I've always been fascinated by special, different-looking instruments. I've always felt the need for a number of frets and strings greater than the normal. The first time I saw a picture of a Steinberger guitar (probably in the hands of Allan Holdsworth or Paul Masvidal), I fell in love with its headless design.

But, disgracefully, I am born left-handed. South-paw musicians are rare goods, maybe not permanently ghettoized thanks to great people like Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi and Ollie Halsall. If they wouldn't break out in the musical scene during the 60s and the 70s, probably no mainstream industrial guitar brand would ever never produced any left-handed, price accessible guitar.

Finally, after years of Ibanez RG and RG7, I could get in touch with BassLab, a german brand captained by the mighty Heiko Hoepfinger

A special thanks goes to my father, who generously financed this project.

The original idea of a 7 strings headless guitar is quite old in my mind. That you believe it or not, the first draft design goes back to 2000.

In 2008, this beautiful instrument was born. Seeing it live always leaves anyone breathless. You cannot be indifferent to it: you will love it or hate it, there's no compromise. Also the sound is unique, not only the look. These are the main features:

It's an instrument intentionally conceived with minimal intentions. There are no tremolos, nor the unuseful tone control. Both of them would have eaten part of the sound away.

I've always thought, and I'm lucky to have physically experimented it, that the sound of a musician is in the hands, nowhere else. So, since the very first time I got this alien creature in my hands, it reacted in an impressive manner to every nuance and color I can express. All the other instrument I have, even if they are very good, compared to the BassLab are somehow "deaf" and insensible to my hands. The volume that this guitar can produce when unplugged is impressive, similar to an arch-top one. When plugged in, with distortion, it sounds extreme, brutal, full and richly defined, with a great bass response and an infinite sustain. You can even control feedback molding it out from a vibrato, even at the lowest volumes. Definition of each single note is from another planet, in despite of all the people that do not think that wood cannot be replaced.

Infinite thanks also to Heiko Hoepfinger, who patiencely followed me through this delirium, with his unequable courtesy and knowledge.

At the moment, this guitar is displayed in the custom BassLab catalog, so, if you want to dare to have a superb-looking and sounding instrument, get in touch with Heiko to have one! It's worth the value, believe me!!

Fretboard view

From the botton side, under the brige. See my signature ;)

Rear view: here you can see the one-piece construction

Here are some relevant links about this instrument:

Me and the guitar were featured in the January 2010 edition of Guitar Shop