fresh off the boat: fretless 5-string bass, alder w/ quilted maple top

[Bob Hoover Ross]

I've had this lined fretless 5-string neck for at least 15 years; used to be on a Warmoth cherry sunburst Jazz Bass body (I'd picked up that pre-assembled bass second hand in the late '90s) but when I used that body for my fretted 8-string the neck went into the closet. Just resurrected it with this brand new Warmoth rear-routed Precision Bass body, alder with a quilted maple top laminate.

The neck needed to be modded to fit the body since it has one of Warmoth's old D5 "wide" heels, so I brought the parts to Paul Nieto of GuitarTechNYC to do the modification/installation/assembly. That's a Hipshot Type A bridge and a Bartolini MV52CBJD quad-coil humbucker.

I'm going to install an EMG BTC preamp (which will allow me to treat that pickup as if it's two completely separate pickups, fully humbucking in all modes) and finish it myself (wish me luck!) with MinWax Wipe-On Poly. But here it is without electronics or finish:

 

[bagman67]

Simple = beautiful.  Looking forward to the finished product, but what you have now looks pretty good already.


Bagman.