The Components of our Basses:
Neck: We use carbon fibre for our Bogart Bass Necks. There aren't many manufacturers that choose this material, as there are only few companies convinced of the advantages of the black fibre. The reason for this is clear: most guitar builders aren't familiar with this material, because the manufacturing of necks with carbon fibre isn't traditional instrument building, but an applied carbon fibre technology. Now on the other side it is also not very widespread that carbon technicians build guitars and basses. Our origins also lie in traditional instrument building, yet we began experimenting with other materials for instruments other than wood very early. But the precondition always was to optimize the basic features of the instrument. Therefore the carbon fibre necks of the newer generation are even better than the necks of the 90ies, the resonance characteristics are outstandingly homogeneous, the stiffness and warping can not be topped and the quality of workmanship is exemplary.
Body: In the 90ies we had brought the patented Blackstone-Body invention to market, and though it was copied (the material was copied under the name Luthite), it was never matched in regards to sound behavior. For serial production the manufacturing process was too expensive and too much effort. The current Bogart Bass consists of a base of alder that is stabilized on the inside with a glass fiber and epoxy mixture and filled with approx. 70% of integral foam. A visually appealing massive top is then fitted onto this (single covered varnished basses receive a simple top). Therefore the Bogart Bodies do not look any different from any other boutique bass bodies. Then why all the effort? Well, wooden bodies matched with carbon necks don't sound good enough in our opinion, or rather have tonal characteristics that we don't want in our basses. And the reasons why our bodies are made differently today than the older Bogart Bass are also easily explained:
through the greater wood proportion the Bogart sounds “woodier” and has a distinctively emphasized midrange
design dependent the integral foam can now be more densely injected than the previous models, which allows a more low-midrange sound
previous “unstable” spots on the older bodies are now a thing of the past (the area around the strap buttons could splinter if the bass was handled roughly)
Hardware: Here we need to simply trust the best the market has to offer. From Schaller we have the very good M4-2000 tuners that are lighter than conventional tuners, but operate just as exact and seemless. We also have the Security Lock Strap System from Schaller. We obtain our bridges and string holders from Elastic Trem ETS, along with our pot knobs. ETS offers outstanding workmanship quality and unrivalled surface refinement. The practical battery compartments and electrical component covers are provided by MEC.
Pickups: In the development phase for the new models we also tested various pickup systems of the leading pickup manufacturers, even though it was impossible to compare ALL available systems with each other. The result of these tests was that there are no bad pickups (if a certain manufacturing standard is applied). Every pickup had it's strengths and weeknesses, and it was astounding to discover that even korean pickups could compete with more expensive pickups that are produced in germany. Beyond a doubt, in the end we chose the Bartolini “C”-Type again, because only this pickup is able to produce the multifaceted sound of the Bogart with all its' nuances clearly and naturally. The german Bartolini Distribution used to have a slogan: “This pickup speaks the truth!” We have no more to add to that!
Electronics: That Klaus Nolls' EQ's belong to the best in this respect, is long known. Most relevant bass manufacturers don't incorporate his modules into their basses without a reason. His EQ's are tastefully balanced, have a great noise ratio, a very low power consumption and are a great partner for the Bartolini pickups. Additionally, they are very reliable and the installation is very bass builder friendly.