THE SHRI BASS
One of Shri’s most well known aspects, apart from his music, is his self – made fretless bass. Almost everybody seems to have a totally different description of this bass. Cactus bass, Cow bass, Lobster pincers set in wood, wow, etc … if you get the drift. (Let us know if you have one - contact us - and we will add it to this list with your name if you like!!!).
Behind the apartment building in which Shri lived, there was a piece of teak wood on the ground which for some reason caught Shri’s fancy. He did not touch it then. After 3 years (1991) it was still there exposed to the elements (and I mean Bombay’s monsoon, heat and dust!). He finally decided his name was written on it, cleaned it up and for some reason put his ear to the wood, knocked on it and decided that it would make a great bass..!!?? It was something he cannot explain, like a lot of his stories, and was purely instinctive. It took a couple of months of experimenting cutting up on his then other (cheap) bass to decide on the shape and feel – then just took a day to cut up and shape.
‘ I had three reasons for making this bass – 1. I always like making things with wood, clay etc and had also made small scale ‘Flying-V’ type 6 string guitar in my earlier rock days 2. Wanted a bass that was my own, had my identity and also gave me the space to do things not normally done on a bass and 3. I really could not afford a good bass anyway .. something like a Tobias or Fender etc .. my earning capacity in India was at rock bottom. So I made the Bass’.
The finishing was a longer story. The carvings were etched out with a Swiss knife over a month. The circular one in a Hong Kong hotel room and the other one in the greyhound bus-station in San Fransisco at 5 in the morning (that’s another story).
Essentially this bass allows Shri to reach out further than the realm of traditional Electric Bass playing. He bows it – thus the narrow middle, it is made of solid teak – thus the percussive mid-range sound which allows for the bass percussion technique. Apart from these the bass is a really great bass just plugged into an amp.
There are lots more stories and maybe they will be put up here one by one!
