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We sneaked into the hall before it officially opened on Friday, and had a wander round before the crowds arrived - best time to do a quick recce of what's new, and a stumbled across bass-player Mario Bartone who was on the Peavy stand, playing a MONSTER of a bass guitar.

I used to play bass, so I've seen a few strange instruments, but never one like this! It had 9... yes, nine strings... and none were paired up like a 12-string guitar, but were equally-spaced and ranged from skinny lead guitar top strings, to what looked like a ship's anchor cable at the bottom.

So I just had to stop and take a look and ask Mario what on earth possessd him to play such a beast.

And it turns out, he not only plays it, but actually made it himself - carved the wood, had the pick-ups specially made, and custom strings wound just for it. A Super-Mario-Bass ;-)

Mario was inspired to go for the lowest string you can actually hear - 21Hz(!) when he found out that piano-make Bosendorfer had made an 'Extended' model with an extra F-sharp and F-string... so armed with the knowledge it was physically possible, he set about making it happen.

Truly inspired, and inspiring stuff!

Andy Mac

Mario's YouTube channel:-

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