RICK KENNELL'S MEDIUM SCALE BASS GUITAR COLLECTION

(With apologies for the quality of some of the photos, new photos underway!)

PAUL REED SMITH 1977 HEIRLOOM BASS GUITAR

PAUL REED SMITH (PRS) CUSTOM BASS: Above is my PRS Bass Serial #11 - Paul Reed Smith and his partner John Ingram originally built me #7 - but there were neck problems and I inherited this bass, Serial Number #11 as detailed below from 1977. The original bass #7, had a thin neck similar to a Rickenbacker, while #11 had a neck shape with a lot more wood, shaped more to Paul's liking. The bass is perfect; except for normal wear there is not a nick, scratch, ding and no hint of buckle rash. It was conceived and built as a twin of #7 - except for the neck shape and heavier, darker more figured mahogany - in Paul's tiny original second floor shop in Annapolis, Maryland. The details on this one-of-a-kind instrument are detailed in the Vintage Guitar Magazine article directly below. PRS makes guitars that are not only superior in functionality, playability and tone, but they are also incredible works of art. Here is the original bass, PRS #7:

FROM VINTAGE GUITAR MAGAZINE

 

Rick Kennell's PRS bass from 1977 is on the left, with the new PRS Private Stock fretless bass on the right - which was recently crafted from Paul's library and the PRS Vault - you know, the "holy grail" wood collection - which contains Paul's most precious exhibition-quality wood discoveries from over the past 15 years. Interesting how everything old is suddenly new again as the latest bass is a modern fretless version of PRS #11. With all the trendy, exotic, gourmet woods floating around, Paul happily seems to be heading back to the basics with this new offering and the pre-factory days with the simplicity of this bass. Other than the updated electronics, and the variation in the headstock shape, the two instruments appear to be twins - even though they were crafted nearly thirty-five years apart! If it ain't broke, don't fix it. For more on PRS guitars: PRS Guitars.

CUSTOM VIOLA BASS WITH LINE 6 ELECTRONICS TRANSPLANT

CUSTOM DESIGNED VIOLA BASS: This custom 32" scale Viola Bass was designed by Rick, built by Steve Cyr and finished by Keith Roscoe. The template for the body was a Stadivarius violin, which was increased from 16" long to viola size, 17" long, The body was then widened slightly and the cutaway designed. The electronics package is from a Variax Line Six bass. and features 24 different vintage and modern basses sounds, which are modeled within the scope of the electronics. The headstock was designed by Steve Cyr, and the bass plays like a dream. The bass was constructed and assembled more like a violin than a bass guitar; If you would like to follow the process of building this bass, please proceed HERE.

"WILMA" - DRAKE CUSTOM SEMI-HOLLOW BASS

DRAKE CUSTOM SEMI-HOLLOW BASS: "Wilma" is a semi-hollow bodied bass with a 32" scale neck that was completed in Aug of 2011. This bass features a quarter sawn Wenge neck with 2 carbon fiber stab bars and a dual action truss rod to stabilize the neck. The fret board is of Wenge lined with figured Mahogany fret board binding and flashy MOP trapazoid inlays marking the positions. Her peghead is covered by a Quilted Maple veneer on the front and a Mahogany veneer on the back. Wilma’s curvy body consists of a 100 year old Mahogany core, taken from the original Hoover House in Des Moines, Iowa, with a back that has been hollowed out to reduce weight and give her that semi-hollow tone. Her body is topped with 5A grade Quilted Maple. She is wired up with EMG HB pickups wired in an active 9 volt configuration. Her hardware is Hipshot brand Ultra-lite tuners and a Hipshot brand 2 point Super tone bridge. Ebony control knobs and a Wenge truss cover complete her details. She is finished in a durable oil varnish that gives her a satin luster and protects her from moisture and wear. For more on Andrew Drake and his custom creations go here.

KEITH ROSCOE BIRD'S EYE MAPLE MIDI BASS GUITAR

ROSCOE CUSTOM BIRDSEYE MAPLE MIDI BASS: This custom 32" scale Roscoe has a complete RMC peizo/midi system built in to the electronics with a 13 pin output as well as a standard 1/4" jack. This allows it to be used as a midi controller in order to trigger keyboards and other midi orchestral sound modules. When Keith originally built this bass for me, it also had Bartolini magnetic pickups. At band rehearsals, every time I turned the magnetic pickups off and just used the piezos, the band would go,"Whoa, what did you change, that sounds great!" I found I wasn't using the magnetic pickups, so I sent the bass back to Keith and asked him to make an entirely new body, eliminating the magnetic pickups altogether. The spanish cedar body is stained a dark cherry red, the neck is made with alternating layers of maple and purple heartwood. The gorgeous bird's eye maple top is finished in a vintage amber. The spalted purple heartwood fingerboard features a stunning chocolate and vanilla stripe. This bass is on the heavy side due to the density of the bird's eye maple. It also features LED's to light up the fingerboard dots and a drop D tuner. This bass and the Roscoe below are the basses that you hear on the most recent Happy the Man CD "The Muse Awakens".

KEITH ROSCOE BUCKEYE BURL MIDI BASS GUITAR

ROSCOE CUSTOM BUCKEYE BURL MIDI BASS: As it turned out, I needed a second bass for "live" use in case I broke a string, so except for the wood, this bass is virtually an identical twin to the vintage amber Roscoe above. The body, made of high quality Spanish cedar is highly prized as the wood commonly used to make high end cigar humidors. It is light but shares many physical and tonal characteristics of honduras mahogany. This bass is much lighter than the bird's eye maple Roscoe above and the top is highly figured buckeye burl, wood that I hand picked at Keith's shop prior to construction. The Spanish cedar is also dyed a very deep cherry red to match the purple heartwood stripe - which goes down the center of the maple neck - with a spalted purpleheart fingerboard which also gives the chocolate/vanilla effect. Along with the RMC Peizo system, it also sports switchable LED's as position markers on the side of the fingerboard and a Hipshot drop D tuner. Below are some photos of the wood before the build with the fingerboard resting on top of the buckeye burl. That is Keith in the photo on the right. The shots were taken inside of his paint booth and Keith dampened the wood down with a wet cloth to accent the grain:

For more on Keith Roscoe and his incredible line of basses go here: roscoe basses

ROB ALLEN CUSTOM SPALTED AND FLAMED MAPLE "MOUSE"

CUSTOM ROB ALLEN ACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC MOUSE: This Mouse features a 30" scale and was handcrafted by luther extraordinaire Rob Allen. On one of his trips to Santa Barbara, Rob was gracious enough to allow Rick to visit his shop and pick out the incredible spalted AND flamed maple top. The body is light, dry honduras mahogany and the neck is highly-figured birds eye maple. The fret board is a super dark piece of brazilian rosewood, although it looks like ebony. Ebony works great on the fret less mouse, but the frets with the brittle ebony can sound slightly clacky. There are also LED's used in side of the fingerboard for position markers along with a Hipshot drop D tuner. It is topped off with black tape wound LaBella strings. The short scale makes this bass the perfect songwriting tool and the workmanship on this instrument is second to none. For more information on Rob Allen basses go here: Rob Allen Basses

WARWICK ALIEN ACOUSTIC BASS GUITAR

WARWICK MEDIUM SCALE ACOUSTIC BASS GUITAR: I just picked up this Alien recently as one of the few high end acoustic bass guitars on the market in medium scale. I love the versatility of the Fishman acoustic guitar system and this bass sounds amazing even without amplification. Finally, you can easily keep up with a couple of acoustic guitars without an amp in the room! Of course, being a pick player, I simply could not deal with that confounded thumb rest, so I enlisted my buddy and guitar guru - John Ingram and his associates - to get rid of it for me. As you can see from the photo below, Warwick uses a series of exacto knife cuts into that perfectly beautiful spruce to secure that god awful thumbrest with glue.

Although the visual impact was minimal, I simply can't live with an instrument that has this type of a flaw. So, in the end the perfect solution was to place and glue a beautiful slice of rosewood veneer in it's place. Here is what the bass now looks like:

GRETSCH LIMITED EDITION "ELECTROMATIC" BASS

LIMITED EDITION GRETSCH "ELECTROMATIC" BASS: I have always wanted a Gretsch bass, but the only reasonable choices I was ever able to find were either 30" short scale or 34" long scale offerings. This single cutaway hollowbody beauty is a limited edition and reasonably rare model - offered exclusively at Guitar Center for a doorbuster special in 2010. There was only one per store, and not every store got one. For the folks who managed to get their hands on one, they picked up a big hollow sunset orange bass with two TV Jones ThunderTron pickups. The fretboard is rosewood, with neo-classic/thumbnail inlays. The body is laminated maple with a bound top and back. The bridge is a rosewood based Adjustomatic four saddle. It plays, feels and records great and I am very grateful to have a Gretsch that I can get around on with a fair amount of chops!

FENDER 1951 PRECISION BASS

1951 FENDER PRECISION REPLICA IN MEDIUM 32" SCALE: This has been one of the most interesting and rewarding projects I have undertaken. I have always wanted an original 1951 P Bass, but could never get around gracefully on the longer standard 34" scale necks. It is interesting to note that Fender Japan made a few batches of medium scale Fender basses in the mid 1980's. I managed to score a Fender Jazz bass from this era with a maple fingerboard. I have been told that there were very few Fender basses made during this era in 32" medium scale with maple fingerboards. Here is the photo of the original 1980's Jazz Bass which I purchased from Japan:

Here is the head stock of the red Fender Jazz clearly showing the Fender brand and how we trimmed it to make it into a telecaster bass type headstock:.

It is very interesting to note that Fender actually reduces the entire body size slightly on the 32" scale models in order to bring the neck pocket size down to the thinner neck heel size required by the medium scale neck. I enlisted Steve Cyr of Cyr Guitars in California to make a one piece swamp ash body, copying the original P Bass but reducing the size slightly to the correct neck pocket fit. I then had my buddy ex-PRS co-founder John Ingram and his staff cut the head stock down to the "Telecaster" shape as above. When I received the body from Steve Cyr, I realized that the neck had settled and needed re fretting. I then sent the guitar down to John Ingram formerly of PRS Guitars - and John and Eric finished the body, finished and polished the edges of the pick guard that Steve had made - and tinted the neck to match the vintage color of the body. John also re fretted the neck and set up the bass and it now plays and intonates like a dream. The kicker is that I actually prefer the slimmer profile of the Jazz bass at the nut to the Precision profile, so this neck works out perfectly for me. The only compromise from the original P Bass is I have an updated Fender bridge with four separate bridge saddles. I found that the original bridge just couldn't be dialed in to properly intonate all four strings. It has a Lindy Fralin vintage P Bass pickup and the standard Fender electronics. It is strung with Labella "Deep Talkin Bass" flat wounds which go through the body. This bass is a beast, and the Fender US Custom Shop wanted over $6,000.00 to build this bass in 32" scale for me.

FENDER 1966 PRECISION "HOT ROD BASS"

1966 FENDER PRECISION REPLICA "HOT ROD BASS" IN MEDIUM 32" SCALE: This has also been a very interesting project. I picked up a 1980's Fender P Bass from Japan and had the body custom painted by Mike Pranger to exactly match the paint that my custom car shop in Indiana used to paint my 1929 Ford Model A Hot Rod. The neck is maple with a beautiful rosewood fingerboard. Steve Cyr did an immaculate job of refinishing and tinting the neck vintage amber and finishing it in satin for me. The same pin striper who striped the car Jim Studinsky, also pin striped the bass in red and white highlights to match the car. It features a Seymour Duncan Basslines pickup and a custom diamond metal control plate. The chrome knobs have mother of pearl inserts and the DM Strings Red Roundwounds are a take off on the red grill of the car. A battery powered Roland Cube bass amp lives in the trunk of the car and the bass always goes to the car shows. For more about the Mutt Rod go here: MUTT ROD RESTORATION

FENDER 1962 JAZZ BASS

1962 FENDER JAZZ BASS REPLICA IN MEDIUM 32" SCALE: With the exception of the Fender Aerodyne basses, I think this is the only new medium scale standard Jazz Bass or Precision Bass currently offered in Japan for sale. This one is stock with an alder body except for the fact that I had John Ingram take the neck down to a satin finish. I can't handle any gloss finishes on the neck, so all of my necks have satin finishes. Gotta love that classic Fender three color burst, rosewood board, tortoise shell pick guard and factory vintage tinted neck. She's a honey and plays like a dream and has that vintage Fender J-Bass sound.

FENDER STU HAMM "URGE I" BASS GUITAR

FENDER STU HAMM "URGE I" MEDIUM SCALE BASS: As far as I know, this is a rare original Stu Hamm Urge I model bass made in Mexico, but I have to wonder if it's some kind of prototype or something. I bought it second hand on Ebay and the original owner swore that the electronics and controls were all original. The pickups are the active EMG's which sound great. Unlike any other Stu Hamm model I have ever seen, this one simply has volume one, volume two and tone, like a regular Jazz Bass. All of the early Stu Hamm models I have seen have "stacked" tone controls (see photo below). From Wikopedia: "There was also a short-lived Urge Standard which was made in Mexico between 1993 and 1999, featuring a medium 32"-scale length, two standard Jazz Bass pickups and passive circuitry with dual concentric volume and tone for each pickup." With this in mind, I have no idea what is up with the non dual concentric knobs on this bass. It is also very odd that the jack and jack plate are on the edge of the bass, unlike the other Urge I basses I have seen. They normally have the jack on the body where the tone control is located on this bass. (Again, see photo below) It is appears that this jack configuration was done at the factory and is not a post factory modification. Anyone have any thoughts or has anyone seen another bass like this one? I am not enamored at all by the body shape or feel, it's too small and too light for me - feels like maybe basswood - but I am in love with the neck. It is maple with a mahogany stripe and I believe it has a pau ferro fingerboard. As far as I know, it's the only 24 fret, full two octave medium scale production neck ever made by Fender. However, as you probably know, the Fender Urge II basses now have full size 34" necks. My plan is to make a Fender 24 with a slightly downsized body to accommodate the 32" neck in tiger stripe maple with a tiger eye finish to accept this 24 fret neck. Any star luthier's out there need a project? Email me. Here is a photo and all of the Stu Hamm Urge I MIM basses I have ever been able to see with two Jazz Style pickups look like this. Please note the differences described above:

FENDER "T-BUCKET" ACOUSTIC BASS

FENDER T-BUCKET ACCOUSTIC BASS GUITAR: This Fender medium scale bass is great for writing or just banging around on. It has some interesting acoustic sounds and is great to take along to informal acoustic jams or even to the beach. With a really sophisticated Fishman preamp and EQ system and built in tuner, it just feels right for a variety of applications. The T-Bucket Bass is the first bass guitar in Fender's Hot Rod Design series - and it sounds great unplugged or amplified. You get the best of both worlds - mellow, woody acoustic bass tones that provide solid rhythm without sounding boomy, and thick, punchy electrified tones.

 

MYTHBUSTING: THE BASS RANT ABOUT SCALE LENGTH

I wanted to comment and even rant a little on standard long scale (34”) versus standard medium scale (32”) basses. I know this will be controversial to some bass players, probably to most, but I feel compelled to spill my guts on this. I don't have much recent experience with standard short scale (30”) basses, (except my Rob Allen Mouse); but I grew up playing a Gibson EBO and a Fender Mustang, along with a short scale Kalamazoo bass. I currently find the short scale Rob Allen tons of fun for songwriting, because it is so fun and easy to play - I can work on it for hours and hours with no stress or fatigue.  However, when I first discovered the medium scale basses, it was like coming home for me.I have been hearing all about the superiority of long scale 34" basses most of my natural life and frankly, I am sick of it. The physics guys will explain all day why the medium scale is inferior - string isn't long enough, vibrates slower (or faster), tension is more (or less) longer string length creates more overtones or more harmonics, blah blah blah. I have heard them all over the years. In the end it's all about ears, not physics.

What I would like to see, for example, is a standard Fender Jazz 34" scale bass vs a medium scale 32" Fender Jazz from the same era, same pickups, same strings, same body wood, same fingerboard, same control settings - in a studio somewhere, run through the exact same electronics signal path - in a blindfold test. My contention is that not a person in the room could tell the difference. You could also do the test with a long scale and medium scale Stu Hamm. That would work fine as long as all things were reasonably equal.

Let me say a few words in support of my position. In Japan in the mid eighties, Fender Japan made quite a few medium scale basses. I have seen Fender Jazz Basses and Fender Precision Basses from this era (bought a couple, actually) and also some of the Fender Squier models in medium scale. I personally believe that this is due to the smaller hands and smaller stature of the Japanese people. They wanted a bass that was easier to play. There may be other reasons, feel free to enlighten me if you know of them. All of these basses when available used - on Ebay or in shops - go like hot cakes to the diligent medium scale bass crowd. A lot of these medium scale fans happen to be guitar players. The 30" scale does not always whet their bass appetites as the scale is too small and too similar to the guitar. In my experience - when introduced to it - they always seem to prefer the 32" scale.

When Keith Roscoe finished my first 32" scale bass he was overwhelmed with how amazing the bass sounded the first time he plugged it in. When I got to North Carolina to pick it up he had this funny look on his face and he said: "I have heard so much over the years about this 34" vs 32" scale length thing, but let me tell you - this is one of the best sounding basses I have ever heard, period!" I believe at the time that my first Roscoe was his first 32" scale bass, although he made another "twin" for me later on and may have made a few since. Keith if you see this feel free to weigh in.

I do realize that the reviews are mixed at best on PRS Basses, but Paul Reed Smith's standard bass neck was 32" scale for years. When I was at A&M Studios in Hollywood with Ken Scott producing our first record, Stanley Clarke was sharing the studio with us; we working noon to midnight, he working midnight to noon. We befriended each other via Ken Scott and he offered to let me use any of his basses that were laying around in the studio (he took the Alembics home with him). I particularly liked a certain vintage Jazz bass he had, so I brought it in strapped it on, plugged it in, hit four or five notes - Ken only shook his head "No" and without saying a word, he pointed back to the PRS and smiled. For those in the know, Ken probably has ears in the top .1% of the world, as evidenced by his work with Jeff Beck, Billy Cobham, Supertramp, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie and more. Here he was, preferring my PRS medium scale to the full scale Jazz Bass. I realize that in certain respects we are talking apples and oranges to a degree here, but the story still sticks. I had recorded one of our bass tracks with the PRS and Ken asked me to "double" portions of it. When Stanley arrived at the studio that day, Ken was so infatuated with the sound of the track, he grabbed him right away and played it for him. He simply smiled and congratulated me with VERY wide eyes; as he KNOWS the sound, power and value of a quality medium scale bass via his Alembics. Although, this was 1977 and Paul was a virtual unknown - he then wanted to check out this bass made by this young luthier from Maryland. It's really too bad that Paul - like most luthiers - eventually moved to the standard 34" long scale. I for one certainly lost interest in his basses at that point. There are many more stories; I really want to bust this incredible myth that medium scale basses are somehow inferior to long scale basses. Quite simply - they aren't!

If anyone has seen the April 2011 Bass Player magazine, which just arrived with Jonas Hellborg on the cover - that $12,000 Warwick bass he is holding - which he designed along with Warwick - is ONLY available in medium scale. Ever wonder about the Beatles? Much of their catalog was amazingly recorded with a Hofner short scale bass. And there are so many others, including Stanley Clarke - forget about playability issues - even with his huge hands Stanley simply fell in love with the SOUND of the medium scale Alembics and of course the piccolo basses he is known to play. I have seen too many talented young bass players to be, give up on the instrument because the neck was too large and they couldn't’t get around properly on that good old standard "Fender" bass - You know the "cool" one their older brother or cousin had laying around? For some reason, the shorter necks have gotten a bad rap as being somehow inferior or undesirable and that the basses they are attached to don't sound as deep or as full or as rich as the longer scale ones. I am here to tell you - that is pure hogwash. It's a shame Fender has abandoned the medium scale basses even on the Squier or "student" models and also on the Stu Hamm models. Hopefully this rant and the beauty of the instruments above can have at least some small effect on reversing this disappointing trend with the bassists of the future.

 

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