Custom Headless Bass

Purchased this bass body 2009-Apr, a maple body with a nice bubinga top, routed for Steinberger hardware. It was commissioned and made by some employees at Ken Smith Basses. The luthier designed it in the style of the Rickenbacker 4003.

It came with Kent Armstrong soap-bar pickups and Ken Smith 4-knob circuit for volume (push-pull for active/passive modes), blend, treble and bass. Runs on a 9V battery, but I can switch to passive mode in case the battery dies during a gig.

I put on a 5 string Steinberger neck and bridge, and the pickups sound terrific! Very smooth and even volume and response across all 5 strings, and the active E/Q adds a lot of variations to the tone.