Over the last two gigs I’ve been playing a new 5 string bass built for me by Birmingham luthier Rob Williams to my specification.  Cosmetically , it’s based on my ‘75 Fender Jazz except for the headstock which is a design based on a cross between a Music Man Stingray and a Yamaha 5 string design.  The woods are nothing fancy, maple neck and swamp ash body, but I asked Rob to stain the grain in the body of the bass so that it stands out.  I always feel that Jazz-style basses without a scratch plate look a bit unfinished, so in order to show the grain and colour, Rob made a transparent perspex scratch plate.  The colour and design of the bass and scratchplate owe a lot to a Music Man bass I had whilst in Ark, that unfortunately got badly burnt due to some errant pyrotechnics.  The neck design echoes the ‘75 with the black block markers and black binding to the neck.

In terms of mechanics, the neck is actually an inch longer than most basses, at 35”.  This helps to increase the power of the low B string – 5 string basses generally have an extra low string.  Pick ups are by Seymour Duncan, and the bass is passive, not active.  I found that my Rickenbacker, although not having a pre-amplifier in the guitar is actually tremendously powerful, so sound-wise, I’ve gone for something between the Jazz and the Rickenbacker.  Controls are as my Jazz, which I had Rob wire so that from top to bottom you have volume, pan pot between the two pick ups and tone, whereas a standard Jazz has two volume controls, one for each pick-up and a tone.

It’s a great sounding bass, very easy to play, and very natural.  Some more pictures can be seen over at the John Young web site of rehearsals.  I’ve also just bought a bass effects processor by Roland, basically the bass version of Mike’s effects, which should keep me noisy well into the new year.