See the business listing for this bass builder here
We don’t see many lefty basses get submitted for Bass of the Week, so it was nice to see a mean, green (literally) lefty machine pop in the inbox.
Builder James Kefalas writes:
A close friend has been playing bass for years and asked me to build a lefty Jazz Style bass in 5 string. I used Birds Eye maple for the neck with a Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard, Brass frets and a brass nut. The neck is finished in oil, attachment is tapped for brass inserts. The body is made from Alder with a custom Urethane Marbelized paint job. The pickups are KrashBurn wound J/MM with a split coil pull Switch and all passive tone. Switching is 2 volumes and 1 tone with split coil Humbucker. The bridge is a Hipshot Vintage style and the pick guard is made from Bakelite sheet.
The bass carries a nice, elegant look to it, and the use of Bakelite for the pick guard is a nice touch. For those not familiar with Bakelite, that was the plastic type Fender used to use a very long time ago (they ceased using it because they cut it a bit thin and it tended to warp over time, especially under repeated exposure to hot stage lights). Use of it is rare these days on instruments only because most builders don’t think to use it. The material gives off a bit of a mildly textured look while still being very smooth and is good for the builder seeking out a “dulled gloss” look to the plastic.
Well done, James!
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The J/MM setup is a little unusual – what does that give you sound-wise?
Some of the Ernie Ball basses are set up this way. the reason i did this is for a thick humbucker sound with a split coil option, as well as the traditional J Bass single sound… also to be different than the rest.
Stunningly beautiful! Would have liked to know more about the green finish itself, though. Swirl? Nah, don’t think so .. but what?
The Marbelized paint is a newer effect used on some custom motorcycle and auto paint jobs. It’s actually a 4 stage urethane to achieve this look. There are a lot of custom effects for automotive finishes right now and I’m using them when I can to be different and more custom than the rest.