Some number of months ago, I was browsing through some new posts on my FB page and ran across an interesting one from Bassisti Italiani, a maker of fine, mostly handmade, basses in Sicily. He was advertising what looked like a beautiful copy of a Fender Jazz Bass. It was the last one, and they were closing it out for the amazing price of just $300, delivered to my door here in Eugene Oregon.
The company seemed very legit, great reviews, had been in business for a while, and I just decided to take a chance. The bass, as I said, was made in Sicily with all the elctronics made in Japan, not China. I was not too terribly concerned with the controls as I generally upgrade any basses I own to have an active preamp. My main concern was, of course fit and finish and whether the pickups sounded good or not. I prefer Alnico V.
Well, after close to a month of waiting, the bass arrived and exceeded all my expectations. For a passive instrument, it sounded absolutely superb.
My second "real" bass was a mid-60s Fender Jazz. I had started playing bass in 1969. Feeling self-conscious of my smaller than average hand size, I figured I could play a Hofner 500/1 (Paul McCartney's violin bass) and at the time a good friend of the family was going to Germany. I asked her if she could please buy me one at the factory. She did, and I got a brand new 500/1 with hard shell case for a whopping $100 total cost. It was a good learner bass, but compared to a "good" bass, it wasn't good. The intonation was awful and the action left a lot to be desired, and the tone was meh at best. But I learned a lot, but was still afraid to try any other basses due to my self-conciousness about my hands.
That changed when my gf and I went to see Poco live at the Fillmore West (I am a native San Franciscan, and was just 20 in 1969). We were right by the stage and got a pretty good look at Tim Schmit, one of my favorite singing bass players. It didn't look like his hands were too much different from my own, and he was playing a Fender Jazz.
Well, several days later, I paid a visit to Guitar Center on Van Ness Avenue, and lo and behold, they had a mid-60s JB in great shape for a mere $600! I couldn't pay for it fast enough. After that, I hardly ever took the Hofner out of its case. (Years later it was stolen, and I have often thought about how much it would be worth now, but oh well.)
I had the JB for a few years until I saw Freebo playing with Bonnie Raitt. He was playing a unique looking instrument I had never seen before. This was pre-Internet so I have NO idea how I found out what it was, but that, of course, was a MusicMan Stingray. It was love at first sight. At the time, I was living in Davis California. I took my Jazz Bass up to Sacramento and by a strange twist of fate, ended up at a local music store which I believe was owned by Tim Schmit's parents! I foolishly traded in the JB on a '79 Stingray with case. They gave me $300 for my JB, and the Stingray only cost me another $300 out of pocket. Again (I'm apparently a slow learner) I regretted selling the JB as I am sure it would be worth far more than $300 these days.
Regardless, the Stingray was my only bass for over 20 years. I kept it far longer than I should. The only drawback was its weight. It was at least 11 pounds, and I was starting to have severe back problems, ending up in having 5 lower back surgeries since 2013. I finally decided that the Stingray should go to someone who would play it, instead of its just sitting in its case. Through a series of trades, I ended up with a 2020 BFR Stingray Special fretless 5 string which weighed just 7.4 pounds, a LOT less than the '79 Ray.
But I still missed having a Jzz Bass. So, I ordered the Italian one and am more than happy with it. It came strung with Sansome strings, which run about $40 a set, and sound very much like Roto Swing Bass strings. Still, I wanted to add a preamp. I had a spare Audere preamp lying around, but there was no room for a 9V battery in the small control cavity.
Rick Mariner at Haywire Guitars in South Carolina had previously done some excellent work for me in shaving the neck of one of my basses, so I pulled the neck and sent the body to him. A bit over a week later, and for under $100, he mounted a single 9V battery holder and drilled a tunnel for the wires. He did such a good job on it that you really can't tell the bass didn't come from the factory like that. If you need some work on your bass that you don't feel comfortable doing yourself, by all means send it to Rick. You won't be sorry. As he puts it, he's a musician who loves doing work at reasonable prices for other musicians. Highly recommended.
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of this bargain-priced but otherwise excellent Jazz Bass from Bassisti Italiani. You can easily find them on Facebook. Also highly recommended!
The company seemed very legit, great reviews, had been in business for a while, and I just decided to take a chance. The bass, as I said, was made in Sicily with all the elctronics made in Japan, not China. I was not too terribly concerned with the controls as I generally upgrade any basses I own to have an active preamp. My main concern was, of course fit and finish and whether the pickups sounded good or not. I prefer Alnico V.
Well, after close to a month of waiting, the bass arrived and exceeded all my expectations. For a passive instrument, it sounded absolutely superb.
My second "real" bass was a mid-60s Fender Jazz. I had started playing bass in 1969. Feeling self-conscious of my smaller than average hand size, I figured I could play a Hofner 500/1 (Paul McCartney's violin bass) and at the time a good friend of the family was going to Germany. I asked her if she could please buy me one at the factory. She did, and I got a brand new 500/1 with hard shell case for a whopping $100 total cost. It was a good learner bass, but compared to a "good" bass, it wasn't good. The intonation was awful and the action left a lot to be desired, and the tone was meh at best. But I learned a lot, but was still afraid to try any other basses due to my self-conciousness about my hands.
That changed when my gf and I went to see Poco live at the Fillmore West (I am a native San Franciscan, and was just 20 in 1969). We were right by the stage and got a pretty good look at Tim Schmit, one of my favorite singing bass players. It didn't look like his hands were too much different from my own, and he was playing a Fender Jazz.
Well, several days later, I paid a visit to Guitar Center on Van Ness Avenue, and lo and behold, they had a mid-60s JB in great shape for a mere $600! I couldn't pay for it fast enough. After that, I hardly ever took the Hofner out of its case. (Years later it was stolen, and I have often thought about how much it would be worth now, but oh well.)
I had the JB for a few years until I saw Freebo playing with Bonnie Raitt. He was playing a unique looking instrument I had never seen before. This was pre-Internet so I have NO idea how I found out what it was, but that, of course, was a MusicMan Stingray. It was love at first sight. At the time, I was living in Davis California. I took my Jazz Bass up to Sacramento and by a strange twist of fate, ended up at a local music store which I believe was owned by Tim Schmit's parents! I foolishly traded in the JB on a '79 Stingray with case. They gave me $300 for my JB, and the Stingray only cost me another $300 out of pocket. Again (I'm apparently a slow learner) I regretted selling the JB as I am sure it would be worth far more than $300 these days.
Regardless, the Stingray was my only bass for over 20 years. I kept it far longer than I should. The only drawback was its weight. It was at least 11 pounds, and I was starting to have severe back problems, ending up in having 5 lower back surgeries since 2013. I finally decided that the Stingray should go to someone who would play it, instead of its just sitting in its case. Through a series of trades, I ended up with a 2020 BFR Stingray Special fretless 5 string which weighed just 7.4 pounds, a LOT less than the '79 Ray.
But I still missed having a Jzz Bass. So, I ordered the Italian one and am more than happy with it. It came strung with Sansome strings, which run about $40 a set, and sound very much like Roto Swing Bass strings. Still, I wanted to add a preamp. I had a spare Audere preamp lying around, but there was no room for a 9V battery in the small control cavity.
Rick Mariner at Haywire Guitars in South Carolina had previously done some excellent work for me in shaving the neck of one of my basses, so I pulled the neck and sent the body to him. A bit over a week later, and for under $100, he mounted a single 9V battery holder and drilled a tunnel for the wires. He did such a good job on it that you really can't tell the bass didn't come from the factory like that. If you need some work on your bass that you don't feel comfortable doing yourself, by all means send it to Rick. You won't be sorry. As he puts it, he's a musician who loves doing work at reasonable prices for other musicians. Highly recommended.
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of this bargain-priced but otherwise excellent Jazz Bass from Bassisti Italiani. You can easily find them on Facebook. Also highly recommended!
