Electric Upright Bass Database

Takamine - B-10

• Vintage: 1999
• Number of Strings: 4
  • Electric bass strings compatible
  • Tuned in: 4th
• Playable Seated: Yes
• Balance While Playing: (8/10)
• Transportability: (9/10)
• Overall Rating: (8/10)

I'd like to share opinions about the Takamine B-10 bass, which I just got and not many people seem to know about. It has the scale of a Fender bass (34") and looks like a huge single cutaway jazz guitar. The neck is rounded and thick more or less like an upright. It has a wooden (looks like rosewood) bridge with built in piezo pickup. A removable and adjustable pin is provided for stand up use, but you can also play it 'horizontal' like a bassguitar. The sound is very 'uprighty' and even more so when I raised the action a bit and changed to La Bella nylon flatwound strings. You can of course never expect the low end fullness of a real upright, but it's as close as it gets as far as I've heard. I was looking for an instrument like this because I've been playing electric for 25 years and changing to the big one I find too much.

Update 4 11 07:
I've used this bass for 7 years now, and I'm about to record a fourth album with it. If anybody is interested in the sound, check out samples and video clips on www.markzandveld.com and www.deborahjcarter.com.

I als have now, for horizontal playing, a fretted version of this instrument that Takamine built for me on request (they won't do it again they said :) )

Takamine makes several exchangeable preamps. The new Tube version sounds great but might use a lot of batteries. The digital one I find too noisy and I don't need the effects. I'm using the Accuracoustic preamp.

I've added position markers on the side of the fingerboard, and, from the 12th position on, between the d and g strings. I might add a battery box for a spare battery at some point, perhaps even switchable.

Image #1: (Click to expand)

» Annotate this picture