Bass Guitars

Suddenly everyone is playing a baritone! With heavier strings, and tuned as much as a full octave lower than a standard 6-string, the baritone is like a bass for guitarists, or a guitar for bass players. (Standard baritone tuning is BEADF#B) A classic piece of baritone guitar can be heard on the Beach Boys ‘Caroline No’, plus the Beatles used a Fender VI baritone extensively on the White Album, (‘Back In The USSR’, ‘Rocky Racoon’, ‘Helter Skelter’ and others), Pat Metheny plays an acoustic baritone, John Petrucci has his own signature model MusicMan baritone, Ani Difranco plays sev...

Mike Lipe is a guitar builder from Sun Valley, California – he’s known as the original LA “Guitar Doctor” to the stars. As well as caring for famous name players’ instruments, Lipe also hand crafts some of the finest guitars and basses on the planet. Famous names who use Mike Lipe instruments include Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, blues great Coco Montoya, Sting, Jimmy Vivino, (guitarist in Jay Leno’s house band), Bob Weir, (Grateful Dead), and many more. Over the years Mike Lipe has worked for Yamaha, Hofner, Fender and other big names. He currently does all US repairs and custom mod...

The last one of these that we had lasted about a week – and it was the standard model. And just like that last one, this is one of the cleanest 15 year old basses we’ve seen. It’s been played, but this lovely Sunburst Jazz Plus Premium is in very, very nice condition – there’s a scattering of tiny fingernail indents on top, just light playwear on the back, plus a small spot in the middle of the back that looks like there was perhaps a bubble in the finish. (A very small split below the E-tuner happened when the instrument was new – probably the result of being built in warm Califor...

"Rat Fink" Bass by Lace, 2003. (New old stock – unplayed!) Possibly the last new one of these awesome basses in captivity. Made by Lace Industries – world famous for their Fender Sensor pickups – the “Rat Fink” line honors legendary hot-rod builder "Big Daddy" Ed Roth and his pioneering work in air-brush artwork. Roth, and his equally legendary cartoon character, "Rat Fink', became famous worldwide in the sixties. The limited edition "Rat Fink" guitar and bass models made their debut in 2002, exclusively produced by Lace Industries, and were virtually impossible to obtain in Austr...

Gretsch G2202 Electromatic Junior Jet Bass, BRAND NEW, (a Fender discontinued model), with Ryman Road Case, (see below). Brand new short-scale bass, (19 frets), maple neck, rosewood fretboard, mid-positioned mini humbucker, (right below the natural harmonics location of where the 24th fret would be on a full scale model – you won’t believe the sustain). Chrome hardware, adjustable bridge, 2-ply pearlescent scratchplate, and an awesome Gretsch black and deep grey transparent burst finish – what an exceptionally fine instrument! Short-scale basses are in big demand these days, and t...

Fender Jazz Bass, 1993/94, Lefty, Japan. A vintage tobacco burst Japanese-made Jazz bass – left-handed, too. That already makes it a great find, but the condition here is exceptional. Lovely quiet single-coil vintage-style pickups, dead straight neck, and frets that could almost pass for new! (In fact, the neck, fretboard and frets could all pass for new!) Maple neck, rosewood fretboard, and a sparkling red scratchplate that sets off the vintage tobacco burst tones perfectly. Everything is in A-1 working order, ready for you to plug in and play. This excellent bass has obviously b...

The boom in shortscale basses continues, and here’s an amazing US model from the ZZ Ryder company. This awesome looking 30” scale bass has one foot in the Hofner days of the Beatles and the Cavern Club, and one resting on the foot-peg of a hot Harley, as ZZ Top come roaring out of wherever ZZ Top come roaring out of – in other words, a brilliant contemporary twist on a legendary classic. (Another great design example of this thinking is the new Gretsch “Billy-Bo” Jupiter Thunderbird – wow!)Apart from mega-cool looks, the Lo Ryder bass features one of the industry’s great new innovati...

Another sad case of it no longer being economically viable to make finely crafted instruments in the USA, these fine basses are no longer in production. Designed alongside Hamer’s top-quality instruments of the early 90s, (the distinctive headstock immediately identifies it as a quality Hamer product), we believe this great, GB44 fullscale bass was crafted at the company’s Chicago plant shortly before the parent company shifted production overseas. If nothing else, this truly awesome full scale bass lives on as a reminder of just how good GTX were while they lasted. Over-strength ...