Modular Bass Guitar

Timeline

Status: Active

Description

The most important characteristic of each bass guitar is its sound. For example, the Rickenbacker 4003, used by famous players such as Geddy Lee and Chris Squire, is known for their bright, aggressive sound, and the Musicman Stingray, most notably used by Flea, has a mid-range boost and a 3-band equalization circuit, making it great for slap (a bass technique) and modern jazz and funk. Both sounds are desirable to bass players, but both instruments are extremely expensive, each being at least $2000 brand new and usually around $1500 used. The modular bass guitar aims to solve this problem by having multiple sets of pickups, including those on a Rickenbacker 4003 and Musicman Stingray, on one bass guitar.

To accomplish this, a modular, rotating platter with 4 different sets of pickups (it currently is designed for the pickups from a Fender Jazz Bass, Rickenbacker 4003, Musicman Stingray, and Gibson EB0) is placed at the center of the bass guitar. The rotation can be locked at specific points, thus allowing for the selection of each set of pickups. Furthermore, the bass guitar also has the corresponding circuit for each pickup, utilizing a rotary switch to select between each circuit, allowing for even more tonal variety, like using Rickenbacker pickups with the Musicman 3-band equalization circuit.

Team

Members

Caleb Hu Glassow