Bass of the Week: Jimmy Haslip’s “Gabriella Rose” Bass by Wyn Guitars

Jimmy Haslip's Wyn Guitars Gabriella Rose Bass

The best basses come with great stories. Jimmy Haslip’s six-string bass from Wyn Guitars, called “Gabriela Rose,” is a great example. Wyn Guitars luthier Randy Fullmer recounts the whole process on his website.

“It’s a luthier’s dream to make an instrument for an artist with the stature and playing chops of Jimmy Haslip,” Fullmer humbly states. “I of course handled this assignment with complete calm and professionalism. It was basically five parts intense euphoria and eleven parts terror ride.”

After building a prototype in late 2008, a friend of Fullmer’s put him in touch with the Yellowjackets founder over email to try it out. The meeting ended with Haslip asking him to build a bass of his own and the collaboration began.

“I drew up a full sized set of plans after asking him a long list of questions,” the luthier explains. “I took several measurements from his favorite basses. He had me make minor shape adjustments to the body I had drawn which instantly made it better. I spent hours dragging out more than a dozen different species of hardwoods from Africa, South and Central America and the U.S. and laid them out with a transparent template. He gave serious attention to every set up I made for him.”

Ultimately the bass is built around a tapered core neck of wenge, padouk, and Eastern Rock Maple. The body’s wings are built with a core of sapele, a layer of wenge, then a gorgeous piece of cocobolo for the top and back. The cocobolo is where the one-of-a-kind bass gets its name.

“[Haslip] selected Cocobolo, a Central America Rosewood, for the body top and back. It was some pretty wild stuff with light amber sap wood mixed with very intense red heart wood. He noticed a completely amazing shape of a rose that naturally occurred on one of the boards. He said his daughter’s name was Gabriela Rose and he’d like to have that rose placed front and center with her name engraved around it.” The name Gabriela Rose was etched into the body by laser artist Haryn De Leon.

For more on Wyn Guitars, check out their website or our Custom Shop feature with Fullmer.

Wyn Guitars “Gabriella Rose” Bass Photos:

Wyn Guitars “Gabriella Rose” Bass Details:

  • Strings: 6
  • Body Core: Sapele, Wenge
  • Body Top: Cocobolo
  • Neck: African Wenge, Padouk, Eastern Rock Maple
  • Fretboard: Cocobolo
  • Pickups: Bartolini
  • Electronics: Bartolini
  • Bridge: Hipshot
  • Tuners: Hipshot
  • Finish: Clear with Slight Amber Tint
  • Other: “Gabriela Rose” Etched into Body

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  1. Wow, seriously pretty bass