A bit of background: I have owned a total of 5 F Basses in the past and have been continually impressed by their beauty, craftsmanship, and playability. My first custom BN5 was ordered in 2005 and had it not weighed close to 12 lbs, I would still have it.
I bought and sold various F Basses in the subsequent years:
A Cherryburst BN6:
An Amberburst BN5:
Crhis Lowe's "Superbass" BN6:
and a beautiful Cocobolo BN5 that was featured at NAMM:
However all of these basses fell short in tone compared to my original 11.5 lb Burl Maple BN5.
Back in November I saw a Redburst BN5 on the F Bass website. I fell in love with the finish and decided to place an order with my favorite F Bass retailer, Donovan Bankhead from Fretspot.com.
Here are were my specs:
-No Top
-Densely grained Ash
-Enhanced grain
-Red burst finish
-Black Hardware
-B Style bridge
-Inset Straplocks
-Volume Blend Wiring
-Standard 19mm Spacing
-Macassar Ebony Fingerboard - streaked but not two-tone
-Pearl Serial Plate
-Weight 9-10 lbs
Not long after I ordered the bass, I lost my longtime gig. I won't go into detail here except to say that it was for the best for both parties involved. I emailed Donovan to let him know that I would need to cancel the custom order, and he made an exception to his policy and refunded the down payment. Keep in mind that this was around Christmas time when things are usually tight for retailers of custom instruments.
What I didn't realize was that while Donovan had refunded my deposit to me, George Furlanetto and crew were far enough along in the build process that Donovan was unable to cancel with George.
I continued to be blissfully unaware of this until I got an email from Donovan on April 14th:
"Just wanted to let you know your bass came in - in case you changed your mind.
".
Of course Donovan was not asking me to buy the bass - but he seriously had me intrigued. I had felt horrible about cancelling the order in the first place, and I had to see pics.
Needless to say, once I saw them I couldn't get my credit card out fast enough.
On Wednesday of last week this came in:
I'd say Donovan and George nailed it. Not only is this an absolutely stunning bass which plays like a dream, but I've finally found a BN5 which matches the tone of my original 11 lb 8 oz monster. This one weighs in at 9 lbs 12 ounces - much more tolerable.
Many thanks to both George and Donovan. I am a very happy customer and extremely glad that this custom order was unable to be cancelled. If you are looking for a custom bass I'd highly recommend dealing with Donovan. In all the purchases I've made through him in he's always gone above and beyond to make sure I was taken care of.
I bought and sold various F Basses in the subsequent years:
A Cherryburst BN6:
An Amberburst BN5:
Crhis Lowe's "Superbass" BN6:
and a beautiful Cocobolo BN5 that was featured at NAMM:
However all of these basses fell short in tone compared to my original 11.5 lb Burl Maple BN5.
Back in November I saw a Redburst BN5 on the F Bass website. I fell in love with the finish and decided to place an order with my favorite F Bass retailer, Donovan Bankhead from Fretspot.com.
Here are were my specs:
-No Top
-Densely grained Ash
-Enhanced grain
-Red burst finish
-Black Hardware
-B Style bridge
-Inset Straplocks
-Volume Blend Wiring
-Standard 19mm Spacing
-Macassar Ebony Fingerboard - streaked but not two-tone
-Pearl Serial Plate
-Weight 9-10 lbs
Not long after I ordered the bass, I lost my longtime gig. I won't go into detail here except to say that it was for the best for both parties involved. I emailed Donovan to let him know that I would need to cancel the custom order, and he made an exception to his policy and refunded the down payment. Keep in mind that this was around Christmas time when things are usually tight for retailers of custom instruments.
What I didn't realize was that while Donovan had refunded my deposit to me, George Furlanetto and crew were far enough along in the build process that Donovan was unable to cancel with George.
I continued to be blissfully unaware of this until I got an email from Donovan on April 14th:
"Just wanted to let you know your bass came in - in case you changed your mind.
".Of course Donovan was not asking me to buy the bass - but he seriously had me intrigued. I had felt horrible about cancelling the order in the first place, and I had to see pics.
Needless to say, once I saw them I couldn't get my credit card out fast enough.
On Wednesday of last week this came in:
I'd say Donovan and George nailed it. Not only is this an absolutely stunning bass which plays like a dream, but I've finally found a BN5 which matches the tone of my original 11 lb 8 oz monster. This one weighs in at 9 lbs 12 ounces - much more tolerable.
Many thanks to both George and Donovan. I am a very happy customer and extremely glad that this custom order was unable to be cancelled. If you are looking for a custom bass I'd highly recommend dealing with Donovan. In all the purchases I've made through him in he's always gone above and beyond to make sure I was taken care of.
