How the whole thing got started; As a working bass player for many years I had always dreamed of having a stand-up bass but the problem with the 'dog-house' style bass was they were bulky and did not reproduce well electronically in a live nightclub band setting, and , they only had one sound, a great sound, but only one. I then acquired a Ampeg Electric bass but it had the fret less neck of a 'dog-house' and I found it hard to play accurately and sing and front a show all at the same time so I returned to the standard guitar/bass, but I never forgot the dream.

Recently I drew up the design of a bass which incorporated all the features I had desired in the past. Instead of coming from the 'dog-house' bass and adding electronics (which has been done many times) I decided to go from the guitar style bass to the stand-up. This means keeping the adjustable bridge, the electronic pick-ups, the truss rod neck, and frets. An added bonus was the fact that when the body of the instrument is suspended on a stand the wood of the body becomes a huge factor in the amplified sound of the instrument.

With the help of master luthier Glenn Atkinson we built and then, after many changes, settled on a design for what is now the :CAYLEY Bass. We created three body types, (SPECTRA, FFORTE' and FFORTE' PLUS) so as to give a consumer choice of what bass body and pick-ups would suit them best.

As well as different body styles we experimented with different woods (Ash, Swamp Ash, Cherry, Alder, Mahogany, and Bass-wood) and found each wood reproduces a sound of its own. Ash seems to be the hardest, tight sound and Bass-wood the warmest, round sound.

We also experimented with various pick-up styles (Precision, Precision-Jazz, Jazz, and Active Humbucker) and again found great differences in the tonal qualities of each. Precision seems to be the warmest and Jazz the sharpest. For our purposes, we found EMG Selects to be the best quality and dollar-value.

In order to anticipate all of the many questions consumers would have we also built various neck styles (Fretted, Fret less, Fret less with markers, and Five-string) and again found a tonal difference. Fretted basses have more of the guitar-bass sound and fret less have more of a string-bass quality.

We took all of the different instruments and put them through their paces with different players and on as many different venues as we could find. We played them through head-phones, small amps, large amps, and directly into a large P. A. system. In each case the :Cayley Bass performed flawlessly.

The :CAYLEY Bass was created in order to provide a choice for the guitar-bass player that is seeking a change of style, look, and a greater variance of tone. It is easy to play, looks good and sounds great, what more could you want.