[Bass of the Week] Vinciguerra Providence Custom 6

See the business listing for this bass builder here

This week’s BotW is an exotic 6-string that blends old and new build techniques.

Builder Mark Vinciguerra writes:

I built this bass for Jose Luis Martinez Salazar in Panama. He is a professional player that plays a lot of traditional Latin style groove.

He wanted a warm and punchy tone, with a smooth midrange voice. I built the body from a one-piece Honduran mahogany billet, with a book matched flame maple top.

The neck is my Ultralam Lite material (thin dyed birch veneer laminated together) with brown dyed laminates.

The fingerboard is my Ultralam in black (thin dyed hardwood veneer that is phenolic impregnated and pressed with lots of heat).

24 jumbo frets, a 2-way truss rod and a matching head plate of flame maple finish of the neck.

The finish is my own recipe. I call it “Poppa’s Oil”. It has a lot of solid content to give the finish durability, yet retains that satin estate type appearance. The entire bass is finished in Poppa’s Oil except the logo area of the headstock, which is a long awaited triumph. It is UV curable resin.

The pickups are Bartolini P4 CB noiseless jazz into an 18v Aguilar OB-3 pre. Controls are V-pan-B-M-T.

Hardware is all Hipshot, A-style bridge and Ultra light tuners.

The ramp and truss cover are ebony and are engraved by my CNC router.

The battery cover and electronics covers are black Ultralam like the fingerboard. The battery cover has a dovetail cut into the body at the rear and magnets/steel bar at the front for ease of access.

Since I mention the CNC earlier, I want to clarify that my designs have been hand built since 1994. Over the last 4 years I have been integrating the CNC machine slowly on each part as I get them perfected. For instance, this neck was carved on the CNC, but still ended up getting shaved down on my shaper sled and Hand carved on each end until my hands were satisfied. Then I went back into the CAD program and adjusted the drawing for next time….. But truth be told, I will probably carve on the next one too!