Dan's New Bass Guitar
August 2014

I (Dan) have been an electric bass guitar player since 1979, which makes it, what, 35 years now (!) that I've been a bassist.

My main bass for many years now (bought new in 1985 or so) has been a Peavey Foundation 4-string, with a special tuner on the lowest string that lets me drop it down to a low D.

Now, I still really like my Peavey (here's a photo of me playing my Peavey Foundation in the summer of 1992!) – and to this day I've never found one that sounds better for a four string.

However...I've wanted a five-string for many many years. The fifth string is lower than the traditional low E, by a fourth, making it a low B. A low E is tuned to about 41 Hz, which is already pretty low... and the low B tunes to about 31 Hz! That's very low, and as I've tried various five-strings thorugh the years, I've seldom played one that sounded good to me.

Ibanez SRX-705

Dan's new bass

Then, a friend of mine lent me this one (thanks, Jack!). (Photo to the left) It's an Ibanez Soundgear SRX-705 model - a five-string bass. He had played it for a few years with his church's worship band, but didn't use it anymore. I played it a few times with various people, and decided I liked it, and then, my wife, seeing that I liked it, wanted to buy it for me (like an early Christmas present – thanks, Gaye!). So, now it's mine – and it's a terrific instrument...

What Dan likes about it

This model (the SRX-705) was only available from Ibanez from 2003-2007, but they got it right, at least for my taste. The body shape is more attractive to my eye than just about anything else Ibanez has ever made -- and it's comfortable to play, and sounds really good!

You know, I had harbored ideas for years of maybe, someday, using my woodworking skills to build my own 5-string electric bass guitar. There are some very nice 5-string necks being made, and the rest I could build or assemble myself. However, when I first saw this bass, I realized this is essentially what I would have wanted a homemade one to look like!

I've always liked the natural wood look, and I love good wood grain. Just look at the wood on this bass -- the neck (which runs through the entire body) is made of alternating strips of walnut and maple, and the sides (or "wings") of the instrument are made of ash, which has always been my very favorite instrument wood.



Showing off the view, from the back, of the through-the-body neck design



Isn't that just lovely grain in that wood? It's exactly what I would have wanted If I had built my own bass guitar!


Ahh...I'm very happy.

Features:

  • 5-piece maple/walnut neck

  • 24-fret rosewood fingerboard

  • Ash body

  • Passive pickups with exposed pole pieces

  • Heavy-duty bridge

  • 2-band active EQ

  • Currently strung with GHS Medium Bass Boomer strings

Thanks for reading this far – I commend you! Come on over sometime if you'd like to try out the new bass!