Swope Guitars Unveils the Dakota Bass

Swope Guitars has unveiled a new bass model called the Dakota. The retro-styled bass features a slickly contoured lightweight alder body in Candy Apple Red.

Its neck is flat or rift-sawn hard rock maple that is topped with a quarter-sawn rosewood slab fingerboard. Luthier Chris Swope gives the bass a nitrocellulose lacquer with something he calls the “Knock-around” treatment. “I offer two styles of finish, ‘Knock-Around’ and ‘Drag-Around,'” he explains on his website. “I want these guitars to be played. They are not garage queens. A “Knock-Around” will have nice finish checks and maybe a little doink here or there. While still a very clean guitar, the slight relic job takes the fear factor out of playing the guitar lest you put a mark on it. A “Drag-Around” is a full on heavy relic.” A tortoise pickguard ties the look together.

Swope fits the bass with his own Dakota humbucker pickup as well as Gotoh hardware. Other features include an aged bone nut, a 34-inch scale, and a G&G vintage-tyle black tolex case. The Swope Guitars Dakota Bass has a base price of $2899 with an option of active electronics (Aguilar DB1 pre-amp installed) for $3150.

Swope Guitars Dakota Bass Specs: