Thursday, February 21, 2013

LOW ARCHITECTURE 9: HONDO "FLASH" BASS



This quirky headless and nearly bodiless bass was originally designed by Harry Fleishman  in the late seventies and was called the "Bassic IV". It was one of the first headless and non-winged basses,  and as such,  was ultra lightweight (about four pounds) and quite long in scale (three octaves). It's "open backstock" at the end of the body visually reinforced those qualities and made space for right-handed tuning. This design was later sold to Hondo during the eighties and was dubbed the "Flash" bass. A single Jazz Bass pickup was joined by a Piezo on the "Bassic IV" version,  but was left off of the Hondo.  Those with a taste for minimal design,  non-existent back back problems,  extreme reach,  and good playability loved both incarnations.

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