BOH's blog post: "Disclosure of Atelier Z BOH's Custom Bass" 

First, this is the face of my bass guitar. It’s based on BETA 6 of ATELIER Z. It’s my 6th model but not much different in terms of shape from my 1st model, when I was 20 years old and first met ATELIER Z. Its design is not the same as that of the latest BETA 6 but an earlier version. Below are the reasons!

A cutaway reaches all the way up to the 24th fret. In addition, it’s got a half-scalloped guitar neck; the fretboard is scalloped between the 17th and 24th frets on the side of the 1st through 3rd strings. These shapes help me smoothly produce a bend, tap, and play vibrato high on the neck. (Though first you have to get used to them...) The neck and fretboard are made of maple.

This bass guitar has a removable neck with four screws on it. This way, if something happens on the neck I can remove it. The area around the joint is a bit carved further so that I can comfortably play high on the neck.

The front of the body is made of quilted maple of the 5A-equivalent quality, and the back of the body is made of alder. You can see their boundary in the above image.

 

In the fret markers, fluorescent inlays called Luminlay are installed. They help me find the right position even in a dark room.

For the neck pickup, EMG P6 is used. For the bridge pickup, EMG 45DC is used. The string spacing on the bridge is 19mm.

 

A thin ATELIER-Z pickup fence is placed closer to the neck than typical bass guitars, and an acrylic thumb rest is attached.

 

If you are a guitar player, please do not hesitate to try various attachments, thinking how they would improve your performances!

 

It’s got controls for volume, balance, and mid frequency, a frequency selector switch between 400Hz and 800Hz, and a dual-gang pot for treble and bass. For a preamplifier, OBP-3 of Aguilar is used.

Two 9-volt batteries are connected so that the total of 18 volts power this gadget. This broadens the range of the EMG pickups and I can now smoothly express various subtleties of guitar picking.

Check this out, the location of the output jack is on the front of the body, like a Strat! It’s convenient when I want to change the guitar during a live performance and unplug or plug a cable. It also prevents the cable from bending by accidentally hitting it on something. It is the best location when I loop a guitar cable through my strap to keep it from becoming unplugged.

This Jim Dunlop strap has a lock attached to it and you just insert it into the body.

With a brass nut and stainless steel frets, sound conveys a sense of precision of pitch as well as a sense of aggressiveness. With a larger head, lower notes sound deep, rich, sustain longer, and the neck produces great sound.

 

The tuning pegs are made by GOTOH. Also seen in the above image is GRUV GEAR’s FretWraps that greatly reduces sympathetic vibration of open strings. (When playing, I move it to the fretboard.)