I'm going to probably hate myself when it's gone, but I'm considering letting go of a killer bass that was custom made for me by Mike Kinal. It's in mint condition, and I have over $3500 in this bass. It plays fantastic and sounds amazing, but it's just too heavy for me. I have a new Kinal on the way that will be much lighter. Aside from it's weight, there are no issues whatsoever.
It's a custom DK5 fretted, which is Mike's semi-hollow version of the MK5.
The specs are as follows:
-Sitka spruce top
-Alder body sides/core
-Highly figured quilted maple back
-34" scale set neck (not bolt-on like most Kinals) with fully carved heel
-Neck is made of Wenge/Purpleheart/Flame Maple with very thin walnut veneers
-Macassar Ebony FB
-Walnut ramp and truss rod cover, w/ walnut headstock overlay. Truss rod cover also has built in Ebony thumbrest.
-Hipshot hardware, black and gold, with a brass A-style bridge with 18.5mm string spacing. Strings-thru body.
-The bridge has the Graph Tech Ghost system piezo pickup saddles.
-Pickups are custom made by Kent Armstrong to my specs. I talked to him directly and ordered the pickups. The neck pickup is a proprietary design, it's very similar to the one that was used in the JPBasses. I think it might be called the HS. It's like a humbucker turned on its side, it has a very fat P-tone, but it's got more high end. It's definitely unique. The bridge pickup is a dual coil humbucker, very hot and cutting in series mode.
-The preamp was custom made to my specs by John East. There have been a lot of complaints about coloration with East preamps, so I had him build one with no pre-shape. (You can wire in the preshape manually by connecting some wires on the board, but I've always left them off.)
Controls are as follows:
-Master Volume
-Mag pickup blend
-Mag pickup passive tone (P/P for active/passive--passive mode is mag pickups only)
-Stacked Piezo blend (blends piezo and mags) with treble roll off for piezos only
-Stacked Bass/Treble (pull on Treble for Bright boost--bass is boost only, treble is boost and cut)
-Stacked Mid/Mid Frequency (parametric)
-Switch #1 is EQ bypass, but remains in active mode (piezos stay on, both blends and tones still work)
-Switch #2 is Mid stack bypass, which allows you to go from 2-band to 3-band mode. This is useful in two-ways...some people prefer a 2-band sound. You can also use it to dial in another tone, or give a preset boost at your choice of frequency when you need it on a solo.
-Switch #3 is Bridge pickup coil tap (Series/single/parallel)
The finish is a satin finish with a custom sunburst finish that is gorgeous. The pics won't do it justice. The neck and fingerboard are finished in tung oil. The neck profile is an asymmetrical V-shape, similar to a Linc Luthier, but not as wide or flat. It was a custom shape request since I love the Linc necks. The nut width is 1.75".
I wish it was lighter, but I guess that part wasn't discussed when I ordered it. I figured it would be light due to its hollow body, but the neck woods edged up the weight unexpectedly. It's very balanced though, so it feels lighter than it is. I'm guessing it's about 11 or 12 pounds. I just picked up a Hamer fretless which is 9.8 pounds, and this Kinal is heavier. It's got tons of sounds with the preamp, and on its own it's both warm and bright. The truss rod cover was originally spruce, but I had a new one made of walnut that looks more like a pickguard. The original one had a strange shape because I had requested that the neck pickup be moved back--it appeared to be too close to the end of the fingerboard to slap with. My local guy carved a piece of walnut that Mike sent, it was a matching piece for the ramp. It looks great now, and it's a perfect fit, with room to slap (it's only as thick as a pickguard). I also bumped the preamp up to 18V for more headroom.
Comes with OHSC.
Photos (the color is not great in these pics):
http://s57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...0Kinal%20DK-5/
Here's some YouTube videos of me playing it at my old church--much better color in the video shots--but with the old truss rod cover (which I will include with the bass).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4gWW3WW75I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxxdIpgtndc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMkblmKM9a4
I'm looking for high-end bass trades or an offer to purchase. I'd like to get around $3K out of this bass, I don't want to lose much. The East preamp alone was around $350, so I have a lot invested in this bass.
PS--I had posted an issue about the pickup blending a while back. This problem has been resolved--it was a phase issue. There are no issues with the bass. The truss rod works well, and where there was a little fret buzz near the 11th fret, I had it fret dressed. I just restrung the bass with DR Sunbeams. It really is a great bass, just too heavy for me.
