SOLD PRICE DROP: Custom 5 string Jazz style fretless Aguilar Cirrus

PRICE DROPPED TO $450!
This is a very unique instrument. One of my first custom designs, de-fretted a few years back.

It began life as a custom order Warmoth body, based on the Fender Jazz Bass Plus. I paid a premium for an extra light body, in swamp ash and it came in at just over 3 pounds. The entire bass as is currently weighs 7 pounds, 4 ounces (see picture). This alone makes it pretty special IMO since it is one of the lightest solid body 5’ers I have ever encountered.

The neck is where things get really interesting. It was built by Dave Wendler (electrocoustic.com) back when he and I were both living in Branson. We had an idea to create a neck of spruce as an experiment with a very light but very strong wood. Dave ended up finding Douglasfir from an old (around 100 years) wine cask. It is very much old growth wood and tight grained. It uses threaded metal inserts, and the neck turned out fabulous. It is truly one of a kind, yet familiar.

As for hardware, the tuners and bridge are both Hipshot aluminum. The pickups are the VFLs found in the highly venerated Cirrus basses. It also sports and the Aguilar OBP3 preamp. The bass is wired for 18 V operation.

Lastly, the instrument is finished in genuine nitrocellulose in a tobacco/violin burst.

So, the obvious question is: if it is so great why am I selling it? The honest answer is that I don’t play anywhere nearly as much as I used to, I had a major lifestyle change involving moving to Florida to care for my ailing father, and this and other factors necessitated getting off the road. I’ve been slowly divesting myself of gear that I do not need (I have another fretless that while not as good as this one, is perfectly usable for those few instances where I may need such a thing) while still keeping a few of my favorite basses… I’ve gone from 11 to 4.The whole saga is something I will probably start a new thread about in the near future but regardless that is the reason, no reflection on the instrument at all.

I can include a gig bag at no charge or I can include a brand new TKL hardshell case for a nominal up-charge. Price does not include shipping. I might have a fairly recent recording of it as well from a PBS video shoot I did a few years back. If I can find it I’ll post a link here.

Feel free to ask any questions.

 

The spacing is nominally around 17mm...I say "nominally" because I use edge-to-edge spacing rather than center to center, so if you measure it in the conventional way it will be slightly different for each string but the gaps between will be uniform if that makes sense.

The string ferrules are on the ends of the strings because I wanted to try some taper wound strings on this bass to see what they sounded like and didn't want to bother with readjusting the action on every string. So putting the ferrules on the ends made it so that the thickest part of the string would be over the bridge saddle and I wouldn't have to change anything (well, very little) If you were to use regular strings that are not tapered, you would not need them..

 

Been a few inquiries about trades.

I don’t really need anything however I’d be open to a Quilter BB800 if anyone has one.

 

Basically but in this case (as I explained) I wanted to try a different string on this bass. Running the core over the saddles would have meant a massive amount of tweaking to get the bridge dialed in compared to the previous strings. This way I could try them, and only have to tweak a bit.

That and the fact that I'm not generally a fan of running cores over the saddles anyway, this worked for me.

 

Standard 34”

 

To be perfectly honest I’m not sure of the exact radius, I think it’s around 12”. It’s fairly flat but still has some curve to it. It’s definitely flatter than 9” and definitely not as flat as 14” so somewhere in between.

Fingerboard is actually rosewood but has been coated with CA, so it appears a bit darker. Fret lines are maple veneers.

 

Personal instruments are exempted, with the exception of Brazilian rosewood as far as I can determine. The CITES thread here has lots of info. I wouldn't let that concern you.

Also FWIW it does not appear to be rosewood, even up close.

 

SALE PENDING

 

Money is supposed to be on the way. Will be posting if sale falls through.

 

Update:

Pending deal has fallen through, bass is still available.

 

IMO, indeed it does. Here's a track I did from a Christmas album a few years back using this bass. It takes a minute to get going, and I'm playing mostly long tones but it gives a fairly decent representation of the tone.

 

Yes there is a truss rod, tho I have never had to adjust it. The Douglas fir has been extremely stable. Shipping to Canada is not out of the question but might be a bit "involved".