.....It all started when I was 19 yrs old, when a close childhood friend of mine Scotty Hood and I refurbished his upright bass. I had always tinkered with my own bass, but I really learned a whole lot from my teacher Danny Mastri (The Fox) the bassist for the popular group the Saints and Sinners.

 

......Soon after I was drafted into the Army. While performing in the Army, my curiosity of musical instruments grew and I began helping guys repair their band instruments. What a trip this part of my life was. Still to this day I keep in touch with two friends from this time. It was a blast to play every night...nothing but laughs and lunacy...

 

......When I got out of the service, I opened my own music store, employed 7-8 teaching instructors, taught lessons, performed all the over the city of Pittsburgh, and repaired acoustic and electric instruments ranging from guitars to basses, cellos, violins, amplifiers, to speaker cabinets, you name it. Later I began building my own electric guitars and basses.

 

......Although there were not many books on the subject of repair and construction at that time, I read as much as I could. One of the books I found later on when I began the Electric upright journey was “To Make a Double Bass” by H.S. Wake, which was very informative.

 

......I also learned quite a bit from my good friend Nick Hayden, who built ethnic instruments for many years. He was a wonderful guy and what a character.

 

......When my son, an excellent jazz piano player, was enrolled at the creative arts center at West Virginia University, he would often come back into town with his friends to a weekly jazz jam session. That is where I saw my first Electric Upright, up close. My first words were “I could build that”.

 

......I thought it was neat and it intrigued me. My friend sitting next to me said that I was crazy and dared me to do it... So, when I went home I took measurements of my acoustic bass and ...THE JOURNEY BEGAN!!!

 

“IT HAS BEEN A LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCE,

THE MORE YOU KNOW THE LESS YOU KNOW”

 

......I began a close association with Bill Bartolini when I became interested in transducers. Not being satisfied with the previous magnetic pickup system, Bill and I began sending each other electronic harnesses, evolving many times until we came up with a system that was compatible with the transducerized bridge that I had created.

 

......The first instruments started out as hollow bodies called the series 2000, then we created a solid body, which transformed 6 times or more. From there the semi acoustic and finally, an Acoustic called the Allegro, a beautiful instrument which is our biggest seller!!!!

 

......I must say, I could not have done any of this without the amazing support of my family and friends. My Wife and all her hard work, my son who has been an integral part of the business, some of the bass designs (and what a pain in my side) and another childhood friend who worked with us, Ronnie Bosetti, who was a great help, he kept me laughing with his sense of humor and support.

 

Attending the NAMM shows has been a great experience for me, it has opened up many new ideas, going on 25 yrs now, I have enjoyed the people most of all. Our goal here at BSX BASS is to try and make the best bass we possibly can, and I believe we must be doing our job as we have many proud and enthusiastic heavy weight players endorsing the instruments like Brian Bromberg (need I say more), David Santos, David Pomeroy, Mike Pope, David Roe, Dorio Ferreira, MJ Dandeneau, Lorenzo Barriendos, Ivan Barrera and on and on...

 

“THE JOURNEY CONTINUES”

 

Dino Fiumara