I don’t play with a guitar pick very often.

I don’t play with a guitar pick very often. However, sometimes you really need that really aggressive attack that you can only achieve by using a pick. I just ordered a new, updated design for my custom bass picks from @steveclaytoninc . Thanks again to @hearmedraw for designing a great logo for me!

This bass is named “Elvis” because of its classic tone and flashy gold-star theme.

This bass is named “Elvis” because of its classic tone and flashy gold-star theme. It’s an Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 5HH with a custom-made @alperiouspickguard. It’s different than most of my other fretted basses in that I keep it loaded with Dunlop Flatwounds so that I can get that fundimental thump that you can only get when using flatwound strings. Stingray basses lend themselves to flatwounds very well — thunderous tone and the string tension is just right. I use this bass for playing Latin, funk, disco, as well as lot of current stuff and original music. I love that Flatwounds have come back into the spotlight in pop and alternative music recently.

Of all the fretless basses I’ve owned, this one is definitely my favorite.

Of all the fretless basses I’ve owned, this one is definitely my favorite. The rosewood in the custom @alperiouspickguard matches the rosewood in the neck, and features Alper’s signature ‘Exotic Shine’ design. This bass was originally a fretted Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray5H, but the team at @13thstreetguitars converted it to fretless using strips of rosewood to replace the frets, PLEK’d it, and set it up for me. The unfinished neck feels great and the tone is fantastic. I use @ernieball cobalt flatwound strings on this bass, which provide a nice blend of modern brightness and transients while still getting that classic flatwound thump. It’s easy to get this bass to produce those quintessential ‘growls & mewls’ that fretless instruments are known for, which is why I named it “Maulladora”.