This bass was made from a variety of parts almost 25 years ago. My dad is a (recently retired) carpenter and was doing some repairs on a 16th century house damaged by fire. He was removing part of the fireplace and replacing the damaged part. Under the damage was enough wood to make this body - it is English Ash. The timber was so hard it was extremely difficult to work, and it is very heavy!
The neck is off of my first bass - an Aria Pro II precision copy. I probably wouldn't have pulled it apart if I had known how popular they were to become, but this one wasn't great and had a horrid lightweight body which made it very neck heavy, and someone had hand painted it (can't complain as I got it for 50 quid if I remember correctly). We re-profiled the neck to match my recently acquired (at the time) Fender Jazz as it was very thick, and scalloped the last few frets a la Billy Sheehan who at the time was rated as the best rock bassist in the world, and the band I was in used to do a fair few Mr Big cover songs.
The pickup is a DMarzio Model P (fitted reverse style) and the bridge is a Schaller (I think, it was a long time ago!)
There is no paint on the guitar, it is finished in Linseed oil. The strap is made from a piece of raw leather.
Much of the finish is wearing off as this guitar has played many gigs, probably hundreds, when I was playing regularly as a young man.
We never got around to making a rear cover for the electrics, and I may never get around to it!
The action is fast and low, especially for someone like me who plays predominately with fingers. The sound is very bassy, and the rumble is huge through my SVT stack.
Not necessarily the prettiest, but a fun workhorse!
