New Guitars

Oops, since I last posted I've gone and broken my No More Than Three Guitars rule, with these two chaps:

The Fender Jaguar (a near-mint 2006 Japanese model) was only £300 from a second-hand shop on Bristol's Gloucester Road:

I've ordered a pair of Bare Knuckle '62 Jaguar pickups with aged cream covers to replace the weedy white ones seen here (they're not listed on the Bare Knuckle website but they'll make them to order):

I also got a Mastery Bridge to replace the dodgy Mustang one; a bit pricey but justifiable as the guitar itself was so cheap, and it works a treat:

The early seventies "Kasuga" Jazz copy is something I've had lying around for ages in a state of disrepair, and it struck me as a good candidate for a fretless conversion:

I had a lot of help with this one from Dave at Waghorn Guitars, particularly with the fretboard:

I had an original 'Badass' bridge that needed a new home, and a couple of DeArmond-esque bass pickups that were the only salvageable parts from a plywood car boot sale bass, so they all went on. I kept the chunky bridge pickup, as it sounds mean, and the other two pickups were both wax-potted to prevent them from howling like banshees.  the original output jack now houses a master tone control (with a new output just visible on the lower left corner with a chunky electrosocket fitted) and there are now three independent volume controls, one for each pickup. I had to design a somewhat eccentric take on a Jazz bass scratchplate in order to cover various screw holes on the upper part of the body, but I think it works well:

I was initially considering putting an old bridge cover on it (see above) but it looked too clunky, and the heavily used Badass looks nice exposed:

The thing I'm most pleased about is that what started as almost a comedy project, a way to cobble together a load of spare parts into a slightly absurd retro instrument, has actually turned into a lovely bass that looks distinctive, elegant even, and is loads of fun to play :)