NBD - Epiphone Jack Casady

I've had the Jack Casady for a while, but was not playing it because of the ergonomics. I found it uncomfortable due to neck dive, forward tilt due to the location of the strap button on the heel, and the large body. I've read just about everything posted on TB about the JC bass, and these things don't bother some people. But they were an issue for me.

But the sound was amazing. The location of the PuP gives it a sound like a p-bass, but with something else. I find it very responsive to the tone knob. And the impedance switch allows you to increase or decrease the gain to get a more aggressive sound. Its probably the best sounding bass I've ever played.

Because it sounds so good, I decided to work on the playability issues to see if I could sort them out.

I changed the tuners to Hipshot Ultra-lights, and the bridge to a Hipshot Supertone. I also use a 3 inch wide strap. It balances great now, with not even a hint of wanting to dive.

I could probably get used to the slight tipping forward due to the strap button on the neck heel. But I decided to fix it by adding a strap button on the upper horn. The horn is hollow, so a reinforcing block is needed to hold the screw for the strap button. This required cutting and shaping a small block of wood to the curve of the horn, and able to fit through the f-hole. With some string and glue, I managed to get the wood block in place. With the strap attached at the upper horn, the bass hangs great and no longer tips forward at all.

After all this, I was still having some trouble getting used to the large body size. I watched some videos of the man himself - Jack Casady - and saw that he slings it low, and angles the neck upward. I tried it and it really works. Its now quite comfortable to play.

Another small detail is the dark fret marker dots on the neck are hard to see. I got a pack of bright fret marked dot stickers from Amazon and stuck them on. They're easy to see, look like they're original, and are staying in place so far.

The neck is very chunky on this bass. Its wide like my p-bass, but a lot thicker. I was surprised when I first picked it up. But it feels very comfortable in the hand, and is becoming one of my favorite things about this instrument.

All these mods are pretty easy and don't require any special skills or tools. Even adding the block for the new strap button was not hard. There are lots of on-line descriptions of how to do it.

Now I have a bass that looks great, is comfortable to play, and sounds amazing.

 

Yep, badass for sure. He always has that super-serious look, almost looks like he's mad about something. But when you see him in interviews he's not like that at all.

 

A skinny kid in bell bottoms and paisley, playing a bass nearly as big as him. And he still managed to look like a badass!