The Offset
Born out of an idea to evolve one of my favorite shapes into a solid, usable, gig-able, workhorse:
I had a sketch of this bass under my bench for years until I finally decided to stop drawing and building.
I had faith in my drawing, but I wanted things to feel organic and balance in a particular way. Rather than translate that drawing directly into an instrument, I roughly drew the existing design onto a blank of wood and kept carving until it felt balanced. My focus was how it sat on my lap as well as hung on a strap. To add to the balance the shape natural had, I chambered the body only above the waist carve to leverage the rear portion as a counterweight to the neck.
After I was happy with how it felt holding it balance-wise, I began carving the treble cut away until it felt like it flowed into the neck.
When I turned my attention to the control layout, faders were my first instinct. The idea being to see where you are immediately just like an EQ on an old stereo system or faders on a mixing console. Beyond faders, it also has the classic volume, balance and tone pots with a bypass for the pre-amp. I love that blend of classic and new ideas. That blend is exactly what inspired the entire instrument.
Here’s some photos that I took while creating the prototype:
