Bass Gear Issue 7 : Page 18slim in your hands from front to back, but with a gentle arc due to the large radius. Digging Into the Details So what makes a Nuance? The formula is deceptively simple. It uses Mike’s signature body wood, maple. It also uses a two-piece quarter-sawn maple neck, ebony fingerboard, and a spalted chestnut top. I had to ask Mike about the chestnut top, because I just don’t see that very often. He gives the usual luthier type response about how individuals all woods are, and quite frankly just tried chestnut because he liked the way it looked, and didn’t even know what to expect. Turns out, he feels the chestnut supports tight low-mids and a crisp, focused high end. He’s also a firm believer that top woods affect tone (except for the very thin ones). This is often debated amongst luthiers, builders, and players, but I happen to agree with it. As for the body, he uses soft maple on all his designs. He feels that it imparts a clean and bright yet warm top end with lots of attack and sustain, with no mud. $%# f;a; ! %&& The ebony board was selected for both its tonal characteristics, but also aesthetics, just like the top wood. I’ve typically found that ebony is great for a crisp high end as well, which would fit right in with this bass. The particular piece of ebony on this bass has some beautiful “blistering” in it which goes great with the aesthetic theme of the bass. Other nice touches are the matching spalted chestnut veneer on the headstock and even a wood truss rod cover with the Nuance name on it, also made from the same spalted chestnut. The contours of the body are smooth and supple, and the heel where the neck attaches is sloped on the back for added comfort. The neck profile is also a thing of beauty, at least for my tastes. It’s a shallow “C” profile, which means it generally feels The hardware is a mixture of custom Gotoh tuners and a Hipshot style A bridge (their high-end model, with lots of adjustment options). Interestingly, the stainless steel strings he’s used exclusively on fretted basses for over 15 years now, are unique to him. They are not simply a relabeled popular set you can get anywhere else. The strap buttons are standard style, and while they function just fine, I personally prefer locks. My favorites are the Dunlop dual function model. If this were my bass, the first thing I would do is put a set of gold locks on it. I’m not the craziest guy on stage, but I insist on their added security. The other thing hardware-related I should probably comment on is the truss rod. It is a bit different than most I’ve seen, in that it does not take a standard Allen key. It takes a square drive socket, and is also reverse threaded (in other words, you turn it counter-clockwise to tighten it against string tension). I Publication List Using a screen reader? Click Here |
