Cyr Custom Guitars specializes in building electric basses. While we have other product lines, easily two thirds of the instruments we build are basses. We have built mostly 4 and 5-string basses, and are presently working on our first 6-string bass, a neck-through singlecut. Our basses fall into three categories: Traditional or vintage styles - based on the classic designs developed by Leo Fender back in the 50's The Oakhurst series - designed by Steve Cyr Totally custom designs - many of our basses for customers fall into this category. These are designs worked out by us working with a customer to develop a unique instrument Cyr Custom Guitars has developed a series of hand-crafted electric instruments called the Oakhurst Series, after the city of Oakhurst, which is 30 miles or so south of Yosemite National Park, on Highway 41. Oakhurst is the location of the Mountain Peddler's Fair where we exhibited our instruments on Memorial and Labor Day weekends in 2003. This series will include 4 and 5-string basses. Shown here is the prototype for the Oakhurst 5-string bass. This was the first instrument produced in this series. Here's a summary of its features: Humbucking Musicman-style pickups made by Custom Shop Parts (no longer available) Push-pull switches on the pickup volume controls so that you can split the coils Asymmetrical back profile, somewhat fatter on the bass side for strength, and slimmer on the treble side for playability Beautiful 5/16-inch thick quilt maple top on an alder body High-gloss lacquer finish on the body, semigloss on the neck 7-piece neck of maple, walnut, and koa with rosewood fretboard, medium-jumbo frets, and abalone shell postion markers Deluxe cast brass bridge and through-the-body string attachment Gibson-style speed knobs Six-screw neck attachment, anchored in steel threaded inserts in the neck for strength with no risk of stripping out the screw holes The basses are available with a variety of pickup options--actually just about anything you want. Examples: Bartolini J/J Bartolini P/J Nordstrand - anything they make Kent Armstrong custom-wound Features will include a through-the-body bridge, Gotoh sealed bass tuners, a seven-piece neck made of maple, walnut, and koa, and a rear control cavity. These basses will be available with active electronics too. The basses are priced as follows: Basic instrument    4 string  5 string Alder body Hard maple neck Rosewood fingerboard Lacquer body finish Bartolini J passive pickups  $1350  $1450 Swamp ash body + $50 Bartolini 2-band Active EQ preamp  + $140 Bartolini 3-band Active EQ preamp  + $200 Exotic and figured wood tops  $100 and up Fingerboard inlays (paua or MOP dots are standard)  Please call or email Coil-split wiring   + $80 Kent Armstrong Custom Soapbar or hum cancelling J   + $80 Bartolini P/J  +$50 (4-string only) Neck-through construction + $200 Below are pictures of two more recent Oakhurst model basses: Cyr guitars has been building basses based on traditional designs since 2003. Below you will find pictures of some examples of basses we have built in the past. Basic prices are shown below: Basic instrument    4 string  5 string Alder body Hard maple neck Rosewood fingerboard Lacquer body finish Bartolini J passive pickups  $1300  $1400 Swamp ash body + $50 Bartolini 2-band Active EQ preamp  + $140 Bartolini 3-band Active EQ preamp  + $200 Audere Preamp +$150 and up depending on type and configuration Exotic and figured wood tops  $100 and up Fingerboard inlays (paua or MOP dots are standard)  Please call or email Coil-split wiring   + $80 Kent Armstrong Custom Soapbar or hum cancelling J   + $80 Bartolini P/J  +$50 (4-string only) Neck-through construction + $200 The bass above is the first "from scratch" custom bass we built, back in early 2003. The body is alder with a fiddleback maple top, hard maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard.The pickups are Kent Armstrong. The basic features of the above bass: Strongly figured birdseye maple neck and fingerboard Black swamp ash body Bartolini J/J pickups The above is a Jazz-style 5-String bass completed last year. Basic features include: three-piece hard maple neck with an Indian rosewood fingerboard Narrow neck: 1-11/16" at the nut, 2-3/4" at the heel Custom wound dual-coil J/J pickups by Kent Armstrong Audere Engineering preamp Pink nitro lacquer painted body and headstock Gotoh tuning machines ABM bridge Don't see anything above that suits your fancy? Do you want a bass that is totally unique - a body, neck, or headstock design that is yours and yours alone? This the type of bass that we can build for you in this category. Prices are similar to those shown for the Oakhurst and Traditional Bass categories, but your imagination is the only limiting factor here. Here are a few examples of basses or parts of basses that we have built: This one is a body made in early 2009 - we worked out the design with the customer, adapting a drawing that he sent to us. The above is the template for a body we started work on in 2009. It's based on a viola body, and it will be have a chambered mahogany core with flame/tiger maple top and back, flame maple veneer on the sides, and the bass will also be fitted with a Line6 Variax 700 bass modeling system. This is the second bass we built for a friend who lives near Oakhurst CA. The bass has these specs: A mahogany body with an an absolutely primo quilted maple top Neck-through construction with Flame maple neck core with purpleheart and curly koa accents and a quilted maple headstock overlay Bartolini J/J pickups and a Bartolini 3-band EQ preamp An ebony fingerboard with a gorgeous vine inlay by Bruce Wei in Taiwan 33-inch scale All Pictures and Text (c) Copyright 2005-2010 by Stephen Cyr This page last updated March 6, 2010