Bass of the Week: Moonshine Custom Guitars Rat Rod J Bass
The Daily Funk Club’s Andy Irvine is a guy who knows what he wants in a bass. That’s why he reached out to Rick Wilson of Moonshine Guitars with some specifics in mind.
“He contacted me after seeing pics of my bass, he was looking for the feel of a well-played early 60’s Jazz as with the vintage look as well but taking it even further,” Wilson says. “Andy, who’s an amazing bass player as well as a really nice guy, wanted an over the top finish; he dug the foam green over sunburst and wanted one that’s heavily relic’d like mine. he had seen some of my builds with reversed headstocks (apparently another one of those love it or hate it styles), he’s a big fan of them so we went with a left-handed headstock.”
The bass, dubbed the Rat Rod J Bass, was built with two-piece alder body, a one-piece flat sawn maple neck, and a rosewood fretboard with clay face dot inlays. “Andy supplied the Bartolini single coil pickups and an early model 2-band Bartolini preamp,” Wilson adds. “I’m a huge fan of Bartolini, I’m old school enough that to me the standard when it comes to active bass tone is an early model Tobias bass with Bartolini soapbar pickups and that killer 3-band preamp.”
Moonshine Custom Guitars Rat Rod J Bass Features:
| Construction: | Bolt on |
| Body: | 2-piece alder, offset double cutaway |
| Neck: | 1-piece flat sawn maple with 20 fret rosewood fretboard (34″ scale, medium frets, 1 1/2″ nut width, clay face dots. 3/32″ pearl side dots), reversed (left hand) headstock |
| Pickups: | Bartolini single coil J style (60's spacing) |
| Controls: | Active Bartolini 2 band preamp |
| Bridge: | Hipshot B style |
| Tuners: | Hipshot HB3 (Left Hand) |
| Finish: | Foam green over 3 tone sunburst, matching peghead face, vintage style 3 ply tortoise pickguard, heavy relicing all over |
| Weight: | 8.2 lbs |
LOVED THAT RAT ROD MOONSHINE BASS SO MUCH THAT I COMMISSIONED MOONSHINE TO BUILD ME A 72 TELE BASS JUST LIKEIT…