This particular Padilla style bass retains the original’s focus while taking a more streamlined approach to construction. For example, Jerome Little redesigned the headstock for regularly mounted tuners (vertical string posts instead of the original horizontal posts) while retaining the original open center headstock. The bridge is now surface mounted compared to the original’s arrangement. The full length thumb rest is gone. But the resulting bass is no less unique.

A number of elements contribute to ergonomics. At 7.5 lbs, it’s not only lighter than most basses but most guitars. A cutaway in the body allows it to be played in classical position. But the big standout is the Torzal neck which reduces wrist flexion (bending) through its -20 degree twist at the nut and +15 degree twist at the bridge. The result is a reduction in stress and strain on the tendons and nerves that pass through the already tight passages in the wrist.

To see how the original Padilla bass in action, check out this Xavier Padilla solo from a Gipsy Kings performance.

For an in depth look at the Torzal neck’s features and advantages, tune into this Bass Guitar Magazine Review.

Specs

Body:

• Swamp ash body
• Cutaway for playing in classical position
• Bridge angled up 15 degrees to reduce the player’s wrist bend
• 7.5 lbs

Neck:

• Torzal Neck with 35 degrees of total twist – -20 at the nut, +15 at the bridge
• 34″ scale
• 5 piece construction – includes the accent veneers in the center
• Ebony fingerboard
• Ebony veneers on the body portion of the neck and front and back of headstock

Electronics:

• Nordstrand Fat Stacks
• Aguilar OBP-2 onboard preamp for active treble and bass control using the stacked knobs
• Volume Knob pulls out to activate the preamp and pushes in for passive mode

Part guitar, part bass and part Chapman stick, the custom instrument is the result of 05Ric’s collaboration with Crimson Guitars. Covered in detail in the article, 05Ric Extended Range Bass, the ERB is based on a Klein influenced body design and includes a number of interesting elements like a multi-laminate neck, a custom piezo equipped bridge and pickups hidden beneath the surface. For even more, check out our 3 part series of progress pics – part 1, part 2 and part 3.

I’ve now had this beauty for over a year and still love her – considering she was to be a prototype. Also to say Ben is king!

The link is another video that shows what she can do, also a little preview for the forthcoming album.

And now here’s 05Ric playing his ERB solo through Guitar Rig 3.

Electronics

John had this to say about the hidden pickups…

The pickups are recessed in the body, under the fingerboard, aft of the last fret. Each pickup is a sewing machine bobbin with a neodymium magnet in the center wrapped with 43 gauge wire. Imagine the Ned Steinberger upright bass individual pickups, but hidden. All seven are wired in series through a single volume control.

Balance

While quite heavy at 11.5 lbs, in part due to its bloodwood construction, the bass sits well. According to John, “with the tuning pegs in the rear, the center of gravity is just aft of the volume knob.”

Headless Bridge Arrangement

Seven Hipshot triple lock down individual string bass bridges handle the strings on their way to the Gotoh tuners located at the rear of the guitar. It’s an approach we’ve previously seen on the Soloette headless guitar.

Specs:

• Laminated Curly Anegre and Bloodwood neck
• Curly Anegre Kline style body
• 7 Strings (in the key of B)
• 7 Individual bridges
• 7 individual hand wound neodymium magnet pickups
• 24 fanned-fret, zero radius bloodwood fingerboard
• 36 inch scale
• Gotoh tuners
• Mother of pearl dots
• Tung oil finish

As John told me, it was “a lot of work for my first stab at building a custom musical instrument” but clearly worth the effort.

Thanks for sharing your project, John!

Other details include the following:

• Curly maple stacked laminate neck
• Curly walnut, Honduras & Philippine (ribbon grain) mahogany, and ebony (accented) body
• Stainless steel hardware throughout, including frets & bridge/tuning system

Pickups are still under evaluation and according to Rick, Headless Monster will include a “Monster (very scary) inlay at the octave”.

The instrument is being built for the bass player known simply as “Monster” who you can see demoing the Orchid bass guitar in Monster Meets the Orchid Bass.

This one’s going to be very interesting…

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License

In Monster Eats Orchid, Toone notes that…

Although Orchid was designed to ergonomically fit a petite player, watch Monster chew on the bass. He’s 12″ taller than Halie and outweighs her by 110 lbs. Because the bass also comfortably fits him, I would characterize this body shape as successful.

Overall, it’s quite an impressive bass.

Read more in Toone Guitars’ Orchid Bass, the follow up The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck and from the guitar maker himself on TOONE GUITARS.

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License

KX-Bass Overview

First, here’s a quick run through the bass guitar’s basics:

• 1 piece swamp ash body
• Moses Graphite neck – Steinberger replacement model
• Double Ball End strings headpiece
• EMG pickups Extended Series CS-35 and DC-35 with two 9v batteries
• Minimum of 20 layers of “grand piano black” paint
• Steinberger licensed bridge – originally fitted with an ABM with wider spacing
• Plek neck set up

The Plek system is very interesting. According to the site, “The Plek is a computer controlled machine tool that scans and dresses an instrument as it is, strung and tuned to pitch”. The result is a neck with low action and that free of buzzing.

Sculpted to Fit

Because this is a custom model, Mats had an opportunity to do something quite unique:

A “papier-mâché” guide model was molded around my stomach. The bass is made comfortable for me only. Tall people report having problems sitting down with it. I am a short, slightly tubby person. It fits me perfectly and wraps snugly around my belly! I can’t gain weight or lose weight too much then it won’t be/feel as comfortable!

You can’t beat that level of customization!

More on the Bass Body

It differs from the original Klein KX-bass a lot, in that it’s missing the ridge that has been carved out on the right arm elbow part. This body has only a rounded spherical contour as shown in one of the pictures.

Directly Coupled Pickups

Mats also describes an interesting approach to mounting the pickups:

The EMG pickups are connected with DIRECT COUPLING method, which mean they are set to one height only and almost squeezed into their cavities and screwed snugly and tightly to the bottom. EMGs pickups should be as close to strings as possible, so there was no need for having any adjustable option. This increases sustain and the body’s vibrations spills over into the magnets inside the pickups. All sides of the pickups, but the front, have close connections with body wood, and the cavities have no shielding paint, or paint at all.

Mats states that the “tone is very vibrant, and I can feel string frequencies into the strap up to my shoulder when playing.”

ABM to Steinberger Bridge

Mats’ thoughts on the bridge change:

The change from ABM to Steinberger bridge has made me think about lowering the neck-to body-angle a bit, since the Steinberger bridge is a bit sleeker and slim. It makes the string seats have to be set very high in order to stay clear of the un-adjustable pickups almost leaving no room for intonation.

Many thanks to Mats Erikson for sharing his Klein KX-Bass.

A Custom Guitar Bridge

You just can’t go out and buy a bridge for an instrument like this, so Ben at Crimson Guitars came up with a rather ingenious custom guitar bridge assembly. Note the L-shaped brackets that attach to the surface of the bridge area and act as anchor points for the bridge saddles. The arrangement is simple, elegant and effective.

BTW, this custom guitar bridge has applications in conventional guitars as well. Think about the flexibility this provides. It can be built simply. You can make the spacing anything you want. You can use bridge saddles with piezo pickups already built in for an acoustic like tone. Surface mounting eases installation. It can be built at low cost.

To make this work, the extended range bass guitar uses a string through body so here’s a look at the back where we can see the string ferrules:

ERB Guitar Completed

We jump past the finishing process (final sanding and applying a finish), the assembly of the last few pieces and here it is strung up and ready for 05Ric to try it out:

This final shot includes the location of the volume knob:

But where are the pickups? They’re actually hidden underneath the top wood! Custom pickups were wound just for this purpose.

Guitar complete.

For more, check out part 1 and part 2 as well as the initial coverage of the ERB.

Many thanks to Ben at Crimson Guitars for generously providing BTEG with all of these progress pictures!

UPDATE: Check out the demo – Monster Meets the Orchid Bass

Ergonomic Guitar Features

Thoughtful design and consideration for ergonomic factors reveal themselves in a number of ways but none more clearly than when considering the Orchid bass in sitting position:

The guitarist sits relaxed but upright reducing stress on the torso and particularly the upper back. The guitar neck sits at a 45 degree angle because of the bass design and not in spite of it. And, the bass sits in playing position without the need for a footstool. Why is this important? Because raising the foot puts stress on the lower back and can lead to pain and musculoskeletal disorder (MSD).

And if you recall, this bass is being built for a woman bassist so Rick has accommodated a woman’s body by sweeping the body away from a woman’s chest and then sweeping it back out to still provide excellent support for the picking arm.

Finally, the bass’ back is contoured to fit ribs and hip.

The Trapezoidal Neck

But the most unusual feature on Rick’s bass guitar is the radical trapezoidal neck he’s incorporated. It does away with the round contours of a conventional neck profile replacing them with this:

Rick was looking for ways to improve fretting hand form, increase the fingers’ mechanical advantage and relieve stress on the wrist by reducing wrist flexion. And so he has created two distinct sets of thumb rests – one for the classical grip followed by a pinch or rock grip – seen in the following pictures:

Fortunately, Rick isn’t the kind of luthier afraid to try new things and I’m looking forward to reading about his findings with this unusual neck design. For now, you can read more about the radical neck profile in Rick’s article Trapezoidal Neck Profile.

In this segment, we’ll see the headstock and comfort contours evolve.

After judicious application of both coping saw and file, the headstock begins to take shape:

Later, a maple laminate is added to the headstock and the headstock contoured to a final state:

The bass guitar’s final appearance starts to reveal itself as comfort contours are added.

As the forearm contour takes shape, the maple laminate top gives way to the underlying cedar body:

The belly contour is quite extensive -running almost the entire length of the upper bout:

This angle shot gives a good view of how the contouring brings the ERB closer to its final state:

In the next installment, we’ll see the final steps to the ERB’s completion.

UPDATE 12.17.2007 For more, see Part 1 and Part 3 as well as the initial coverage of the ERB.

Thanks to Crimson Guitars for its generosity in sharing these (and many more) progress pictures.

The multi-laminate neck, seen here sitting on the plan drawing, will provide the strength necessary for this guitar/bass hybrid:

A neck through design, the guitar is comprised of two cedar wings affixed to either side of the neck. Here we see these three pieces glued and clamped together:

A bunch of clamps introduce the maple top to the cedar back:

A bit of work on the band saw and its really starting to take shape:

A look at the rosewood fingerboard and the fretwork:

The fretboard meets the rest of the guitar. Note the pencil line denoting where the forearm contouring will come in:

That’s it for now. In a future installment, we’ll continue to follow this unusual guitar to completion thanks to Crimson Guitars’ generosity in providing these great progress pictures.

UPDATE 12.17.2007 For more, see Part 2 and Part 3 as well as the initial coverage of the ERB.

Ergonomics – Shape, Weight and Balance

The main motivations for the Klein inspired design are ergonomics, ease of playability and comfort so for starters, the guitar body is made from light weight cedar with a maple cap.

Another important factor is balance and the design addresses this in several ways. First, the headstock’s mass has been reduced and combined with lightweight Sperzel tuners. I was curious about the choice of a headstock over a headless design but Ben found that the combination “negated any issues with neck-drop.” Second, note how the neck through design extends below the body. Combined with the bridge placement, it acts as a counterbalance to the headstock. Third, the multi-laminate neck actually contains two tone chambers running down its length reducing mass and improving balance.

Playability

Designed to address 05Ric’s unique playing style, the instrument incorporates aspects of the Chapman Stick and a conventional electric guitar. The bass side of the guitar is played with a tapping technique and so was built with a flat fingerboard. Move over to the guitar side of the neck and you’ll find a 12.5″ camber to facilitate playing in a more conventional fashion.

Electronics

You might be wondering – “Where is the pickup?” It’s there but its hidden. A custom pickup with very powerful magnets picks up string vibration despite the 8mm of solid rosewood and the 10mm of air between it and the strings.

Build Time

I had to note this because I thought it was quite extraordinary. 05Ric worked out the design over the course of two years and then Ben from Crimson Guitars executed the build in about a week! You just don’t see that speed of execution on even basic designs let alone a guitar as unique as this.

Closing Comments

Is the design a success? Here’s a quote from Ben that says it all:

Ric fell in love with her before I even put the pickup in and once she was ‘alive’ he went and re-recorded most of the guitar/bass parts in his upcoming album with Gavin Harrison.. this was done one week before the album was supposed to go for its final mix!!

Finally, thanks to Crimson Guitars’ generosity, I’ll have several follow up articles showing progress pics for the 05Ric Signature Model ERB.

The customer is a woman bassist who, not surprisingly, finds the typical bass uncomfortable and unwieldy. As Rick states “Halie’s…what…5’4″ 120lbs, or so? A full-sized bass to her is like wrestling with a surfboard.”

However, this is not a scaled down bass nor a “girl guitar”. Instead, the Orchid bass maintains the standard 34″ scale while solving the ergonomic nightmare that many bass guitars represent – excessive weight and bulk combined with poor balance. These are challenges any bass player, male or female, must confront and Rick offers an alternative to instruments like the Fender P-Bass – seen in this composite view with the Orchid:

The following are some of the Orchid bass guitar’s features as noted in Rick’s article, Orchid Explained:

• Controls in the upper horn – Volume and tone controls are commonly located under the strings where they end up in the way of the strumming hand. The need to perform volume swells is typically given as a reason for placing them here but as Rick points out, most guitarists use pedals for this. Control location was something I struggled with when planning my first guitar build and I think Rick is on to something by moving them onto the horn. I suspect folks will copy this idea once they realize its wisdom.
• Balance – When I first read about the new design, I was curious about the large upper horn or lobe. According to Rick, it improves the instrument’s balance and results in the bass being located in a more centered position on the player.
• Sitting position – From a standing position to a sitting position, the Orchid “bass maintains alignment with the player’s body. The player’s thigh holds the weight, instead of the shoulder strap.”
• Reduced weight – The design makes it possible to remove a great deal of weight while maintaining its balance. Rick can even build it as a semi-hollow bass and retain its balance.

Finally, did I mention Rick is also making a guitar version of this bass design?

The most notable aspect of Jerome Little’s bass guitar is the 35 degree twist in the neck. This design feature results in the fretting hand falling into a more natural position. As the guitarist moves down the neck, the wrist has a tendency to bend – the Torzal neck allows the guitarist’s wrist to remain straighter thus reducing the potential for tendinitis and related injuries.

Another noteworthy feature is the “bridge rotation” made possible by the ramp designed into the guitar body. This contributes to placing the bassist’s picking hand in a more natural position. Take a look at the video and you’ll see what I mean.

Ed, who has suffered from tendinitis, goes on to point out just how important this design is in helping out bassists suffering from Repetitive Strain Injury(RSI) – possibly making the difference between playing and potentially giving up the instrument in the worst cases. Then he makes his most important point:

Hey wait a minute! If I played this bass in the first place, maybe I’d never developed tendonitis or carpal tunnel.

A little prevention anyone? What a concept.

The bottom line? The Torzal Twist Neck Bass Guitar is a light weight custom instrument with premium details that both sounds great and plays great. And, if you’re lucky you might actually be healthier for it.

Padilla was suffering from wrist problems when he approached Jerome Little of Little Guitar Works for this amazing custom instrument. Specifically, Padilla was suffering from deQuervain’s Tenosynovitis, a form of tendinitis. Take particular note of the radical Torzal twist neck which reduces strain on the fretting hand by allowing the guitarist to play with a straighter wrist when on the lower frets.

For more on this bass guitar see the article Xavier Padilla’s Torzal Custom Electric Bass Guitar.

Six to eight months of discussions with Xavier Padilla resulted in very detailed design requirements. In fact, Jerome Little indicated that he “printed out just some of the correspondence to have as a reference in the shop…resulting in a 1.5″ stack of paper!” The product of their efforts is a showcase of ergonomic instrument design. The following are just some of its elements…

Playing the instrument in a classical position was an important consideration and so the lower bout’s leg cutaway was designed with this in mind. The upper horn shape was also important to positioning the body properly so it too is shaped accordingly. Jerome Little also pointed out an interesting element of the upper horn design (seen to the left) which “houses the strap button (and strap) inside a sliding cover so that the strap can come straight out and over the shoulder and yet the strap button doesn’t dig into the chest.”

The body incorporates a number of design elements as well. As with other ergonomic designs, the picking arm has excellent support. In addition, the “plane of the strings is angled up at the bridge to reduce the necessity of bending the wrist.” The body also incorporates a thumb rest all along the bass side of the body (seen in the image above) in what would be the position of a fifth bass string.

Jerome Little’s Torzal Twist Neck is yet another example of ergonomic design. Its downward twist at the nut (approximately 15-20 degrees) reduces wrist stress since the player can fret with a straighter wrist.

For more on Jerome Little’s fine work, I suggest visiting Little Guitar Works. Finally, many thanks to Jerome Little for sharing further details about his design.

UPDATE: For more on this instrument, see Padilla Solos On His Little Guitar Works Torzal Bass Guitar. Also check out recent coverage on a Padilla Style Torzal Twist Bass.