The History of the SKC Company
Taking a look back: In the mid 80ies founder Wolfgang Staab began experimenting with very exotic black fibers with wonderous characteristics. With the skill gained in that process, serial production of different carbon fiber necks for guitars and basses began relatively quickly.
Soon after, the necks were produced under the company name SK-Carbon (the “S” stands for (Wolfgang) Staab, the “K” for the at that time second man in the company Mr. Kuhn respectively). In addition to the carbon fiber necks, Wolfgang also built the very successful Slapper Basses. Due to the growing success of the SK-Carbon Bass- and Guitarnecks, Wolfgang Staab decided to pass on the production of the Slapper Basses to the Clover Guitars company in Recklinghausen.
Picture Gallery: older Brochures and Reviews
In 1989 the SK-Carbon company turned into SKC Carbon Products GmbH, and Stefan Hess was added to the staff. SKC-Necks could be found on various german and foreign Instruments, and the neck replacement business (primarily for Fender type instruments) was very successful.
In 1992 the Bogart Bass was developed, which together with the Parker Fly Bass was the first stringed instrument with a composite body. This concept also proved popular, and up to 1998 over 500 Bogart Basses were sold. That placed the Bogart Brand in second place (after Warwick) regarding basses manufactured in germany. Bogart Basses were successfully tested nationally and abroad, and the userlist containing professional bassists grew more impressive over time.
In 1995 Wolfgang Staab left the company to devote more time to his passion, restoring old contrabasses. The company moved from Kleinwallstadt to Aschaffenburg. Stefan Hess now manufactured basses and necks with 2 employees.
In 1998 the demand for carbon necks and basses with carbon necks in germany declined, and the company decided to move production to California, with plans to emigrate there. The US Importer at the time absolutely wanted to build the basses in the US. Due to several reasons the plans did not pan out and the production of Bogart Basses was history.
In 1999 Stefan Hess received an offer by a leading retailer to lead and restructure their bass department. Time was still spent offering Bogart Basses in small quantities with wooden necks (made by Magnus Krempel among others).
In 2007 cooperation with a leading manufacturer of carbon fibre laminate began.
In 2009 the prototype phase ended and the new Bogart Bass was introduced.