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Pete Hilton and the Sk8bass by Jon Moody
Pete Hilton and the Sk8bass…
Tone. It’s one of those things that seems to be a unicorn. Players will search for the perfect instrument – the ONE – that has THAT “tone,” only to find out it’s not quite there. Others will pay luthiers large sums of money with precise specs to create that “tone” that is in their heads, only to be disappointed once the instrument is in their hands. And then there are the folk that shout from their soapbox, “Tone is all in the hands!” and play instruments of a certain – ahem – quality that others would scoff at.
Tone. It’s subjective, and also highly inflammatory, depending on who you talk to. Enter Pete Hilton, a bass builder in LA by way of New York (and a decade long gig building for Carl Thompson). He had an idea.
“I guess this thing started years ago when I was with Carl (Thompson). With all the talk about ‘tone woods’ going on, especially for electric instruments, we joked about making an instrument out of plywood. Well, it never happened. But from time to time, it did cross my mind.”
The idea is interesting. As Hilton mentioned, with all the emphasis of an electric instrument being put on the wood used for it, why NOT make an instrument out of plywood to prove that there was much more going on into building an instrument over just wood choice? But he didn’t stop there.
“After my move from NYC to LA, I took that idea and mixed it with my personal life history. I’ve been a skateboarder since way back, so the idea morphed into creating a bass out of skate decks. But do it in a way that the persons first impression had nothing to do with what it was made out of.”
Hilton contacted some friends (now in the skateboard industry), acquired the raw materials, and turned 11 decks into the bass now called the sk8bass. Sporting Aguilar pickups, Hipshot hardware and GHS strings, the first thing you’ll notice is that it has an amazing striped pattern to it. Once you pick it up, you’ll realize that the bass is incredibly light, and balances exceptionally well, strap or no. And when you sit down and play it, you’ll notice that every nuance of your playing is accurately depicted. You might also notice that it’s a 36″ scale, although to me, the neck doesn’t feel that big.
The sk8bass made its debut at Bass Player LIVE! this past November and was very well received. It was interesting to hear how different the bass sounded in the hands of each player that picked it up. The aforementioned nuances were upfront, and the tone easily conformed to the player. It was also very enjoyable to see peoples faces and hear their comments only after Hilton told them how the bass was made, and with what. The phrase “tone wood” or anything like that was never mentioned; the instrument was judged on its entirety, which as Hilton wanted to point out with the sk8bass, was more than just a piece of wood.
At the time of this writing, the sk8bass is going to be on display in the Hipshot Booth at NAMM in a week, and if the response from Bass Player LIVE! was any indication, it’s going to cause quite a stir. So what does that tell us? There have always been artists that have created beautiful things with unconventional resources, and the sk8bass is no different. However, Hilton’s goal was to create an instrument that would shift the focus from the specs of the instrument to the capabilities of the player.
Maybe tone really IS in the hands, after all?
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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