London-based Charles Cave, solo artist, collaborator and bassist/lyricist for the band White Lies, while actually a full time artist, considers himself a “professional amateur” musician. He has using Nordstrand Pickups for 5 about years.
What is your instrument of choice? It has taken me years to find it. I’ve played a lot of basses. It comes down to finding one that seems obedient in some way, but also has a character that works with your playing style. So I ended up with a strange beast of an instrument…it’s a bass made by a guy called Bob Logan who mostly makes telecaster guitars. The bass is a mahogany chambered body with babinga top, Noll PA1 preamp, Nordstrand Big Singles, Elixir strings. Love it to pieces. I sometimes use a Gibson RD Artist to record.
If you can, describe your tone preferences: Somewhere between Geddy Lee ‘Power Windows era’ and then for more jazzy stuff, I’m a huge Mick Karn fan.
How did you discover Nordstrand? You know, I think it must have been a tech who mentioned the pickups. It’s one of those things where I got a set after some discussions with Nordstrand about what would be best for me, and I have never looked back. I have Big Singles A5 on my main basses and Big Singles A3 on my fretless.
