Bass of the Week: Beardly Customs Fretless Five-String
Rick Link of Beardly Customs shared his latest fretless build with us, and it’s a killer. The 35-inch scale bass features neck-through construction with a three-piece maple and purpleheart neck topped by a cocobolo fingerboard with maple fret lines. Its body is even more intricate.
“It has a 10 piece Zebrawood/maple, walnut/maple, cedar/maple, walnut/maple, zebrawood/mahogany body with wenge/flamed maple cats eyes,” Link tells us. “Wenge back center piece and wenge control cover. The headstock has padouk on the outer sides.”
The bass is completed with Hipshot hardware, a Bartolini DL5CBC pickup, and a three-way coil selector switch.
Beardly Customs Fretless 5-String Bass Specs:
| Scale: | 35″ |
| Construction: | Neck-Through |
| Body: | 10-piece Zebrawood/Maple/Walnut/Cedar/Mahogany |
| Neck: | 3-piece Maple/Purpleheart with Carbon Fiber Reinforcements |
| Fingerboard: | Cocobolo |
| Fret Lines: | Maple |
| Pickup: | Bartolini DL5CBC |
| Electronics: | Passive |
| Controls: | Vol/Tone/3-Way Coil Selector |
| Tuners: | Hipshot Ultralite |
| Bridge: | Hipshot KickAss |
| String Spacing: | 18mm |
| Weight: | Approx. 10 lbs |
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.
