ELAN's Charlie Padilla Maqueo

We are pleased to announce that we're working with bassist Charlie Padilla Maqueo in the development of new signature model that will soon be available as part of our instrument line-up. Charlie is the bassist for the band ELAN, the first Mexican rock band to successfully release English lyric albums and has sold over two million records worldwide.

http://www.elan-online.com/

It's Official!

The "Chewy" sig is now available for custom order.

Details here: http://www.lecomptebass.com/cl/

LeCompte "Chewy Linton" Signature Model, Part 2

Here's a concept rendering of what Chewy's bass will look like when it's finished.

LeCompte "Chewy Linton" Signature Model

We are pleased to announce that we're working with bassist Chewy Linton from the rock band Ember in the development of the new LeCompte "Chewy Linton" signature model bass. Ember is a hard rockin' band based out Austin, TX. They recently finished recording their first major label CD (VSR/EMI) scheduled to be released 04/20/10. Their first single, "The Deep End" will be available on I-Tunes on 03/09/10. You'll want to check it out for sure. It's already been getting some major air time here in Texas.

In the coming weeks we'll be posting some details about Chewy's bass, so keep checking back. In the mean time while his bass is being built we've loaned him an ACID-J5 to rock out on.

You can find out more information about Ember on their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/emberaustin and their face book page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ember/24203948878?ref=sgm. I'm sure you be hearing a lot about them in the not so distant future.

More Customer Photos

Here's Dennis from the Netherlands with is his Amboyna burl topped LeCompte SS SC-5. It's always great to see the basses in action. Thanks, Dennis.

LeCompte #31

Dave, the current owner of the LeCompte NM EOTS-6 bass (#31), sent us this great photo. We just had to post online. Dave didn't originally commission the bass, but through a mysterious set of circumstances has come to posses it. Looks like he's taking real good care of it too. Thanks, Dave!

LeCompte STSS-10

Yeah, that's right...10!...as in double course, octave. This bass was recently completed and shipped out. It features a black limba body with a Pau Ferro top, maple neck, macassar ebony fingerboard, Nordstrand pickups and preamp, and a Leo Quan bridge. We started with an STSS-5 as the basis and adding another five strings. It was a challenge to design build, but it came out great. It's got a great big octave tone and I was surprised how easy it was to play fingerstyle, since that's all I play. It was commissioned by a member of out outstanding military. We were glad we could build it.

Electric-Bass-Secrets.com

We're happy to announce our participation with a new website venture, Electric-Bass-Secrets. Electric-Bass-Secrets is an information source for the beginning bass builder. Several well known builders will be posting monthly articles, giving insite into some of their techniques and highlighting some very helpful trade secrets. Topics will include bass design, tools and electronic, among others. There will also be merchandise for sale, including well as bass plans, as the site continues to develop.

If you have a moment please check it out and let us know what you think.
http://www.electric-bass-secrets.com/

Happy New Year!

Not much in the way of news or new stuff this year. We're going to carry on pretty much like we did in '08. We do have a new model, however. It's called the AGT or "Agent". It's a single-cut, set-neck design, that's based on our BDC model. I was goofing around one day and thought the BDC might also work well as the basis for a single-cut design. Turned out my hunch was right...at least I think so. I've started glueing up the wood for the first one, but until I've got something more to show here's the concept drawing...

Another idea I've been thinking about is to start building a basses that are almost complete, but lack the routes for the pickups and the controls, no hardware, and no finish work applied to them yet. A customer could order the bass, specify the pickups/electronics, specify the hardware color and wait just a few weeks for the bass to be finished. As far as which models I build and the woods I use, well I guess that would be up to me. If you have a few moments drop us an email and let us know what you think of the idea.

Something else worth mentioning...we're back to using a pre-fabbed truss rod again. I found a source that is selling a high quality, single-action, dang near bullet proof rod that is working great in our basses.

That's about it for now. Happy New Year!

The Latest Three

These are the latest to get finished up. All will be soon heading out the door to destinations outside of the US.

First up is Marciano's new CBSC-4 with the really cool, all black Dark Stars.

Next is a really clean looking BRN-4. Gotta love that ebony top.

Here's a P4T-4 with satin candy red paint and mint green pickguard, heading down under. Sweet!

How I Spent Halloween

Last night I attended the Los Enanitos Verdes show as the guest of Marciano Cantero. http://www.losenanitosverdes.com/ I had a blast and must say what a good band they are. It's no wonder that they're still together and still popular after 30 years as a band. As you may remember I built a VB-4 for Marciano earlier this year which he used on a South American tour this past summer. They've been on tour in the US for the last month or so, but there was a miscommunication at the start and somehow the bass got left in his native Argentina. All was not lost. Marciano had a few days off before their show here in Houston and he took some time to visit the shop and check out the second bass I'm building for him. He checked out a few basses I have here at the moment and picked one out for me to bring to the show. Here's a couple of shots of Marciano with a LeCompte UV-4. Rock on!

The Latest

Here are the lastest three to leave the shop.

This PT 1.5-5 with the nice looking anigre top will reside in Denmark.

This pair, a VB-5 and a CBSC-4, were made using matching woods. All corresponding pieces for each bass were cut from the same boards, either as bookmatched or consecutive cuts. These are going to our favorite bass playing attorney turned magazine editor. You know who you are!

Getting Close

Here are a few basses that are getting close to being shipped off to their new owners.


STSS-5

ST-4

TRX-5

LeCompte VB-4 In Action

This is Marciano Cantero. Bassist and vocalist for the latin rock group, Los Enanitos Verdes (The Little Green Men). http://www.losenanitosverdes.com/ They've been together since 1984, recording and touring the world...and still going strong. These shots are from a recent tour of South America. As you can see Marciano is playing his new LeCompte VB-4 with an ash body, maple neck and fingerboard, and sporting a single Dark Star pickup...just the way he ordered it. Thanks for the photos, Marciano!

Summer NAMM Wrap-up

We had a great time. A special thanks goes out to Nordstrand Pickups, Dark Star Pickups, Audere Audio and our booth mate Kenny Allyn and his Mojo Sonic cabinets. It was a lot of work leading up to the show and all the way around, but it was worth it. We had a lot of positive comments about the basses and we're looking forward to our next show.

In the mean time here's a link to some photos and video from the show.
http://www.lecomptebass.com/namm0608/

NAMM Preview

We're still working hard. Here's what we're bringing to the show. Everything is together. Just a bit of tweaking on the setups to do, some odds and ends and we're ready.



CBX SC-6
UV-4

STSS-5

P4T-4

ACID-J5

BRN-5

More Shots From The Paint Shop

Still busy. Mostly spraying still. I hope to start assembling soon.

Check out the walnut back on the CBX SC-6.
Here's the ACID-J5 with the pickguard inplace.

Stay tuned for the hotrod stripes that this STSS-5 will get.

A View From The Paint Shop

I'm still hacking away on the basses for the NAMM show. Here's a peak of what some of them currently look like.

Remember, some of these are for sale...

NAMM Basses For Sale

Well, I've been working my little fingers to the bone trying to get these basses done in time for the show. It's just about a month and a half away. I'm just about right on schedule. I've still got a bunch of necks to carve, but I'll get it done. I'll need pretty much the entire month of May to get the finish work done. Then I've got to put all these puppies together...

Anyway, four of the basses we're bringing to the show are for sale. I'll include some of the details here, but if you have any specific questions you can send an email to info@lecomptebass.com. If you want to reserve one of these basses a deposit will be required to hold it. They'll be ready for delivery right after the show.

This first one is a CBX SC-6. It has a walnut body, spalted maple accent and a koa top with an inlayed walnut pickguard. The neck is maple and bubinga with a macassar ebony fingerboard and a macthing koa headstock. The pickups will be Nordstrand Big Splits and it'll have an Audere four band preamp. Hardware is chrome.

This next one is a UV-4. It has a mahogany body, maple accent stripe and a mesquite top with a mesquite burl inlayed pickguard. The neck is maple with a macassar ebony fingerboard and matching mesquite headstock. The pickups are Bartolini jazz pickups mounted under the wooden cover. They'll be wired for parallel/single pickup/series output. It'll have a Aguilar two band preamp. Hardware is chrome.

This is an STSS-5. It has a alder body, maple neck and a black ebony fingerboard. It's getting a light gray paint job (think primer gray) and hand-painted, hot rod pinstripes in black and white. It has LeCompte soapbar pickups and it will receive an Aguilar three band preamp. Hardware is black.

This is an ACID-J5. It has an lightweight ash body, maple neck and pau ferro fingerboard. It's getting black grain enhancement and a black burst sprayed around the edges. Pickups will Nordstrand Big Singles. No preamp for this one. We're going passive!

All right, that's it for the sale basses. These last two are going to the show, but aren't for sale.

This is my personal BRN-5. I'll post the spec's when it's done.

This is Ken's P4T. He's the man behind Mojo Sonic and our booth mate at the show. Yep, that's a Dark Star. Stay tuned and see what color we end up painting this baby.