Sims Custom L.E.D. has been established for five years, but actually started retro-fitting L.E.Ds two years before that. It all started when Martin Sims found it difficult to see the side edge markers whilst playing bass under diverse stage lighting conditions.

Martin had been building basses on a personal level and had just finished his latest creation. The problem was that his band were getting bigger and better gigs and with these brought increasingly powerful lighting rigs.

Martin just couldn't see the dots, so he went to the London Bass Centre to buy some L.E.Ds he had seen on a Warwick. Unfortunately, he learnt that you had to buy the Warwick bass and order it with the L.E.Ds, but he couldn't afford it, and he did not want to give up his own bass guitar. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and so Martin devised a method of retro-fitting his bass with side edge L.E.Ds without disturbing the fingerboard or frets. This meant that the bass both sounded and felt the same after the work was done.

During a return visit to the Bass Centre with the finished article, the guys were so impressed they wanted to promote the idea through their stores, and the concept spiralled from there.

Since then, SimS has been making fine progress, fitting L.E.Ds for major instrument companies on an OEM basis for some time. These companies include Lakland, Warrior, Yamaha Custom Shop, Fender Custom Shop, Curbow, Zon, Warwick, Wal, GB Guitars, Icini Music, Sei Bass, Mansons, Gus Guitars, Esh and Burns of London.

The system has also attracted players such as Stuart Zender, Mark King, TM Stevens, Billy Sheehan, Rhonda Smith, John Paul Jones, Cass Lewis and Flea, who could all see the advantages of the system. You can see more about SimS' endorsees on the Artists page.

For those who wish to have L.E.Ds fitted, SimS Custom L.E.D. can collect the instruments from anywhere in the world and the process is not as painful as it sounds. They have a trouble-free system of shipping through FedEx, which has been proven to work well.

Having chosen to fit the lights, there are many custom options available. Mother of Pearl face dots, for example, are made in various sizes to match the original ones, or they can be installed if there were none there already. Even custom inlays can be created to your exact requirements, such as logos, signatures, initials or shapes.

There are a variety of L.E.D colours available, including red, gold, green, fiesta red, aqua marine and electric blue.

Visit Martin Sims website at www.simscustom.com

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