Charlie Jones has been playing a perspex bass for nearly ten years now, his first one had a maple neck with a perspex headstock and a slab body with a glittered scratchplate.. it looks great on TV but weighs way too much for comfort!  When Charlie came to me he was after a lighter version of his original, but over subsequent phone calls we decided to come up with something totally new.. a one-piece perspex instrument with glitter cast directly into the resin.. (not an easy thing to photograph though..)

The first and major worry was the strength of the neck, we wondered at length how the perspex would cope with the day to day life of a gigging musician (Charlie is currently on tour with Siouxie Sous and early next year will be on the road with Goldfrapp again) with the inherant temperature and humidity changes engendered by international travelling, cold vans and hot stages..

In order to play it safe I installed two dual-action truss rods in the neck and left the neck carve slightly larger than we would have liked.. as it turns out this was unneccesary.  The prototype bass made her debut at the London Guitar Show earlier this year and was the only instrument to keep it's tuning stable.. our stand was located very near to two hanger doors which were open for a few hours in the morning letting frigid air in and then after an hour with thousands of people in the building everything went up to tropical temperatures.. the perfect test environment!  The latest model, very near completion as I write, has only a single dual action truss rod and a much thinner, more comfortable neck. 

The body has obviously had our trademark 'belly-carve' cut into it, mainly in a bid to reduce weight although a bit of ergonomics never goes amiss in a guitar.  The new version weighs in at just 9lbs!! .. considering I've played perspex basses weighing up to 2 stone before this is an achievement we are proud of!  The other benefit of making the instrument out of a clear material is the visual effect achieved when the front and back carves meet.. the instrument was nearly called the jellyfish for just this reason..

A lot of people ask us how the perspex feels to play and the answer is that it basically feels like you're playing a laquered neck/fingerboard.. smooth and comfortable, and if you are one of these people, like myself, who prefers a matt finish on their necks nothing could be easier!  As with every instrument we offer there are endless custom options available, from different coloured perspex to having razer blades or crushed glass suspended in the material.. lazers? LEDS?  this guitar is your oyster!!

And on to the most important bit, what does she sound like??  I built a timber prototype using the best woods available and set up the same way.. the perspex bass was three times louder through an amp and had an amazing sustain and mid to low response.. I have never heard such a lovely and powerful sound coming out of a passive instrument!  Custom wound Wizard pickups helped too of course!  The best endorsment for this bass is the fact that it is now Charlies main gigging guitar.. not to mention the fact that as soon as Steve, the guitarist with Soiuxie Sous, heard the prototype he ordered a rubean red perspex guitar!  The sound is everything with this material, the fact that it looks more striking than anything else out there is just a bonus!