Music Man Bongo

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The Bongo bass guitar was introduced on March 21, 2003 at the Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA by Music Man, a division of Ernie Ball. Ernie Ball president Sterling Ball designed the guitar in conjunction with the Music Man Research and Development department and BMW's Designworks team. It boasts an 18-volt 4-band preamp (on the single pick-up model 3-band is standard, while the 4-band is optional) designed by Dudley Gimpel with help from Cliff Hugo and other Music Man artists. It also sports a sleek, carved basswood body and a 34" scale maple neck with rosewood fingerboard (ebony on lined or unlined fretless) featuring 24 high profile wide frets and crescent moon-shaped position inlays. These basses are generally known for their dual humbucking pickup configuration, as they are the first twin humbucker-equipped models released by Music Man since the introduction of their Sabre and Cutlass bass guitars in the mid-1970s.

The Bongo endured a rocky start due to its unique looks, but is now a very successful bass guitar for Ernie Ball due in large part to its tonal versatility.

The Bongo is available as 4, 5 and 6-string (since January 22th, 2008) versions, fretted and fretless lined or unlined, with H (single humbucker), HS (bridge humbucker/neck single-coil) and HH (dual humbuckers) pickup configurations and 5-way switching. All models (except left-handed versions) can be ordered with piezo bridge.

Some popular artists who play the Bongo bass guitar include Dave LaRue, Cliff Hugo, Tony Levin, John Myung, Colin Edwin, Phil Chen and Tom Pukl.

Music Man's other popular basses include the Stingray and the Sterling.