{"id":5965,"date":"2014-07-16T10:22:47","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T15:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/?p=5965"},"modified":"2017-04-06T13:59:11","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T18:59:11","slug":"bass-of-the-week-aaron-oya-custom-pj-1405","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/bass-of-the-week\/bass-of-the-week-aaron-oya-custom-pj-1405.html","title":{"rendered":"[Bass of the Week] Aaron Oya Custom P\/J 1405"},"content":{"rendered":"

See the business listing for this bass builder here<\/a><\/p>\n

The beauty of this bass is skin deep. Literally.<\/p>\n

Builder Aaron Oya writes,<\/p>\n

\n

My first bass was a MIM Precision, which I bought when I started taking lessons. My instructor got a Squire P, swapped in Bartolini’s and added in a J at the bridge. I liked the fatness of what I heard, so being an Ukulele builder by craft, I figured I’d do research on building my own. So this is my first attempt. <\/p>\n

I actually finished it in 2010, but was not too happy with the oil finish that I tried. So, here’s the refinished version with a finish that I know – Lacquer. <\/p>\n

I decided to build my own, just because I thought I could. And, I don’t think there’s too many people (around here) that can say they built their own bass, and play it. <\/p>\n

Of course, my playing pales compared to the work I put into this. Since I was too lazy to figure out a route for the neck slot, it was going to be a neck through right from the start. <\/p>\n

Although I usually work with Western Big Leaf Maple, I decided on Eastern Birdseye, which tends to be harder than the Big Leaf. <\/p>\n

I found some mildly curly Maple for the body – so mild, only I can see it up close.<\/p>\n

There is a Rosewood laminate in the neck. <\/p>\n

Being from Hawaii, I had to have Koa somewhere on the instrument; what better place than the top, fretboard binding and headstock veneer. <\/p>\n

Another local hardwood used is Milo, which is very hard to find in a piece large enough to make a fretboard. <\/p>\n

Keen eyes will notice a laminate of Milo between the Koa and Maple body, and also between the wings and the neck. <\/p>\n

On this version of the refinish, I decided to lighten the body, and thin out the neck, so I beveled the top and back. So much more comfortable than what it started out as, which was more Fender thickness. Which brings me to the body style. <\/p>\n

I like the shape of the P, but I like the bottom wing of the J and how it fits when I sit and play, so the top is based off a Warmoth Dinky P, and the bottom a Warmoth Dinky J cutaway for 24 fret. I say “based” because I just took images and hand drew it out. Either way, the bass fits me. <\/p>\n

A feature of the headstock has received criticism from fellow ukulele builders (when I’ve done it on ukulele), stating that it looks like plywood. Well, it is. Koa is laminated between the Maple to provide the break angle – no runout here. I call it the “Kenny B” headstock, because that’s the first guy I made a headstock like that for. It is a pain in the ass, but super duper stiff! <\/p>\n

The little wing to widen the headstock – Milo. <\/p>\n

The inlay on the fretboard is, very simply, my tattoo. <\/p>\n

The markers are sections of the flames. Honestly, most people never notice the inlay, unless the hold the bass up close, and they still can’t see what it is, until I pull up my sleeve and\/or my shirt. I like it like that – this inlay, as “in your face” as it is, has meaning to me, and no one can “see” it. <\/p>\n

Fretwire is Evo Gold, which is harder than nickel, but not as hard as Stainless. <\/p>\n

Pickups are Bartolinis as is the active pickups, all from Best Bass Gear<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I heard a friend’s Fender American P\/J, and loved the sound, which was much fatter than mine. Come to find out, he has two batteries. SO, I upgraded mine to 18v. MUCH better! In fact, most of the hardware is from BBG, including the removable truss rod<\/a>. Yup, take off the strings, untension the rod, grab it with a needle nose plier, and pull it out from the top. <\/p>\n

For balance, a Hipshot Brass bridge<\/a> is nicely balanced with the Hipshot Ultralites up top. <\/p>\n

There is no neck dive whatsoever. Its strung through the body with D’Addario Chromes, and separated up top with a Tusq nut (which is what I install on all of my ukulele). <\/p>\n

The best part of having this bass, is watching and hearing other people play it. Seems they like the flatter “D” neck, weight (about 7 1\/2 lbs) and low action which makes it really easy to play. Must be a builder thing I guess. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\"02414_02_bDSCN1914\"<\/p>\n

\"02414_03_bDSCN1925\"<\/p>\n

\"02414_04_DSCN1915\"<\/p>\n

\"02414_05_bDSCN1927\"<\/p>\n

\"02414_06_bDSCN1919\"<\/p>\n

\"02414_07_bIMG_0422\"<\/p>\n

\"02414_08_bIMG_0418\"<\/p>\n

\"02414_09_bDSCN1920\"<\/p>\n

\"02414_10_bIMG_0429\"<\/p>\n

The “in your face” inlay work (as the builder put it) along with nice exotic blend of woods makes this build a real head turner. <\/p>\n

Well done, Aaron!<\/p>\n

Want your bass featured for Bass of the Week?
<\/strong>Submit yours right now using our easy web form<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See the business listing for this bass builder here The beauty of this bass is skin deep. Literally. Builder Aaron Oya writes, My first bass was a MIM Precision, which I bought when I started taking lessons. My instructor got a Squire P, swapped in Bartolini’s and added in a J at the bridge. I … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5965"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}