Stevie Conlon’s 4-String to 11-String Conversion

Stevie Conlon from Chicago, Illinois converted this 4-string Ibanez Thunderbird 4-string bass into a custom 11-string bass. The bass consists of a 1976 Ibanez T-Bird body combined with a Carlo Robelli 12-string bass neck and bridge.

There are two single strings; these are tuned low B and E. The three tripled courses are tuned E, A and D. One octave string tuner has been replaced with a large fundamental tuner for the low B string, and one octave string tuner is unused.

The bridge and tailpiece from the Carlo Robelli 12 were used. There are Bartolini classic bass pickups with an Aguilar 3-band preamp. The neck routing, custom nut and setup were done by Third Coast Guitars in Chicago. The work was done in April and May of 2004.