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:
| Body: | Light Weight Center-Seam Clear Grade Alder |
| Neck: | Flat or Rift Sawn Hard Rock Maple |
| Fingerboard: | Quarter Sawn Rosewood Slab |
| Scale: | 34″ |
| Pickup: | Dakota Humbucker |
| Finish: | Nitrocellulose Lacquer With “Knock-Around” Treatment |
| Color: | Candy Apple Red |
| Pickguard: | Tortoise |
| Nut: | Aged Bone |
| Tuners: | Gotoh “Res-O-Lite” GBR 640 Nickel |
| Bridge: | Gotoh 203B-4 Nickel |
| Strings: | D'Addario EXL165 |
| Case: | G&G Vintage Style Black Tolex |
| Origin: | USA |
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
