My new Bass
In early 2015, my friend Hubert Döring and I decided to ask Gerald Marleaux to build two custom basses, made to our specifications.
In June 2015, we finally made the trip to Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany, to meet Gerald and select the woods for our basses.
In my case, the body is maple, the top is poplar burl, the neck is flamed maple and birdseye maple and the fingerboard is ebony.
We had a really great time with Gerald, we learned a whole lot of new, interesting things about bass building, and we sat down together to finalize the details of our custom orders.
Hubert went for an MBass 6-string, and I ordered a Consat 6-string designed for the rather unusual EADGCF tuning.
And, of course, there’s also something else that’s special about these basses: they’re both lefties!
The choice of pickups was never really a question: we knew right from the start that we’d once again go for a Christoph Dolf (Bassculture) pickup with three single coils built into a ramp, selectable through a 6-way switch.
The top wood for my new bass.
In December, Gerald Marleaux sent me some pictures of my bass in the making:
Already looking amazing!
In January 2016, the waiting was over at last: after an adventurous drive from Hamburg through heavy snowfall, we arrived at the Marleaux workshop, where we finally got to put our hands on our dream basses. Gerald Marleaux took an entire day to fine-tune the last details with us. Thanks for that, Gerald, we really appreciate it!
Hubert soldering the 6-way pickup selector switch
Gerald installing the electronics
Gerald and Hubert installing the 6-way selector switch
Gerald fine-tuning the bass
Almost done!
And here’s the finished pair in all its glory: the Consat on the left and the MBass on the right.
If you would like Gerald Marleaux to build the bass of your dreams, check out his website for details: