Evolution - a family of lightweight Swifts

Andyjr1515 · April 2018

Hi

Those of you who follow the build threads will be familiar with these three. However, having borrowed back our bassist's piccolo bass for a bass forum meet-up and having not yet passed on the latest build to my sister-in-law, this is probably the only time all three will be in one place. So, in case anyone is interested in the less conventional:

From left to right:

A piccolo bass designed and built for our band's bassist Pete. Tuned to guitar pitch but sounds much more like a bass. Multi scale from 25" to 26" Total playing weight 5 1/2lb

A 6-string electric built for me. The piccolo was so comfortable to play and sounded so good, I thought I'd try a 6-string version for my own use. 25" scale Total playing weight just under 6lb

A 6 string electric built for my sister in law. Slightly slimmer (they are all around 1" thick) and designed for full fret access and thumb anchor up to the 24th fret for playing lead. 25" scale Total playing weight 5 1/4lb

They are all through neck and feature a convex top and concave back:

The woods used are quite heavy, including sapele and oak but the lightness is achieved from chambering and slim body profile.

I was curious whether 'lightweight and thin' would affect tone at all so I lent the middle one to a number of regular giggers I know. The general consensus is that it cuts through just as well as any of the strats and Les Pauls they would usually be using. Not at all scientific, of course, but there is no apparent loss of clarity or gravitas. The new one on the right hand side of the pic sounds brighter acoustically, but exactly the same through an amp.

They are, of course, much lighter on the neck than most electrics and when the guinea-pigs later strapped their normal guitars back on, they all reported thinking various combinations of 'WHAT THE ****??' And they were trying out the heavier one of the three

As always, thanks for looking
Andy