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What happens when you combine 1951 with 1962 Fender design? Awesomeness.
Matt writes:
This bass was made from a chunk of Eastern Walnut I cut by hand. The neck is a single piece of maple. It is based on a 51 neck and a 62 body. It is passive using a Dimarzio DP 126 P&J pickup combo wired with CTS pots. The controls are Volume, Tone and Blend. Tunes are Schallers with a Hipshot D-tuner the client wanted. The bridge is a Hipshot. The finish is Tru oil. The wood really chose what instrument it would become. It seemed clear that going all natural with such great figure in the wood meant it would be a bass.
Very elegant and classy! Well done, Matt!
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Beautiful wood. Lovely finish. Classy.
Beautiful wood. Lovely finish.
It sure is a beauty ! Thanks for the inspiration.
Always wondered what a walnut PJ would sound like
Beautiful piece of wood, but I bet that thing is heavy. I have a walnut jazzmaster that I cannot play standing up for an entire set.
Heavy is good. Had a P once at over 12 pounds. Sort out your posture and all is well.
Very nice! Well done. I would also like to know the weight.
Nice work but I am of the opinion that building an instrument and copying an existing product eliminates the uniqueness one strives for. What’s the point? I still appreciate the work though and nice choice of wood. Walnut is not that heavy generally. Maple is heavier for instance and commonly used.
You’ve done a nice job combining traditional elements here. It makes perfect sense to use Tru Oil for the finish, as Walnut is an oft-used gunstock material. Nice integration of the spoke truss adjustment as well. As for the “copy” comment, if my client wants it – they get it. The challenge with established designs is to hit all the high points, while making it clearly your own. Only three things I would suggest – a maple board would enhance the contrast and balance what the audience sees (personal preference), Hipshot makes a great Tele output jack cup that I love for my side-mounts, and most importantly: put your mark on it. You have something to be proud of. Well done.
I’d hit that.
Thanks for all the kind words.
Regarding the weight- I never did weigh it but I asked the owner to throw it on the scale, I’ll post that when he gets back to me.
I did consider that weight would be a factor and made the body thinner front to back than a Fender. I had planned to use a tele style output jack but the width of the edge of this guitar demanded something else. I did not want to risk damaging it by drilling out a hole that big. The football output was a compromise.
I understand that some are not impressed by “copies”. If you got up close to this instrument you would see that it has many similarities to a Fender P but it is clearly not one. Also the Fender P is the sound of many of my favorite bass lines, if you make guitars of course you want to make one.