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Who else owns a Drake Custom?
- Thread starter Old Blastard
- Start date
BassHappy
Supporting Member
I have "Wilma" an unreal hollow in medium scale. Incredible workmanship all the way around. Plays like a dream and sounds great! THANKS Andrew!
Oh man, I love that bass! Wilma and Betty are the body style I want for my next and last bass. (Yeah, right. The last. Sure.)
BassHappy
Supporting Member
She's great, but high maintenance in the fact that she craves an awful lot of attention. But it is OK, you won't be able to keep your hands off her!
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I've got a chambered 33" scale Mk4. Maple and walnut, ebony board, ss frets, passive nordstrand dc's in it currently. Picture is from when it still had SD baselines, which I didn't end up liking.
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
I've always wanted a Drake, esp the Betty model. I'm not really down with his love for EMG's, but what do I know? I would love to try a drake with EMG's to see why he seems to choose them over other pickups.
I have EMGs in both my Drakes -- a 35P and 35J -- and they provide great sound. On the other hand, most of my experience is with factory pickups, so I can't say much.
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
I had some EMG's a while ago and did not like them, but that could have just been a mismatch with that bass.
I know he uses different pickups depending on the customer. EMGs seem to be his go-to. I think I'd like humbuckers in my hollowbody, but I don't know. Working on what I want now for a hopeful build next year. Gotta save up the dough. These two have been worth it. The fretted one, named Michelle, sounds good whatever I'm playing, including in an Americana duo I'm in. Fits well with a band or acoustic guitars.
Andrew will put whatever pickups/preamp/hardware/whatever you want in a build, if you ask him. He just favors EMG so that's his "stock" thing. When I commissioned my build we talked about pickups quite a bit, because I wanted to go passive. Not because of tone, just because I don't want to have to deal with batteries. He gave me a bunch of suggestions and recommendations, I went my own way, tried a pickup model I'd never played before, didn't like them and ended up replacing them. So it really wouldn't have made a difference if I had gone with his suggestion of the EMG pickups from the start, but if you have a specific pickup that you love, just have him put THAT in a custom bass for you and know what you're getting.
Honestly, I can't recommend or praise Andrew's work highly enough. I'm a woodworker (though not full time professionally anymore), I was practically raised in a woodshop by a perfectionist master woodworker and craftsmanship on my Drake Custom is outstanding. It's the most beautiful, comfortable to play instrument I've ever owned. If I had more disposable income I would have bought 2 or 3 more builds from him by now. He's also a nice guy, with great communication skills and a person of integrity. There's a short list of people in general, let alone builders, I would go out of my way to praise to endorse publicly and Andrew Drake is one of them.
This thread makes me cry a little. I still have the emails from a few years back and got a quote or two on a build from Mr. Drake, and they were within my price range back then. I passed at the time for reasons that don't seem to make sense now, and then when I finally did decide to go with a custom build, his prices were raised outside of my budget. 
I only get to enjoy them vicarious through you guys...so keep on posting those pics!
I only get to enjoy them vicarious through you guys...so keep on posting those pics!
One thing I appreciate about his work is that he's always trying something, finding a better way to do something. And he's a perfectionist. That's good, because I'm not and he makes his basses Old Blastard proof.
I haven't played my Drake in a while, since the last band I used it in broke up, but I played it for a couple hours last night to record some demo tracks for songs my buddy is writing. Oh man, super in love with it all over again. Now I want to start writing some new material and recording around it. My friend was in love with the look and sound of it too. I told him I wish I had more spare income right now, so I could Andrew to make me another one or a guitar to go with it.
@Corey Y , how comfortable is your MK4 when sitting? Would you mind posting a picture? I think I prefer that shape, but Andrew mentioned that his MK7 is better for seated playing. Thanks!
I was playing it seated last night and it was comfortable. That's one of the reasons why I like that sort of reverse lower horn style. The bottom horn is a bit small I guess, but it seems to balance pretty well and I suppose it depends what you're used to, I'm used to playing with and never have any issues. I'll see if I can get my wife to snap a pic of me with it when I get home from work tonight.
Doesn't balance hand free, but mine has a chambered body. Plus, I can't play hands free anyway.
I love the way the 7 sits and hangs although to look at it alone it looks kind of funny. Seeing it being played it looks sweet
I've asked Andrew to make a bass for me in honor of my mom who's going down the rabbit hole of Alzheimer's. She got me into this music thing a long time ago. He's a great guy, passionate about guitars and music and careful about price. Anyone interested in a high quality instrument should consider him. The ideas he had for Nancy Lou were awesome and he listened to me as if Inknew what I was talking about.
