M Bass - MJ4 MJ5 Who has played one/owns one?

I've been a fan of Jon Maghini's work for a while. I have played quite a few of his instruments and I'm always impressed with the attention to detail. He is also one of the nicest guys in the business, not to mention super quick with emails.

He is currently building, for me, an MJ4 Jazz style bass. I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted, and we hammered out the specific details pretty quickly.

The specs are based on a 70's era Jazz.

-4 string
-Thick poly finish all over the body, neck and board.
-Northern ash (the lightest he can find. Which will probably put the bass in the 9 lb range)
-Maple neck with skunk stripe (with the truss rod installed through the back)
-Maple board with pearl blocks and white binding
-Sunburst finish
-Black guard
-70's pickup spacing
-Passive, but we are adding a battery route on the back to allow for a preamp in the future.
-Hipshot B bridge and UL tuners

Check out some of the J basses he's finished:







I'm excited about this one.

 

Here are a few progress pics of mine:

 

Yeah, this bass is moving along quickly. It should be finished in December.

 

The pickups in mine will be Seymour Duncan custom single coils. I don't know if that is what he is using on all the MJ basses.

 

I'm not sure if the SD's are his 'standard' pickups...I had requested them. I should ask what he is using on his other J4's...in case there is a better option for my tonal goals.

 

That's what I was thinking. That makes me feel very confident that Jon will be very meticulous with my bass!

 

That's good to hear. What are the specs?

 

I got some updates today:

Gluing on the 'skunkstripe:'





Bullet trussrod nut:




This bass is looking fantastic. The blocks are up next. They are really going to make the neck insane!

And Jon sent a pic to prove that he isn't afraid of a mess:























That is the cleanest garbage can I've ever seen!!! I'm not sure it qualifies as a mess.

 

Here are a few finished MJ5's:

 

Blocks are done!!!