Serial# 107

I saw a press release from Wendler on the Harmony Central web site and curiously followed the manufacturer’s link, and got very intrigued by the bass guitars.

I emailed Dave Wendler with some questions about price and finish options, and he replied promptly. He explained that he used a variety of woods and could shape the neck profile to fit my specifications, which pleased me. I measured up the neck on my trusty Ibanez Roadster which has great playability.

We settled on a tung-oiled mahogany neck, with pao ferro fingerboard. Dave kept me informed of construction progress, with photographs of the instrument in various stages.

You can read more about Wendler’s passive Magnetic/Piezo pickup system on their web site. In tone, it tends to be very dark and deep. I find that plucking the strings with my right hand up the fingerboard – just like a real upright – gives the best results.

Technically this was my 40th birthday present, but experts disagree as to whether it was this or the VK-8.

You can hear it in action on the track A Sample Of One:

In June 2021 I sold this bass to a nice gentleman from Massachusetts who I hope will play it more than I did.

Carvin BK5 Bass

This instrument was built from a kitset from Carvin, hence the lack of a brand name decal. But it is effectively a Carvin B5.

I don’t use the active electronics much, for some reason I get better results with passive plus outboard amp modellers.

Here’s an mp3 of me playing a riff from Porcupine Tree and demonstrating the different sounds you get from blending the pickups and changing the coil tap on the HB2.

2019 Update: I have to confess I have modified the bass to be passive, and to feed each of the pickups to Left and Right of a stereo output socket. By default, a mono cord will get the output from the neck pickup. I’ve had a lot of success recently recording in stereo and processing the signals separately.

Serial# ZT32559

This is my latest acquisition, and it freaking rocks. When it arrived I did what I swore I would never do and went back and re-recorded Listen using the VK-8 as the “hammond organ”. It sounds awesome now.

I believe this has version 2.0 OS in it. I’m not risking uploading a new version into it – it sounds just fine the way it is.

Serial# 393

This weird thing is a Stick Enterprises 10-string Chapman Stick® in white oak – a fantastic instrument that I use mostly just for bass lines.

I knew about the Stick from Tony Levin playing on Peter Gabriel’s albums, but I didn’t see one “in the flesh” until Johnny Fleury did a demonstration at a music shop in Auckland, NZ. I ordered one through the shop, and at the time they said that Stick Enterprises had told them that they could only deliver if two instruments were ordered. The store was a bit nervous about ordering two when they only had a confirmed order for one, but they went ahead and ordered two and requested that one be shipped at first.

I don’t think they ever took delivery of a second instrument!

I ordered this guitar from the Carvin web site, without talking to any of the sales people on the phone or anything. It was quite a weird experience.

Notable features:

• Alder neck and body, tung oil finish
• Active electronics and Fishman Piezo-Acoustic bridge
• C22N and C22B (later swapped out for a M22SD)
• Coil tap switches for both pickups.

I have since sold this guitar to my bass-playing friend Tony, and replaced it with a similar instrument (see Carvin DC127).

Sometimes I feel a little silly about letting this one go, because its playability was extremely high – it just felt really comfortable. The DC127 I ordered to replace it – although I liked the slight changes in specifications that I made – just doesn’t feel the same.

Tony is really enjoying it so I’m glad about that.

Serial# 423649

When I sold my TL60 to Tony The Bass Player, I ordered up a replacement instrument with similar specs:

• DC127
• Fixed Bridge
• Tung-oiled Alder neck and body
• Rounded body style
• No inlays
• CT-style headstock
• C22B, H22N pickups
• Fishman Piezo-Acoustic bridge
• DC200-style active electronics
• Black chrome hardware

Basically I wanted the same specs as my old TL60 but with the following changes:

• rounded body sides (not available on TL60)
• No tremelo (the piezo pickup was sensitive to creaks and popping sounds)
• No neck inlay dots (I like the clean look)

I’ve never felt the same way about this guitar as I did about the TL60. This surprised me – it was supposed to be a better instrument for me. However it remains a quality instrument.

Update: I’ve gifted this guitar to my godson who no doubt will play it more than I did.