Maestro bass

Year: Who knows
Finish: Brown?
Origin: Who knows
Acquired: 2014
Mods: None
Still owned: Yes, for some reason

What can I say? We went to Norman’s Rare Guitars, we got swept up in the excitement, and we brought home a very weird souvenir. It’s got a piezo under the saddle, a 9-volt in the body (with on-board EQ!), probably removable wings, and most importantly, there are lightning bolts on the fretboard. You can plug headphones directly into the jack, making it a “silent” practice bass. It’s a few inches longer than any other bass I’ve played; it actually has trouble fitting on most of my stands. But hey — my first neck-through!

These are uncommon in America but I see them all over European eBay listings under various names, so my guess is it’s just a Chinese creation that gets branded and rebranded. Is it even worth noting that this is not Gibson’s budget brand below Epiphone, but a completely different brand of questionable quality?

We didn’t pay much — it was intended to simply be a piece of art on our wall, honestly, but for some reason it never made it there. Kat did sew a custom zippered gig bag for it, more out of a sense of personal challenge than anything. I put light strings on it but it could probably use a little more truss rod love.

It’s not…what’s the word? Good. But it is weird.

Maestro Bass