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Börjes / Bad Zwischenahn (Germany)
23.05.2009
I have been fascinated by wood and what man could create out of the material ever since
I could think.. I'd best not tell, what I have already created out of this material,
but I will never forget what instrument builders have created out of this wonderful
material.
One of these people that I envy is Ralf Börjes. Ralf owns/runs a workshop in Bad
Zwischenahn, which is a town well worth visiting especially in the months of May and
June, when the entire place seems to be in blossom. This town, and the Ralf Börjes'
workshop were on top of my wishlist, when I decided the tour through the north of Germany.
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Ralf Börjes with a wonderful "JB-Custom 5" |
Ralf could spare some time for my on the 23rd May
2009 and he showed me his showroom in his workshop.
Here I could find, well presented with thought
through lighting, Bassguitars of the series "Groover", "Bassinger"
and "JB-Custom", all ready for trial. Equipment by SAD, Hiwatt and
Orange was provided to try out the bass-guitars!
All bass-guitars had screwed on necks. You will not find any with a neckthrough-construction.
This is due to the sound they aim at, as instruments
of this kind have a better attack, as to those with a neckthrouh construction.
These Pickups are being produced by the company "Häussel" and
are active or passive, depending on model and costumer request. |
Ralf Börjes has a very well selected choice of presious woods and can therefor
satisfy all tastes and financial situations. Cover-woods with beautiful graining are
kept at constent temperaturs in the drying room, ready to be chosen to be turned into
a lovely piece of instrument. For the corpus of the instruments he holds a variety
of Swamp Ash, Mahogony, Quilled Maple and Cherry-Wood.
All works are completed by Borjes, including the lacquering/varnishing of the instruments.
Left-hand-bassplayers will not expierence any disadvantiges with Ralf as he supplies
left-hand-modells at no extra costs.
A walk through his workshop and stores was very fascinating. Only by doing this you
can really understand and appriciate the work that goes into creating such and individual
and hand made musical instrument.
I would like to thank Ralf Börjes for sharing his time with me and giving me a
detailled look into his production of hand made basses. Whoever would like to fulfil
their dream of a handmade instrument made out of individual materials is in the right
place with Ralf Börjes.
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