Bootleg Guitars Introduces Dawg Pounder Bass

Jon Hill of Bootleg Guitars decided to get back to basics with his new Dawg Pounder model.

“I’ve been preaching simplicity lately: 1 humbucker 1 knob,” the luthier explained. “I feel guitars kinda went through a ‘Big Hair’ phase and I’m back in the garage with the garage bands!”

Bootleg Guitars Dawg Pounder Bass

Delivered in a sleek, black satin finish, the Pounder lives up to Hill’s words and sports a a single Bartolini BC4CBC-T humbucker with a single volume knob. The body is Northern ash while the neck is made from quartersawn hard rock maple. It’s available in four and five string versions with scale lengths of 34? and 35?, respectively.

The Bootleg Guitars Dawg Pounder is made entirely in the U.S. with a street price of $1699. For more info, check out the Bootleg Guitars website.

Bootleg Guitars Dawg Pounder Photo Gallery:

Bootleg Guitars Dawg Pounder Specs:

  • Body: Northern Ash
  • Construction: Bolt-on
  • Neck: Quartersawn Hard Rock Maple
  • Frets: 24
  • Scale: 34? (35? for 5-string)
  • Inlay: Black Dot
  • Tuners: Hipshot Ultralight
  • Bridge: Hipshot
  • Nut: Solid Brass
  • Pickups: Bartolini BC4CBC-T Humbucker
  • Finish: Black Satin

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Share your thoughts

  1. THE BIG KNOB LOOKS UGLY.

  2. alot of money for not alot of bass.

  3. That thing looks Sweet! I’ve got a Custom Dawg Bass and the quality is off the chart! I Love it so much I ordered a Custom Dawg Guitar… Jon Hill and Bootleg Guitars are Top Shelf!

  4. Really like the look, but at that price? come on. You’re paying for a basic ash bodied, maple necked bass with 1 pickup. $1700? no thanks.

  5. yep works fo me. how much?

  6. Seems fun… may sounds! but… even if it’s a luthier’s work, gosh…. 1700 bucks! with a basic bartolini pickup you can find anywhere… are we paying for a “hype” again?

  7. The volume knob is way oversized for the the bass and the price is ridiculous for a single pickup bass with a normal ash body and a maple neck. PT Barnum must be so proud.

  8. Goofy and overpriced imo.

  9. £500 rather than £1000 would be more realistic.

  10. Good to know that bass guitars are becoming a matter of fashion vs. versatility. He should slap a gucci logo on this somewhere and double the price.

    Jesus.

  11. “I’m back in the garage with the garage bands!” , yeah, because garage band bassplayer can afford a $1700 bass right?

  12. just another bass guitar that the world was not really waiting for….:-)

  13. The name needs some serious work. “Dawg Pounder” doesn’t exactly sound too good.

  14. originality: ZERO. come on, I know this should go back to the “basics” but does that mean, it has to be unoriginal too?

  15. Holy gawd people are so critical of luthier designs on this site! He’s not trying to insult anyones wallet by forcing you to buy it, just appreciate it as a fine instrument that he took the time, skill and effort to make when everyone else sat around on their bums as arm chair experts.

  16. Has anyone actually tried it? No? Good, shut the fuck up till then on being critical…

  17. I dig the philosophy. Plug it in, turn it up, go to work. And all hand made, by one guy, for you, for less than 2 grand…in America, by a well respected luthier with almost 30 years of experience? Sold.

  18. I lived in Cleveland while going to Case Western Reserve University for a year before transferring to Berklee College of Music. I was interested in finding a unique bass at the time that played very well, and possibly a 5 string model. I was looking for a neck that was similar to a Lakland US 44-94 model but not as expensive. I tried one of Jon Hill’s Bootleg original dawg bass designs (because they were made locally in Cleveland, OH) and it played and sounded amazing. Jon was very accommodating and we arranged for a time when I could meet him and see his workshop studio and try his basses. The neck was extremely familiar and played well, and the body design sat well on my leg while sitting, was well balanced standing up, looked stylish, and sounded great! I really would encourage anyone to try these basses (as I would any bass, really) before making assumptions. Hill is an excellent instrument maker and has had years of experience… The reason his basses are priced where they are (which I would agree may be just a couple $100 over-priced due to simplicity of design, but are still pretty fair) is because they are handmade, one instrument at a time.. You don’t get cheap basses under $1,000 for all of the attention to detail and manual design/building time it takes for making a handmade instrument.
    Peace!

  19. Love all the great comments, I wanted to clarify one thing however, this is the Pounder Bass model, the Dawg Bass is another bass we offer which is basically the same shape but with a pickgaurd.

  20. pas

    There’s story about this company at Talkbass threads/custom-made-or-home-made-myth-of-custom-basses.1551474/