Custom Sei Bass Guitar: The Journey to My Dream Bass

January 12, 2025

Howard

This blog is entirely dedicated to my fantastic new bass built by the master craftsman at The Bass Gallery. Martin and the team have built my dream bass, read about the story here.

Why Get a New Bass?

Prior to getting this bass made, I had been playing the same bass for over 10 years, a Ibanez SR305FM. Now you may have thought this was a bit of a basic bass, however, I had the pickups upgraded to some classic Bartoloni soapbars and the preamp upgraded to a Bartolini HR-3.3AP/918.

So by removing the stock options (which weren’t bad) I still had a very good sounding bass. And because I had been solidly using this as my workhorse for the last 10 years, I knew it inside out. I’d never have to look at the fretboard as I knew exactly where every note was.

Not to mention the experiences I’ve had with it too – sight reading with big bands whilst at school, even taking it to Canada! Playing the Isle of Wight festival and countless functions, where I’m sure lots of characterful scrapes and dents were made, as well as being drenched in booze and sweat 😅

And that’s just the life I had with it! It was bought second hand, so it’s certainly been through a lot, and I’m sure will continue to!

So why get a new bass?? Well, I fancied a more professional looking one, one that had more tone sculpting capabilities, and just one that was that little bit more, special.

The Bass Gallery

So I went to The Bass Gallery. For those who haven’t been or don’t know about it, it’s a shop in Camden entirely dedicated to bass guitars (not a guitar or drum kit in sight 😏) and wow…they have an almighty collection.

So whilst looking for my next bass naturally I asked to play quite a few in the shop. Whilst I played some very nice sounding basses, they all felt alien to me, and a bad thought crossed my mind that if I bought one of these…I’d have to basically relearn the instrument!

So I discussed my dilemma with Martin, and he helpfully suggested that he make me a bass that’s built exactly to my specifications, one that has the same neck thickness as the Ibanez so would feel the same, and it can contain all the other aspects I was looking for. Brilliant! All I had to do was bring my bass in, and he’d accurately measure the precise measurements so It would all feel the same.

We then got to the discussion of scale length, as I was curious about 23-inch 5-string basses (the standard is 24). These are incredibly rare, but luckily they had one in the shop to try out. It was punchy, the 5th string was tight (and not flabby like my Ibanez) and the lower frets were a lot more easily reachable (I have hands the size of a child). So, we decided to go for the 23-inch scale length!

I then also proposed a slightly whacky idea, whereby we could colour code the fretboard to tell users where the notes were, just like on a keyboard. The white notes would be the notes, the black notes would be the accidentals. Here’s a representation fo the idea.

Whilst this would have been a ridiculous inlaying task for Martin and the team, he was prepared to give it a go. However, after showing the design to some people they all said they didn’t like the look of it. And besides, I already knew where the notes were from playing anyway, so I decided not to do it. It would maybe be a great idea for a beginner?

Building Journey

After we got my crazy ideas out of the way and finalised what I wanted, Martin brought me to his workshop (under the store), and we discussed wood. He brought out lots of options and the best part was that I got to pick out the bits of wood I liked most. I went for a spalted maple top, with walnut body wings. The neck would be comprised of maple and walnut to match, with a dark ebony fingerboard. All of these pieces of wood will make up the Flamboyant 5 Sei bass shape.

So I put a deposit down on 28/06/2023 and waited excitedly for progress updates. Now it’s worth pointing out that they only make roughly 10 of these basses every year, plus they run the shop too! So if you are putting in an order, don’t expect it to be finished in a few months. It will take time, and after all, all good things are worth waiting for.

Here are some pictures I’ve got through various progress updates, and visits to the store.

Update 1

Update 2

Update 3

Pickup!

Finally the day came, 06/12/2024 (or 527 days later) when I got my bass, and Martin did apologise for the wait. However, I said to him that you can’t rush a piece of art! I’d much rather they spent the time and attention to detail to make it as best they could. And oh boy did they.