推荐系列：The Black Tiger and White Tiger Elite系列
Founded in 1978 in Pennsylvania, Ken Smith was one of the first brands to make handmade electric basses. Ken Smith is one of the biggest names in the bass scene, and even Fodera's founder, Vinny Fodera, was apprenticed to his studio. Many of his innovations can be regarded as the benchmark of the modern electric bass industry. The EQ that we often use to optimize timbre comes from his 1980 invention of the pickup balance system. In addition, he developed graphite necks, wide-necked 5- and 6-string basses, and small quick-release bridges, establishing the ultra-low B-string standard.
Ken Smith's products are considered by the industry to be "the best electric bass for wood selection and workmanship", and have developed 10 series around the two models of Neck-Through and Bolt-On, including MS Pro, Black/White Tiger, Fusion Elite, MW, etc. All wood selection and final installation of these custom electric basses are personally checked by Ken Smith.
Mainstream brands such as Fender and Gibson generally use alder, maple, and mahogany as the body material. Ken Smith's electric bass is made from more than 20 kinds of precious woods with special patterns, such as African mahogany, Brazilian plane wood, black walnut maple, etc., and the wood is naturally dried for at least two years. It is worth mentioning that the founders have an extremely strict rating system for the quality of wood. In his eyes, the only woods that can be rated 5A are tiger maple, ornate walnut and flocculent maple.
Ken Smith, a professional cellist by training, is equally particular about the handmade electric basses, and most of the custom collections, including BSR GN and Tiger Elite, insist on using the Neck-Through design. Unlike Fender's first Bolt-on design, which uses screws to assemble the body and neck, the Neck-Through design allows the neck to pass more through the body, resulting in a delicate timbre and long sustain, which requires the splicing of multiple pieces of wood, which requires higher requirements for wood raw materials, and the difficulty and cost of production are also doubled.
Take the prestigious Black/White Tiger collection, for example, with the veneer of walnut with rare patterns and tiger maple on the back, giving it a wild beast-like appearance. Its neck technology uses 5-layer aged hard rock maple and graphite as the splicing material, the fretboard is ebony with pearl dots, and it is equipped with a Smith BMT 3-band EQ and an 18-volt front circuit, so that the high-end tone is crisp in the mid-high frequencies, and the low-end is thick and sustain is sufficient.
Overall, Ken Smith's electric bass selection and workmanship are among the best in the industry, and the products are hand-made, so the price is extremely expensive, ranging from 5,000 to tens of thousands of dollars. The tone of the electric bass is also very individual, which is suitable for the musician Solo. There is a more pronounced crispness in the mid- and high-end bands, and the low end is solid, but not as warm and thick as the Fender.
