Bass of the Week: Eastwood Guitars Airline Pocket Bass

Eastwood Guitars Airline Pocket Bass

Eastwood Guitars has a knack for recreating vintage basses in a modern format while retaining all their glorious mojo. That’s evident in their take on the Airline Pocket Bass, which was introduced two years ago through their crowd-funding platform.

“Vintage gear collector and ex-Bob Dylan sideman and Saturday Night Live bandleader GE Smith called the original Pocket Bass ‘the best recording basses around.’ The Airline Pocket Bass is one of those odd instruments that a lot of people asked us to reissue.”

Eastwood made a few upgrades to the original design from the ’60s. The scale length is a bit longer, although it is still a minuscule 26.5 inches. They also updated the bridge, which houses a more powerful piezo pickup. The bass forgoes a tone knob, instead opting for a knob that blends between the piezo pickup and the meaty humbucker. Other features include a mahogany body fitted with a finger rest and “tug bar,” a pao ferro fingerboard, and Gotoh style hardware.

You can hear the bass in this detailed demo by Premier Guitar’s Steve Cook:

Eastwood Guitars Airline Pocket Bass Specs:

Body:Mahogany
Colors:Black, Sunburst
Pickups:Humbucker Neck, Piezo Bridge
Controls:1 Volume 1 Pickup Blend
Bridge:Compensated Wood Bridge with Piezo pickup
Neck:Bolt-on Maple
Finger Board:Pao Ferro
Scale Length:26.5″ scale
Width at the Nut:1 1/2″
Hardware:Gotoh style Style Nickel/Chrome
Strings:#45-#105 Short Scale

Get Bass of the Week in your inbox.

Don’t miss a Bass of the Week. Sign up for email alerts (every Monday).

Share your thoughts