design. Being a former multimedia software developer and having worked closely with a number of skilled and talented graphic designers... I get it. As far as the sound goes, one of the best examples I can think of is "Morph The Cat" by Donald Fagen. Ready Freddie Washington uses his Ken Smith bass on that track and Roger Nichols mixes the bass in your face! Love it. Not sure what model.