Signature Review: J-Bass

History: I have been playing of and on for 30 years,mostly small band based gigs and alone for myself entertainment,and sporadic Jams .I have a small homestudio.My main interest is fusion Jazz and funk slapstyle

Purchase: I bought my first of ebay from a seller Slonk 18 that bought the entire inventory when they went out of business.I bought a body and neck and had them assembled by them as a custom bass.I paid $530 for that one I now own 4 of them in the most eccentric colors and combinations, all between $500-$600

What I Like About This Signature J-Bass: The quality of these US made( Cranston /RI) instruments is remarkable, everything fits well and the necks are entirely handmade, as for the info from the seller.So my 4 necks are all jazz style but they are all different very slightly but different ,I love that feel of a handshaped neck.The finish is a superbly thick poly on 2 of them ,nitro on the other 2,( with some appropriate checking after the 15 years they were in storage) The sound is Ok nothing to write home about and it's missing some of the midrange growl but very punchy loud and very clear .I changed 2 of mine to Fralins and barts and now they are as sweet as can be.

What I Do NOT Like About The Signature J-Bass: My Ash is very heavy but that's not the bases fault, the weight was listed in the description but I bought it anyway, it looked so sweet.They are very limited in availability and only available through ebay,so I don't know what the customer service is like when I need it,but so far all correspondence with Goerdt is great and he seems to know what he is talking about

Signature J-Bass Quality Rating: The construction is solid as a rock, no cracks in the gluejoints on the sunburst and nicely grain matched on the clear. I have alder and ash, for the difference in sound.The pots are standart oriental quality and the wiring is adequate size.Nothing good or bad to say here.The pickups are handwound and potted and as mentioned earlier punchy, but sound is a taste thing so you decide.The string through body feature is an outstanding feature that gives me the best sustain possible without upgrading to the very costly Badass bridge, and according to my Luhtier they yield about the same sustain.The necks are nicely done ( handshaped), fretwork is good but on 2 I needed them leveled and dressed but that's OK for New old Stock that has been in storage for 15 years,The binding was perfect NO cracks and very nicely done.

Review Summary: I think I said it all in the preceeding chapters These basses rock and I would replace them or one at any time I just hope that they are still around when I do need to. I used to play Fender and I still have my 63 and 75( as collector items) the rest is gone,and adequately replaced by the Signatures

Rating of this Signature product: 5

This Signature J-Bass Bass Guitars Review Submitted By: Dennis "Slapman" Rayside

Review Date: 2007-03-14