The Austin Bass is a collaborative effort between Chuck Wilson and myself, in an effort to introduce a more traditional design bass to go along with our headless designs, The Absinthe and The Ace.

Chuck came up with the body shape design and headstock, and I worked on the pickup configuration, bridge and neck specifics, mainly that I wanted a bolt on neck. Also, I suggested the orange finish.

We have received our first shipment of these basses and I am truly impressed with the build quality and particularly the neck. The frets are dressed beautifully and the neck feels comfortable and fast.

The Korean pickups sound fine and the finish is amazing also. I do want to tweak a few things with the control cavity, and also the potentiometer used, but the instrument is a definite winner in my eyes. We will be updating information about pricing and availability soon.

In the meantime, I am using mine as a test project for several ideas. So far, I have installed a Hipshot Kick Ass bridge, a new wiring harness with upgraded pots and a volume/blend/tone configuration. This alone has improved the instrument, but I also installed Seymour Duncan Antiquity II pups and a bass ramp. I am loving these mods and it just shows what you can do to tweak to your liking.

I have also ordered Arcane pups to try since my harness has solderless connections. More on that in the future.

So, stay tuned for more on The Austin Bass…. I think it is a worthy contender!

Roger Kohrs