GORDON SMITH GALAXI BASS

RRP £575.00 inc VAT

Why a semi-acoustic bass? You might as well ask why a motorbike as opposed to a car! The fact is that semis have characteristics of their own, never matched by solid bodied instruments, something very special, recognised by owners of semi-acoustic guitars but rarely among bassists, who have been reduced to a list of semi-acoustic choices comprising just a few models.

This is an oddity in itself. Back in the 1950s and 60s when, arguably, the bass guitar was still trying to establish itself as an instrument in its own right, there were many semi-acoustic basses around. Gibson had their EB2, Epiphone their 'spot-the-difference' Rivoli, Hofner had countless versions available, Eramus had the Star Bass (popularised by Bill Wyman during the Stones' early days) — just about every maker offered a semi-acoustic bass. Today? Well, apart from Rickenbacker, hardly anyone bothers. Until now, that is.

Enter Manchester-based Gordon Smith, doyen of British guitar makers (almost certainly the nearest thing we have to a volume producer) whose instruments, generally speaking, we on MUSIC U.K. have embraced as being of the finest quality at excellent prices.

Gordon Smith have two new models, the Galaxi twins, a guitar and bass. We began with the four-stringer.

The Galaxi bass is a conventional semi acoustic to the ultimate degree. There's a traditional quality about all the Gordon Smiths that we've seen — they seem to share an inheritance of design and manufacture with, for example, Americans Guild and Gibson — traditional woods, traditional glued necks, first rate hardware — features which are a far cry from the 'bolt it together' school or the super-innovative instruments from makers like Strata, Steinberger or Alembic. Smiths tend to be traditionally made instruments — and the Galaxi bass is no exception.

The Galaxi (note the 'i' to differentiate this bass from the late, and most certainly not lamented, Hofner of a similar name) has a large body, our sample model being in a rather attractive red/sunburst effect. The Galaxi bears 20 frets, each of which is of that typical Smith quality — fat, giving endless sustain, easy feel and remarkable comfort, coupled with precise intonation. As always with this maker, the neck finishing quality on the instrument's thick rosewood fingerboard (unbound) is of the very first order.

"SMITHS TEND TO BE TRADITIONALLY MADE - THE GALAXI IS NO EXCEPTION"

Hardware on the Galaxi is from West Germans, Schaller. The machines comprise four large open-backed types of the usual Schaller class, the bridge offers perfect adjustment for accurate intonation, tracking (to deliver extra sideways saddle stability) plus, importantly, string spacing via a roller which moves horizontally along a screw, enabling you to set the strings at the ideal points to prevent you falling off the neck or having the strings too far apart, or close together. A fine bridge design, this!

The rest of the hardware is Gordon Smith's own. The two pickups are sealed types, adjustable for height against the strings from either end. The control gear is simple in the extreme — just a single tone pot and two volumes — no flick switches for phase, no pickup selectors, just the bare minimum of controls, but read on for an appraisal of that approach.

Overall construction of our sample (a prototype) was fine — the bass was well put together. Playing it, though, was a distinct change from the solid bodied basses we've become used to. To start with, the neck, whilst slim across the width of the fingerboard, was surprisingly deep or, if you prefer it, fat. No doubt this is to provide for structural rigidity but it does take a little getting used to. Nonetheless, the neck's actual width made it a fairly fast instrument to play — a feeling aided by the superb quality of the low-filed fat frets.

But the feel is less than half the story with this bass. Unless you've played a semi-acoustic bass through a decent amp you can have no idea of just how different they sound to solid-bodied instruments. The Galaxi Bass has a really different sound. With the bridge pickup on full and the tone pot up high, the sound is guttural and grunting, sharp and yet sustaining — quite unlike anything you could get from a solid instrument. Push up the neck pickup, twiddle around with the tone pot and, yet again, whilst the bass sound swings sweet and low, deep and round, the cut is there in a remarkably fine manner.

Of course there is a trade-off for this unique sound. Like all semis, the Galaxi does tend to feedback if you don't take care with the accelerator pedal and that, of course, is one of the main reasons why there are so few semi-acoustic basses around these days. For all that, the Galaxi bass is unique — maybe a hangover from the past in its concept, albeit a brand new model, but never its sound — those Smith-made pickups are too advanced for the Galaxi to be just a mere revivalist's plaything. We loved it for its tonal warmth, unique character and the sheer quality of its manufacture and design. Indeed, the naturally rounded sound we got from it with a decent amp set us wondering what a fretless version would sound like — could this be the next step in fretless bass development?

The Gordon Smith Galaxi semi-acoustic bass is one of the rare breed of individual-sounding basses being made today. The price is very fair indeed for all the work that has gone into it, and the sound - well, you almost certainly won't have heard anything like it before. If a natural warmth and woody resonance, coupled with a strong sustain and superlative tonality, sounds like you then give the Galaxi a try. It might be a minority taste, but it's a bass that is worth every penny of the asking price and is a revival of a principle which we had thought was dead. Try one if you're looking for a new experience and a new sound!

"THIS BASS MAY BE A HANGOVER FROM THE PAST IN ITS CONCEPT - BUT NEVER ITS SOUND"

GORDON SMITH GALAXI GUITAR

RRP £575.00 inc VAT

Matching the semi-acoustic Galaxi bass is a brand new semi-acoustic guitar from the same Manchester based stable. There is, as you would expect, a strong resemblance between the two new instruments, the bass sample we looked at being matched in its red sunburst by the new guitar — this one too looked a handsome instrument.

Whilst a semi-acoustic bass might be a bit of a rarity today, a guitar isn't quite as off-the-wall. The Smith Galaxi looks distinctly different, however, from the fairly large number of semis on the market today, whether from the USA or Japan. The body details on the guitar are identical to those of the bass - a maple body, fairly thin, with a mahogany neck joined at around the 18th/19th fret to the body via a traditional (and very high quality) glued joint.

The guitar has its aged plastic ivory-like body binding continued along the neck, making for a really luxurious feel, especially when coupled to the beautifully profiled rosewood fingerboard, fitted with fat and excellently polished frets.

Hardware comprises a brass nut (also on the bass, of course), plus sealed Schaller machines and one of those excellent Schaller guitar bridges which feature string fastening round the back of a rounded bar, affords brass saddles (individually adjustable for intonation) and heavy chromed screws for bridge/string height, but no individual string height adjustment of course.

"THE GORDON SMITH GALAXI SEMI-ACOUSTIC BASS IS ONE OF THE RARE BREED OF INDIVIDUAL SOUNDING BASSES BEING MADE TODAY."

The two pickups are Gordon Smith's own humbucking types wired through to a pickup selector, two volumes and two tones. The volumes also have a 'pull for single coil' function.

Playing the Smith is very rewarding — the neck is very comfortable indeed and there is a tremendous tonal range from these two pickups, especially once you begin to use them on single as well as twin coil settings. The Galaxi has a large central mahogany block inside it to increase the guitar's natural sustain and this does a good job — wind the Smith up, whack a fat chord and the instrument seems prepared to hang on waiting till Judgement Day. Of course, this coupled with the natural tendency of all semis to feed back, probably gives you the potential of feedback/sustain like no solid could ever begin to deliver.

The tonal range of the Galaxi semi is excellent - far better than that found on many (most?) semis these days. It may, arguably, lack just a shade of subtlety and character, compared with a vintage 335 or suchlike, but it makes up for this by the tremendous variety of sounds which it can deliver.

A semi is a different breed from a solid-bodied guitar and, of course, takes a little while to get used to. This one can jangle a chord, add a natural feel to a riff and yet sing so very sweetly when used for solos that, considering the asking price, the Galaxi has to be a good buy!

Anything else? Yes, both the Galaxi bass and guitar come with 25 year guarantees — what can one add to that? If a semi-acoustic appeals to you as an escape from cliched solid bodied guitar sounds, then the Galaxi represents a serious challenge to the best Japan and American-made models at a fair price for this quality of guitar.

We loved it!

Further details on Gordon Smith from Keith Hand Musical Supplies, (Contact Details).