over the years many mister palm has has a predeliction for strange bass like instruments..first are these two aluminium basses,made in the late 20's by the AlcoA company , one has a a faux wood grain finish, and the other has a extremely hard wearing baked on brown finish.
research on the basses has been done by James Condino,(www.condino.com) . about 500 were made .Another friend has a catalogue from Conn the woodwind manufacturor in which such a bass is advertised.
Next is an Ampeg electric bass, favoured by salsa players worldwide, these basses deliver a short deep sound and are made from a plastic material .
the banjo bass , played by my friend and bassologist gert-jan blom, is a rare 1930's member of banjo orchestra's ,ver few were made (gibson is known to have made 3). this one i think was made in england, but it's constructors identity has been lost in the mists of time.
it produces a fine low end though..
next and invented by Joseph Alexandry from Namur, and patented in 1894 is the basse a pied( foot-bass) a mixture of tap dancing and bass playing is possible and the hands are left free to woo the ladies in the audience, or even play a guitar..
next is that happy leftover of renaissance spanish interventions the mexican guitarron, it's bulbous back produces a wonderfull thump,and you will not need a monitor with one of these on your belly.
the gibson made kalamazoo mando bass from the 1930 is also capable of producing a very good low end.. proving that, as is the case with the balkan basses from serbia and kroatia , one does not need wide sides to get a good low end..
the trio on the next picture are the kalamazoo mandobass a kroatian guitar shaped bass .and an older french country bass, labelled systeme gonon (from the 1940's).
from there we move to russia and found that shape isn't everything...the triangular bass balalaika.
last is a bass ocarina from china,locally known as a xun!