Sandberg

Sandberg Electric Basses — Braunschweig Built, Globally Beloved

Holger Stonjek started Sandberg in 1986 in a converted pigsty on a street called Am Sandberg in Wolfsburg, Germany, working primarily on instrument repairs and building his first self-designed basses with neck-through construction and exquisite tonewoods. The address gave the company its name. The instruments gave it its reputation. Nearly forty years later, with around twenty-five luthiers building from a dedicated facility in Braunschweig, Sandberg has grown into one of the most respected boutique bass manufacturers in Europe, producing instruments that players as diverse as Oliver Riedel of Rammstein, Ida Nielsen of Prince's New Power Generation, Martin Mendez of Opeth, and Jamie Mathias of Bullet for My Valentine have chosen as their primary touring and recording instruments.

Stonjek came to bass making from an unusual path: accordion first, then classical and electric guitar, then a formal piano maker's apprenticeship at the Wilhelm Schimmel Pianofortefabrik in Braunschweig. That training in acoustic instrument construction gave him a depth of understanding of tonewoods, resonance, and build quality that most self-taught bass builders never develop, and it shows in every instrument the company produces. In 2003, responding to a request from a local bassist, Sandberg developed a relic finish process that transformed the company overnight, with up to fifteen hours of hand-applied aging going into each instrument. The aged Sandbergs became an immediate bestseller and remain one of the most coveted finishing options in the boutique bass world today.

Every German-made Sandberg bass is PLEK'd, features a zero fret for consistent open-string tone, and is available through the online Sandberg Configurator in an essentially unlimited range of tonewood, pickup, electronics, hardware, and finish combinations.

The Treatments

Sandberg's proprietary finishing treatments are a defining characteristic of the brand and worth understanding before choosing an instrument. Thermo Treatment, applied to the tonewoods before construction, bakes out moisture and resin from the cellular structure of the wood in a process that mimics decades of natural aging, producing a lighter, more resonant body with the tonal character of an instrument that has been drying naturally for forty years. Vibration Treatment subjects finished instruments to controlled sonic vibration over an extended period, opening up the tonal character and responsiveness of a new instrument in ways that playing time alone would otherwise require. The Hardcore Aged and Softcore Aged relic finishes are applied entirely by hand, with no two instruments aging exactly alike, producing a visual patina and played-in feel that players consistently describe as more convincing than any other aged bass on the market.

The Models

California T — The most widely recognized Sandberg bass and the foundation of the lineup, a jazz-style instrument available in the TT configuration with dual single-coil pickups, the TM with a split-coil neck pickup and a humbucker at the bridge, and the TH with dual humbuckers. The California T is the most versatile model in the lineup, covering everything from warm vintage jazz tones to punchy modern rock and fusion sounds, and the most widely available through the Sandberg Configurator in four and five-string configurations.

California V — The precision-style companion to the California T, built around a split-coil pickup in the neck position and available in VM and VS configurations depending on whether the player wants a single split-coil or a split-coil paired with a bridge humbucker. A deeper, warmer, more fundamentally focused voice than the California T, with the tonal authority that the precision platform has always delivered in the hands of a skilled builder.

Electra — Sandberg's most accessible model, with parts manufactured in Korea and assembled and quality-controlled in Braunschweig to the same standard as the German-made instruments. Available in TT, TM, and VS pickup configurations, and the best-reviewed bass at its price point from a boutique German manufacturer. The Electra II VS4 in Black is the single best-selling Sandberg bass in the world.

Basic — A single-humbucker design inspired by the Music Man platform but entirely Sandberg's own, delivering a punchy, thick, assertive voice that one longtime player described as what happens when a Precision Bass and a StingRay have a baby. More bottom end than the StingRay, more punch than the P-Bass, and instantly recognizable in any mix. Available in four and five-string configurations.

Panther — Sandberg's most modern and forward-looking bass design, with a sleek, contemporary body shape and the full range of Sandberg pickup and electronics options in a format built for players who want boutique German quality in an instrument with an unambiguously modern visual identity. Available in four and five-string configurations with the full Thermo and Vibration treatment options and the complete relic aging program.

Forty Eight — Named after the year 1948, a reference to the earliest electric bass designs that inspired it, the Forty Eight brings a vintage-correct single-pickup layout, a shorter scale, and an old-school aesthetic to the Sandberg lineup without sacrificing any of the modern build quality and tonal refinement the brand is known for. The Victor Brandt Signature Forty Eight, co-designed with the Swedish bassist, is the most fully specified version of the design and one of the most visually distinctive instruments in the entire Sandberg catalog.

The Configurator

The Sandberg online Configurator allows players to specify every detail of their instrument from a base model outward, choosing body wood, neck wood, fingerboard, pickup configuration, electronics, hardware, finish color, aging level, and every other appointment variable in a single online session. The result is submitted directly to the Braunschweig workshop, where it joins the build queue and is produced to those exact specifications. Production is typically booked months in advance, a reflection of demand that has never stopped growing since Holger Stonjek built his first bass in that converted pigsty thirty-eight years ago.

Browse our full selection of Sandberg electric basses, and reach out to discuss a custom configuration or Configurator order directly.