Joshua Martin, Aluminum Bass Guitar

Transcript

Joshua’s ‘Heavy Metal’ bass guitar is constructed from silver-coloured aluminium sheet and aluminium billet (raw material in the form of a solid block) completed with electronics and bass hardware. The guitar’s formed metal body takes the shape of an asymmetrical angular oval with a ‘cinched waist’. When played, horizontally across the lap, the shorter side rests on the thigh, with the longer side stretching horizontally at the height of the player’s sternum. The body is shallow (less than 25mm), and formed by a front and back section, connected by tabs which are rivetted and welded together. The front and back of the body are flat.

Affixed to the far-right area of the body (when viewed looking down from a player’s perspective) is the bridge: a metal plate fitted with four adjustable dials and saddles to position each of the guitar’s four metal strings (each of decreasing girth). Below, two dials allow for further adjustments to the instrument’s output. Beside them is the connector port for the electrical cable. The four strings stretch taut along the length of the body and out across the neck, which is constructed from solid CNC machine aluminium in the shape of an elongated rectangle, that tapers from 61mm wide where it intersects with the body to 40mm at its far end. Raised frets run perpendicular to the strings. The neck ends abruptly as though lopped off, with string fixings running along the edge.