Bass of the Week: John Sullivan Custom Bass
I’m always impressed when people build their own bass. This week we’re checking out a cool four-string built by John Sullivan, who was looking to create an instrument for a variety of sounds.
“I just wanted to share a bass I built this summer. I wanted it to be a versatile bass that a working musician could use for multiple sets a night,” he explains. “The goal was to be in the 9lb range and it finished out at 8.6lbs. This bass hangs very comfortably on your shoulder with zero neck dive. It’s able to produce a very nice jazz or p-bass sound simply working with the blend knob. The Delano preamp doesn’t boost the volume when activated with tone knobs set at the detent position.”
Sullivan built the bass with a cool offset swamp ash body finished in green and accented with a figured walnut pickguard. Its birdseye maple neck is topped with an ebony fretboard. Other features include a set of Delano pickups, a Delano Sonar preamp, and a Hipshot bridge.
John Sullivan Custom Bass Specs:
| Strings: | 4 |
| Construction: | Bolt-On |
| Scale: | 34? |
| Body: | Swamp Ash, one peice |
| Neck: | Birdseye Maple, tru oil & wax finish |
| Nut: | 1.5 |
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.
