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The Greatest Bass Ever Made...
- Thread starter madbassplaya
- Start date
I wish I could change the title to: The Title is a Joke and was Meant to be a Funny
Happens to belong to me, now. Please don't steal it, I like it!
I thought about titling this The Greatest Valenti Ever Made or The Greatest Jazz Bass Ever Made but after playing the bass more this morning, I have come to the conclusion that this is indeed the greatest bass ever made.
Here's the back story. I like basses...all different kinds of basses. Look through my feedback, I've bought and sold a lot. I have found no bass sounds bad to me, I just prefer the tone of some over others and a jazz bass reigns supreme.
After graduating from my masters program and finding a job I knew I was going to order a custom J from Nino. I have owned two of his basses before: #89 and #105. Both were great basses but not exactly what I was wanting.
I commissioned Nino to build a custom J bass that was modern looking, passive, and had different tonal applications (similar to a Roscoe Beck V). Here are the specs:
Full size J body (Candy Apple Red)
Maple neck/fingerboard (no inlays)
Stainless frets
Hipshot Hardware
Passive electronics
Nordstrand Dual Coil Pickups with series/paralel/single coil switching for each pickup
Weight between 9-10 lbs.
Countersunk neck attachment
Nino out did himself on this one. It came to me with Sadowsky Blue Labels on it (my request) but they honestly didn't suit this bass as well as I thought. A balanced set of D'Addarios did though.
Nino really outdid himself on this one. I priced several other makers and for the money, no one could touch Nino. The bass is solid and I am very happy with it so far!
Without further ado, I present to you Valenti STJ5 #154
Thank you again Nino!
Awesome bass, glad it's back where it belongs. As the original owner of Valenti #105 I can attest to the man's work and it sounds like hit checked all the boxes for you with that beauty.
Funny enough, my upcoming bass (theoretically launching next week) is based on a very similar concept.
I also really dug the Roscoe Beck so my Stammie will be a 70's version (hard ash body, maple fingerboard, 70's spacing) using Chris' body shape and wired passive using the Delano twin jazz pickups with series/parallel/"single coil" switching. I also went V/V/T instead of the RB's pickup selector switch because with the gain boost from series mode I figured I'd want to match volumes more easily.
My original color choice was actually the same as yours, CAR but I changed to this:
Unlike you I did opt for some fingerboard decoration (and a black pickguard)
I'm hopeful I'll dig it as much as you dig your Valenti.
Chef
In Memoriam
Yes sir, yes I did.
And believe me, I know how nice a trans finish on ash can be. A shot of my Valenti P5 which I actually sold to the OP.
But I was going for a different vibe this time around and I picked hard ash solely for tonal reasons. I was always planning on this bass being solid colored regardless of body wood.
If it helps, it's sibling is in Alder with a fairly non remarkable grain so not as much of a crime to have it painted:
Yes sir, yes I did.
And believe me, I know how nice a trans finish on ash can be. A shot of my Valenti P5 which I actually sold to the OP.
But I was going for a different vibe this time around and I picked hard ash solely for tonal reasons. I was always planning on this bass being solid colored regardless of body wood.
I bought that Valenti from you, because I wanted a simple, passive, 5 string. I realized however, that I dig the J body and pickups more and need that as my main squeeze so I decided to custom order a bass from Nino. I wish I still had that blue P though. It is beautiful!
I will say this, your new build looks unreal! I dig that body shape and the color. I thought hard about Orange as well but ended up going with Red.
I hope it's everything you hoped it would be.
If you're gonna compare a Valenti bass, you compare it to every other bass ever made... that wasn't made by Nino Valenti.
I bought that Valenti from you, because I wanted a simple, passive, 5 string. I realized however, that I dig the J body and pickups more and need that as my main squeeze so I decided to custom order a bass from Nino. I wish I still had that blue P though. It is beautiful!
I will say this, your new build looks unreal! I dig that body shape and the color. I thought hard about Orange as well but ended up going with Red.
I hope it's everything you hoped it would be.
Yeah, sounds like you and I have been on the same journey. I also am going with 5 string passives with some versatility,. And Valenti #105 was a great bass. If I had the space and resources I'd have kept it just because it was jaw droppingly gorgeous. Great P bass but not quite what I needed.
BTW, I dig the Sadowsky knobs on your Valenti. Great touch and they tie in visually so well. Did you think about doing black hardware too?
I actually did. I really like the way black tuners look against maple as well. I decided to go with chrome though because I don't care for black bridges generally. I guess I could do a chrome bridge and black tuners, but I kinda like the carpet to match the drapes.
I am thinking about putting some Y tuners on it though. Thoughts?
I actually did. I really like the way black tuners look against maple as well. I decided to go with chrome though because I don't care for black bridges generally. I guess I could do a chrome bridge and black tuners, but I kinda like the carpet to match the drapes.
I am thinking about putting some Y tuners on it though. Thoughts?
Too funny, I went through the same decision making process and opted for the chrome Hipshot B style (in brass) and chrome ultralite Y tuners.
But in your case I think I'd stick with the clover leafs - they just look right with the Fender style headstock.
That is funny.
You think so? I think the Y's would look good with the notch in the head stock too. Also, it looks modern and I thought they Y's may look better.
Ala Bryan Beller...
Attachments
You know what, I think you just convinced me. You've already got the unmarked board, no pickguard and five strings - make it modern all the way.
And personally I always prefer the functionality of the Y-keys to the cloverleafs anyway. Great picture of BB.
- Oct 8, 2007
- 970
- 60
- Disclosures
- Former Part-Time, Non-Commission Employee MOOG Audio
Amazing Bass, great taste and if you're convinced that it's the greatest bass on earth, then it obviously is!! I believe it's every custom bass builder's obligation to create perfect instruments. Instruments worthy of their name... (otherwise we'd just but run of the mill "production" basses). That thing looks darn near Perfect! If this goes up for sale PM Me right away!!!!! Anytime!!
totally subjective comment here (and it's already been stated so it's a +1: But the absence of the pick guard, and dots markers, does make the clover tuners a bit conspicuous, I say go for the Y tuners. I generally would put clovers on everything except my Lull M4, and my yet to be acquired Erizias. They both have Y's and it seems to fit the cleaner looks of those basses even though all things equal i generally prefer Clovers on more classic looking basses....
But the bass is insane, it's making me have an American Psycho business card moment!!!!!!
totally subjective comment here (and it's already been stated so it's a +1: But the absence of the pick guard, and dots markers, does make the clover tuners a bit conspicuous, I say go for the Y tuners. I generally would put clovers on everything except my Lull M4, and my yet to be acquired Erizias. They both have Y's and it seems to fit the cleaner looks of those basses even though all things equal i generally prefer Clovers on more classic looking basses....
But the bass is insane, it's making me have an American Psycho business card moment!!!!!!
