Spector Builds 32,000 Year Old Bass for CharityProfits to go to World Wildlife Fund
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(Click for a close-up) |
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| Close up of 12th fret mark |
June 25, 2001
Stuart Spector Designs has just completed a bass, the NS-30K BC that will
utilize what is believed to be the oldest wood ever used in the
construction of a musical instrument. Obtained by Spector from logs
discovered buried 40 feet deep in a sand quarry in Georgia, USA, the wood
is perfectly preserved, due to the sterile nature of the sand and the
natural decay resistance of the cypress wood itself. Using carbon 14
testing techniques, samples of the wood were examined by Beta Analytics, in
Miami, to check for radioactive decay in the small amount of carbon that is
present in all living organisms.
Astonishingly, results revealed the timber is 31,970 years old, plus or
minus 570 years from the time the tree was originally felled, while the
tree itself may have been as much as 1,000 years old at the time a storm
blew it down. At present, Spector plans to produce just one instrument from
this wood, a 4 string bass in the classic Spector NS curved body style.
Ornamentation on the NS-30K BC will be a 12th fret marker made from fossil
mastodon ivory, fashioned in the shape of a mastodon (extinct elephant-like
creature), cut, inlaid, and hand engraved by master inlay artist, Larry
Robinson.
The completed instrument can be seen at the Spector booth, during
the forthcoming NAMM show, held between July 20th-22nd at the Nashville
Convention Centre. Estimated selling price of the bass is expected to be $20,000, with the full profit from the sale going to the World Wildlife Fund. For more information, visit their web site at www.spectorbass.com. |
