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Latest project

Planet Boulder

Hey, this is a private residence...man
Nov 10, 2001
4,014
65
6,482 feet above sea level
Disclosures
I once had impure thoughts. Oh, and I pluck my ear hair.
Just got this one finished. It's a Vaccaro body with Vaccaro bridge and electronics and a Warmouth neck that I traded for with a fellow TBer. The tuners include 3 Gotoh-style tuners from a Peavey G-Bass I used to own and 2 actual Gotohs.

It's active with bass/treble stack (but no center dentente :( ), blend and volume. Has a decidedly J-bass tone with a VERY high output. The bottom end is a little thin for my tastes, but it can be remedied.

Overall, a well-made bass. The body is one of the US-made Vaccaros that was being sold on ebay and I snagged it for $69.00, loaded.

Pics:
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Asomodai said:
I have one of those bodys, the seller claimed it would fit a fender scale neck and such, But my neck doesant even fit in the pocket! What sort of neck would fit the hartke body?

Sorry for the delayed response, but you will likely have to have the pocket routed for the neck you use. Assuming you have the 5-string like I do, i recommend the Warmoth neck. It's only slightly larger and the routing is relatively easy to do using a good luthier.

Update: I've been playing it over the past few days and this is one GROWLY bass, I must say. It sounds like a J-Bass on steroids - the growl is the best of any bass I've ever owned (and you can look at my profile for reference).

I ended up having to shield the pickguard yesterday because it was only shielded around the pots and I was experiencing a lot of static when tapping my fingers on the pickguard. The cavity was already completely shielded and coating the underside of the pickguard with shielding paint, then covering the paint with transparent tape did the trick perfectly - no static at all, as they say.

As for balance, it balances wonderfully - no neck dive and it really fits me well. The treble on the pre is pretty powerful, though, and there are no internal tonal adjustments - just an adjustment for volume.

One wierd thing involves the blend knob, however. When I dial it to solo the bridge or neck pickup, it buzzes. However, when they are equally dialed in, no buzz. Soloing the bridge really gives a nice, articulate tone and soloing the neck gives a great P-Bass tone.

So, overall, for $69.00, the loaded body is a hell of a deal, I must say.