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Hello and welcome. Here is a little bit of background information on myself and Browne Basses.

As you could have already guessed, my name is Mike Browne. I’ve been around and involved with music my whole life. Starting at age three with piano, and then moving onto the saxophone at age ten, I’ve always loved music. Whether it was going to watch my mother at a job playing her accordion, or hanging around the house listening to her old 45s, I was always very intrigued with how it all worked. When I was fifteen I started playing the bass and have been hooked ever since.

There’s only one problem that I have with music; I just don’t get how it all works. Yeah, I’m that kind of person; I need to know how to break it all down. And with music being an art of sound and not something tangible that I can take apart and figure out, I have some limitations to my musical ability that I am very well aware of. Having music as a passion can drive me a little crazy sometimes.

I also have a gift, which I’ve been using as far back as I can remember, my ability for problem solving and working with mechanical things. For the past twelve years I’ve been a mechanic on heavy construction equipment working for Caterpillar, and a number of local contractors. I’ve succeeded in this business and have made a good name for myself. The only problem is, I just don’t like doing it.

So I came up with a solution that lets me combine my knowledge of mechanical things and my love of music. I started building basses. I chose basses because I love what they sound like and love the versatility of the instrument. I have always been in awe of people who can play the bass for real, and want to provide a service to them, in the form an instrument like no other.

I started out with this idea and built my first bass. I made a really big, heavy, beast of a bass. It was a 38” scale six string fretless that weighed 13 lbs. Oh yeah; it was big. So big that I couldn’t get strings for it. I looked around and saw that a bass builder in New York City, named Carl Thompson, made 38” scale basses, and gave him a call to see if I could buy some strings for this bass I made. He said that he probably had some strings that would fit, so I loaded the bass in my car and went to Brooklyn to get some strings. Next thing I knew, I was staying in the city 4 nights a week working under Carl and learning about balance, weight, playability, ergonomics, and all the other things that I now realize are the keys to making a bass that can really help the player shine. I stayed with Carl for three years before I decided to go out on my own. But my experience with Carl taught me much more than just how to build basses. It was about living, rather than just surviving. It was about doing, rather than just talking. I learned a lot from my friend Carl.

And now it’s time for me to live and do. And that’s why I’ve started Browne Basses. It’s my turn to pay back the musical community for all the years of enjoyment that I’ve gotten listening great music from great musicians, especially on the instrument that I call home. Here’s to all the great musicians of the world!

-Mike Browne