Had this bass built a few years ago- when I was on my Wal and Ken Smith craze... its kind of a combo of both-
Wal MK I style body- Set neck construction, woods are : Walnut, AAA quilt maple top, (chambered body for weight)- neck woods- Flame maple, ebony cocobolo- Used G&L pickups, preamp, bridge. Trans blue finish on top- weight its about 9 lbs with great balance
For the neck hardware Grover Titan tuners with a brass nut were use neck profile was copied from my Fodera monach ellite- and it plays pretty darn close- headstock shape was copied from a Guild bass- I always thought it was cool headstock shape- Neck radius has a bit of fender eqsue curve so its not totaly flat- 1.5@ nut. Bound ebony board with lined flame maple and ebony binding the neck construction on this is STUNNING- I will e-mail close up pics- Ben does AMAZING work.
THE POSSIBLE DEAL BREAKER- my initials are inlayed in the fingerboard- BTE (3,5,7 frets) its very nicely done- but I'd imagine most folks would want them out- Ben or your guy could replace them with block inlays for not a large outlay of cash.- I'd be willing to work with buyer to ship bass to Ben and maybe even pay for a portion of the work with full price offer.
Tone wise- I think this bass is reminsicent of a ken smith- (which was my goal) it has a strong mid range presence- not as burpy as a smith however, as I wanted the smit sound- but tweaked so it would work in a hard rock format- and it delviers in spades- very aggressive huge lows- but if you are one of those cats who like a scooped ala marcus jazz tone- you will hate this bass... obviously with G&L L-2000 guts its in that family of basses- I personally think a different preamp might give it a tad more flexiblity but I have not replaced the stock G&L one as of yet.
Asking price is $1200 ( I paid close to $2400 to have it built)
Trades interests- Tobias neck through 4s, a JJ equiped Smith, Spectors, Rickenbacker 4003, Zon, Pedulla MVP, and 70's fenders- 4s only please
Feel free to PM with with questions or for more pics etc as I am sure you'll want to ask many more quesitons- but this bass is first rate and stands up well in my collection- and has been a long time favorite- seem to have gone back to Spector mostly live though these days..
Wal MK I style body- Set neck construction, woods are : Walnut, AAA quilt maple top, (chambered body for weight)- neck woods- Flame maple, ebony cocobolo- Used G&L pickups, preamp, bridge. Trans blue finish on top- weight its about 9 lbs with great balance
For the neck hardware Grover Titan tuners with a brass nut were use neck profile was copied from my Fodera monach ellite- and it plays pretty darn close- headstock shape was copied from a Guild bass- I always thought it was cool headstock shape- Neck radius has a bit of fender eqsue curve so its not totaly flat- 1.5@ nut. Bound ebony board with lined flame maple and ebony binding the neck construction on this is STUNNING- I will e-mail close up pics- Ben does AMAZING work.
THE POSSIBLE DEAL BREAKER- my initials are inlayed in the fingerboard- BTE (3,5,7 frets) its very nicely done- but I'd imagine most folks would want them out- Ben or your guy could replace them with block inlays for not a large outlay of cash.- I'd be willing to work with buyer to ship bass to Ben and maybe even pay for a portion of the work with full price offer.
Tone wise- I think this bass is reminsicent of a ken smith- (which was my goal) it has a strong mid range presence- not as burpy as a smith however, as I wanted the smit sound- but tweaked so it would work in a hard rock format- and it delviers in spades- very aggressive huge lows- but if you are one of those cats who like a scooped ala marcus jazz tone- you will hate this bass... obviously with G&L L-2000 guts its in that family of basses- I personally think a different preamp might give it a tad more flexiblity but I have not replaced the stock G&L one as of yet.
Asking price is $1200 ( I paid close to $2400 to have it built)
Trades interests- Tobias neck through 4s, a JJ equiped Smith, Spectors, Rickenbacker 4003, Zon, Pedulla MVP, and 70's fenders- 4s only please
Feel free to PM with with questions or for more pics etc as I am sure you'll want to ask many more quesitons- but this bass is first rate and stands up well in my collection- and has been a long time favorite- seem to have gone back to Spector mostly live though these days..