BLAM! BASS

This project was visualized as a companion piece to the owner's (Bob Singer of Waterstone Guitars) "Whaam!" Paul Weller replica 330. We took another Lichtenstein graphic as our inspiration--his "Blam!" illustration of a fighter jet being struck by enemy fire, with its pilot ejecting and his parachute unfurling.

Studio California pulled out all the stops in the creation of this highly-original piece! The basis was a Rickenbacker bolt-neck 2030 bass in a Midnight Blue factory finish. The paint was stripped, and a white ground coat was sprayed, onto which the graphic line art was penciled in. Then came the strategic planning of layers and colors. The highly complex graphic pattern took over one hundred hours to execute, as the top, back, and the neck recovered with dense graphic elements in a dozen colors and many patterns and fades, too. Finally, many layers of catalyzing clear coat were sprayed, hand-leveled, and polished.

A one-of-a-kind, museum-quality, playable showpiece!