my awesome new Atkinson mahogany P/J bass

I took delivery on an Atkinson P/J bass a while back and now that I've been able to play a buncha gigs with it, I thought I'd write about it. First of all, if you wanna see a picture of it, it is shown in the following link (it's the walnut tint P/J with the below blurb associated with it):

http://atkinsonbasses.com/gallery.htm

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My first P/J bass! Mahogany body and neck, ebony fretboard, walnut nitro finish with matching headstock, DiMarzio pickups, and Gotoh bridge. Tone for days. And classy as they come!
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I got the "inspiration" for this bass upon trying out a _really_ beat early 80's Hamer Cruise Bass which is an all mahogany, set neck Fender P/J type bass with a DiMarzio Model P pickup in the traditional location and a DiMarzio Model J pickup in the "70's J" bridge position. I had Dan Atkinson of Atkinson Basses make it for me and he did a fantastic job. The body and neck are both USA Custom Guitars parts and they knocked it outta the park for me. The neck heel/pocket fit is tight and everything lines up exactly as it should. In addition, they picked out a lightweight piece of mahogany for me so the bass comes in at less than 10 pounds (which is quite reasonable for mahogany). This is truly a "custom shop" bass for reg'ler folk money (just over $1000). I chose exactly what hardware, parts and electronics I wanted it made out of practically down to the screws ... including my choice of strings and Dan located all the parts and put it together for me. I was very particular with the configuration details I wanted the bass to have and Dan made every effort to honor my wishes. In addition, Dan does nitro finishes which typically sound better than many of the thicker finishes out there so this bass is D-LUX in every way. It plays really well and has a nice, deep (but not muddy) tone that I'm very pleased with. I dig it so much, I might hafta have Dan make me a mid 50's single coil type P-Bass in order to utilize the USACG maple/rosewood Tele Bass neck I have layin' around gathering dust ... God help him. ;^)

M.R. Ogle said:

You can do a mahogany (or anything other than maple) neck?

One of my favorite Fenders I've owned was a 1982 Walnut Precision Special, great feel, great look, but I never played it much. It was in really, really good shape, so much so, I was kinda afraid to gig it, so I sold it for a good price to someone who I knew would baby it a bit.

I'd LOVE an all-walnut P, satin finish this time, and passive 62 reissue pickups. Kinda my "dream bass".

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The early 80's Hamer Cruise was the overall inspiration for this project from a sonic perspective, but the early 80's Fender Walnut Precision Special was the inspiration for the look I went for. I played one of those Walnut Precisions at a house party/jam last year and it was a killer sounding bass. Warmoth makes walnut bodies and necks, but I would _strongly_ recommend that you pay the upcharge (probably 50 bucks) for them to select a relatively lightweight piece of walnut for the body. Your back will thank you some day for the favor. ;^)

M.R. Ogle said:

Yeah, I think a walnut top on a mahogany body would still give the same look, but may resonate better and be lighter. I had a mahogany-bodied G&L, and that sounded GREAT and wasn't all that heavy.

But I actually am not bothered by heavy basses, I never really paid attention to the weight until I started hanging around TB...

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You might start paying more attention to it more as you get into your mid 50's like I am. ;^)

Slax said:

Pbassnut, Dan's work on you bass is what made me shoot him an e-mail about finishing my bass body.

That bass looks incredible!

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Good move ... Dan'll do a great job for you.