Glad everyone likes the writeup. the bass I put it on was a 2012 Fender Select I bought a few years ago. Originally retails for $2400, I got a floor model for $900, which was a steal. I’d be surprised if they sold a ton at $2400, but it is a really pretty and really nice American fender bass with some nice upgrades. If I’d paid retail for it and didn’t have a woodworker friend with experience and good tools I wouldn’t have done it, but I’m an engineer by day and love mechanisms. I’d have no issue putting it on a non-vintage run of the mill bass, it is a neat, though kind of crude mechanism.
Re: other bass mute gizmos:
My daughter has a bass that she installed a “Bass Mute”, a product that is mentioned here on the forum. It’s mechanism is really, really slick, and can be attached with double sided tape. They are hard to get however.
The Nordstrand mute looks like it would be simple and effective.
Re: Sean Hurley signature bass.
I actually bought a used 2014 Sean Hurley model a few weeks ago. I came across it online at the Chicago Music Exchange site and in a fit of unplanned Covid stir-crazy-ness, kind of grabbed on impulse, knowing that they rarely come up on the used market. When I received it, I’d already had buyers remorse and was thinking of sending it back (it was definitely not a $900 steal of a deal!), especially when I saw it did not have the cool finished checking like @WoodyJ ’s above. It’s certificate says closet classic, and the relicing is fairly light. I had three days to decide to send it back and damn if I didn’t end up really liking it. It sounds great, and plays really well. I’ve since sold a couple of other basses and some gear to dull my guilty wallet. I am admittedly a big fan of Sean’s playing, as well as his overall attitude and approach to bass, I’ve learned a lot by transcribing in detail a couple of his cool parts. See my blog link or Instagram feed (@wallybarnum) if you want to download the one I did of his Scott’s bass lesson video with David Ryan Harris. At the start of the pandemic, I contacted Sean and had a Skype lesson with him (the pandemic gave a lot of big name bass players unplanned free time). He’s every bit as cool as he seems online.
Does buying a Sean Hurley bass make you sound like Sean Hurley? Nope, but you’ll get a damn fine custom shop bass, so congratulations @KCFrets !
