Tobias Acoustic Bass Guitar (5 string)

This bass was made specially for me by Mike Tobias in 1998. I was involved with it throughout the building process. It has a 35 inch scale and is tuned E-A-D-G-C (some like to call this a tenor bass). I really don't think any ABG can make a low B string work, but the high C string sings like a diva! I use it mostly for playing the Bach cello suites, but it is just plain fun to play. I use half wound strings on it because the string noise with roundwounds is very annoying and flatwounds are too dull.
After the first year the original bridge cracked and Mike designed a new bridge that was chunkier and with a different shape. I also had a recurring problem on the high side of the fretboard with a hump close to the 6th fret. There was a buzz that simply would not go away. Over the years Mike worked on this in different ways and finally he pulled the frets and trued the board. This seems to have worked but there is still a funny tendency to buzz on the two high strings at the 5th fret, but now it only happens if I play very hard. Wood can be very capricious. But I must add that Mike has been absolutely wonderful in his commitment to the instruments he builds. He has never charged me for any work done to this bass, even after 9 years and countless hours of use.
The acoustic sound is clear and ringing and even from string to string. Very elegant.
The electronics have been changed four times! First it had a Fishman, then several I can't recall and now it has a B-Band pickup that seems to work very nicely (but I had to special order a longer pickup element for the five string bridge). It's hard to get the amplified sound to be even between strings and to sound good as well. This type of bass usually doesn't cut through a loud mix very well, but the B-band helps.