Some of my basses have had nicknames and such in the past. But they just kind of happened. Never really thought about naming a bass before except once and of course now, in the case of this one, it had to be named. So here's the bass I call "Blue Jean Blues".
It started out as a Ferner Custom 68 slab body. But it ended up being anything but his normal Custom 68. If you've never seen a Ferner Custom 68, be sure to check it out. He also offers a Custom PJ Deluxe, and for short scale lovers he has The Cadet. Then there's the Aviator, his own unique proprietary model, a 33" scale design with his own electronics, switching, and controls that he designed from the ground up. Anyway back to my Custom 68...
The Body:
Premium Alder body (2 piece)
Quilted Flame Maple Top
Rear control cavity with cover made from the same wood as the top
String thru / top loading with Hipshot brass A style bridge
Belly contour
Front/top side pearl binding
Forearm contour with full top across it and contour following binding.
The Neck:
Scale 34"
Frets 20
10" radius
neck thickness, .80 inch / 20mm @ 1st fret, .90 inch / 23mm @ 12th fret
Bone nut 1 & 5/8th
Profile Vintage C slim
3 piece maple / mahogany / maple, all quarter sawn
Macassar Ebony fingerboard
Mother of Pearl block inlays with a Ferner "F' on the 12th fret and pearl binding
Hipshot tuners with an Extender on the "E" string
Paint:
Paint Type: Nitro
Clear Coat: Isn't nitro, isn't polyurethane either. He told me what it was, but I forgot
Top - 3 stage, 1 color, no burst
Back - 3 stage, 1 color and bursted (very light burst, almost unnoticeable at my request), solid on the sides.
Neck - 3 stage, 2 color with vertical burst running on the sides parallel with the fretboard. Matching paint on the headstock face (no burst) and control cavity cover (no burst)
Pickups & Controls
Neck - Delano JMVC4 FE/M2 in the Fender 51P position
Bridge - Delano MC4 FE/M2 in the Wal bridge position
The neck pup is a dual core or split and the bridge pup is a quad coil, two single coils each split in two.
Controls are passive, VVT, but, concentric volume with the outer ring being the neck, and the top being the bridge. Then of course the tone pot is by itself. And a 3 way, on/on/on mini switch for series / single coil / parallel operation of the bridge pup. There is also a treble bleed circuit on the volume controls.
There are 7 pickup configurations to choose from with this setup
neck solo
bridge solo series
bridge solo single coil
bridge solo parallel
neck + bridge series
neck + bridge single coil
neck + bridge parallel
Build time:
Deposit was placed on Sept 29th 2024
I drove to Memphis and picked it up on Sept 19th 2025
Time in queue before the actual build started to take place. Not sure of the exact time. I got my first build pics the 1st week of March this year starting with the neck. I know some of the wood took a little while to get. So about 10 days short of a year, not going to hear any complaints out of me.
What do I have to say about the bass?
It's a piece of exquisite and very playable art. And the attention to detail Kevin put into this leaves me speechless. He has the pups and string heights so even in output that it's mind blowing. The setup could go lower according to him. But it doesn't need it. It's pretty low as it sits right now. I gotta have some room to dig in.
I have it strung with D'Addario Tapewounds. The Delano pickups are absolutely amazing. Kevin normally doesn't offer those, this is his first time using them. He normally uses Fralin or Lollar and sometimes East Preamps. But I wanted the Delanos and a VVT passive setup. I also want to give a shout out to Brian Ristola at Fat Bass Tone. Last year when I got with Kevin on this build Brian answered all kinds of questions for me on the Delano pups and was a huge help in my decision making in that area. At the end of this build Kevin was so blown away by them that he says he will use them again in some future builds.
Another benefit of Kevin building this bass, he's a bass player himself and we have a lot of similar ideas about the things we like or want in a bass.
I know Kevin is already gray headed, but I guarantee you he has a few more gray hairs because of me. I can't thank him enough for this wonderful build and the friendship that sprung out of it. The bass is an absolute dream to play and sounds fantastic right off the bat.
So without further ado, here's the obligatory NBD pics, there's videos below the pic thumbnails. And I have a photo album here on TB with some of the build pics if you want to check those out too.
So I got home with the bass after a 4 hour drive. Chilled, then hit up a friend / fellow bassist that was doing a gig 2 miles from me. He told me to come out and he would play it so I could hear it in a mix and get video of it. I played it in rehearsal & live with a full band at church today. Then I'll get to play it in the mix with a full rock band this Thursday & Friday.
Video 1
I just met this bassist last night. He came out for the same band I did and is friends with the bassist in the band too.
1 min 50 secs, portrait mode / solo player
Bassist Owen Bradley
Video 2
4 mins - landscape mode / full band
I'm The Only One - Melissa Etheridge
Southtown Revival bassist Sean Bunn
Video 3
3 mins, 36 secs - landscape mode / full band
Black Horse And The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
Southtown Revival bassist Sean Bunn
Video 4
3 mins, 27 secs - landscape mode / full band
Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms
Southtown Revival bassist Sean Bunn
It started out as a Ferner Custom 68 slab body. But it ended up being anything but his normal Custom 68. If you've never seen a Ferner Custom 68, be sure to check it out. He also offers a Custom PJ Deluxe, and for short scale lovers he has The Cadet. Then there's the Aviator, his own unique proprietary model, a 33" scale design with his own electronics, switching, and controls that he designed from the ground up. Anyway back to my Custom 68...
The Body:
Premium Alder body (2 piece)
Quilted Flame Maple Top
Rear control cavity with cover made from the same wood as the top
String thru / top loading with Hipshot brass A style bridge
Belly contour
Front/top side pearl binding
Forearm contour with full top across it and contour following binding.
The Neck:
Scale 34"
Frets 20
10" radius
neck thickness, .80 inch / 20mm @ 1st fret, .90 inch / 23mm @ 12th fret
Bone nut 1 & 5/8th
Profile Vintage C slim
3 piece maple / mahogany / maple, all quarter sawn
Macassar Ebony fingerboard
Mother of Pearl block inlays with a Ferner "F' on the 12th fret and pearl binding
Hipshot tuners with an Extender on the "E" string
Paint:
Paint Type: Nitro
Clear Coat: Isn't nitro, isn't polyurethane either. He told me what it was, but I forgot
Top - 3 stage, 1 color, no burst
Back - 3 stage, 1 color and bursted (very light burst, almost unnoticeable at my request), solid on the sides.
Neck - 3 stage, 2 color with vertical burst running on the sides parallel with the fretboard. Matching paint on the headstock face (no burst) and control cavity cover (no burst)
Pickups & Controls
Neck - Delano JMVC4 FE/M2 in the Fender 51P position
Bridge - Delano MC4 FE/M2 in the Wal bridge position
The neck pup is a dual core or split and the bridge pup is a quad coil, two single coils each split in two.
Controls are passive, VVT, but, concentric volume with the outer ring being the neck, and the top being the bridge. Then of course the tone pot is by itself. And a 3 way, on/on/on mini switch for series / single coil / parallel operation of the bridge pup. There is also a treble bleed circuit on the volume controls.
There are 7 pickup configurations to choose from with this setup
neck solo
bridge solo series
bridge solo single coil
bridge solo parallel
neck + bridge series
neck + bridge single coil
neck + bridge parallel
Build time:
Deposit was placed on Sept 29th 2024
I drove to Memphis and picked it up on Sept 19th 2025
Time in queue before the actual build started to take place. Not sure of the exact time. I got my first build pics the 1st week of March this year starting with the neck. I know some of the wood took a little while to get. So about 10 days short of a year, not going to hear any complaints out of me.
What do I have to say about the bass?
It's a piece of exquisite and very playable art. And the attention to detail Kevin put into this leaves me speechless. He has the pups and string heights so even in output that it's mind blowing. The setup could go lower according to him. But it doesn't need it. It's pretty low as it sits right now. I gotta have some room to dig in.
I have it strung with D'Addario Tapewounds. The Delano pickups are absolutely amazing. Kevin normally doesn't offer those, this is his first time using them. He normally uses Fralin or Lollar and sometimes East Preamps. But I wanted the Delanos and a VVT passive setup. I also want to give a shout out to Brian Ristola at Fat Bass Tone. Last year when I got with Kevin on this build Brian answered all kinds of questions for me on the Delano pups and was a huge help in my decision making in that area. At the end of this build Kevin was so blown away by them that he says he will use them again in some future builds.
Another benefit of Kevin building this bass, he's a bass player himself and we have a lot of similar ideas about the things we like or want in a bass.
I know Kevin is already gray headed, but I guarantee you he has a few more gray hairs because of me. I can't thank him enough for this wonderful build and the friendship that sprung out of it. The bass is an absolute dream to play and sounds fantastic right off the bat.
So without further ado, here's the obligatory NBD pics, there's videos below the pic thumbnails. And I have a photo album here on TB with some of the build pics if you want to check those out too.
So I got home with the bass after a 4 hour drive. Chilled, then hit up a friend / fellow bassist that was doing a gig 2 miles from me. He told me to come out and he would play it so I could hear it in a mix and get video of it. I played it in rehearsal & live with a full band at church today. Then I'll get to play it in the mix with a full rock band this Thursday & Friday.
Video 1
I just met this bassist last night. He came out for the same band I did and is friends with the bassist in the band too.
1 min 50 secs, portrait mode / solo player
Bassist Owen Bradley
Video 2
4 mins - landscape mode / full band
I'm The Only One - Melissa Etheridge
Southtown Revival bassist Sean Bunn
Video 3
3 mins, 36 secs - landscape mode / full band
Black Horse And The Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
Southtown Revival bassist Sean Bunn
Video 4
3 mins, 27 secs - landscape mode / full band
Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms
Southtown Revival bassist Sean Bunn
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