Bass of the Week: Fender Custom Shop Adrian Younge Jazz Bass

Fender Custom Shop Adrian Younge BassEvery instrument from the Fender Custom Shop is extraordinary, but some pieces are absolute masterpieces. Master builder Vincent Van Trigt created one when he built this jaw-dropping Jazz Bass for producer and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Younge.

Aside from its stunning Aged Silver Sparkle finish, the four-string is packed with an incredible set of features. First up is its fingerboard, which is half fretless. The portion above the 9th fret is epoxied and raised to keep a smooth transition between the fretted and fretless sections.

Although the axe has Jazz Bass dimensions, the pickup set is far from standard. Van Trigt fitted it with a Novak BiSonic pickup in the neck position and a hand-wound 60’s P-Bass pickup in the middle position. But that’s not all Younge has in the arsenal. The bassist requested the Fender team put in a built-in fuzz modeled after his Ace Tone Bass 9 unit. The circuit was created by Fender R&D Vice President Stan Cotey, who also included a repeat percussion circuit.

“This encapsulated everything that I wanted in a bass sound,” Younge states. “I wanted the punchy midrange with low end. I wanted to use a classic type of fuzz that we never really hear at all… My dream came true of creating the perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect bass.”

Luckily, Fender featured the bass in their Dream Factory video series. Hear the bass in action with all the gritty details:

Thanks to Master Builder Vincent Van Trigt for the spec list and shop photos! All other photos by Han-Su Kim.

Fender Custom Shop Adrian Younge Custom Jazz Bass Specs:

Construction:Bolt-on
Scale:34″
Body:Alder
Neck:Quartersawn Maple
Fingerboard:Rosewood
Frets:Half Fretted, Half Fretless
Fretboard Radius:9.5″
Nut:Bone
Nut Width:1.5″
Neck Shape:Like Jaco
Pickups:Novak BiSonic, Handwound 60’s P Bass
Electronics:Custom Onboard Fuzz and Percussion Circuits
Controls:2 Push/Pull, Pickup Switch
Bridge:Vintage
Color:Aged Silver Sparkle

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Share your thoughts

  1. Hans

    Alphonso Johnson’s Ibanez Musician bass also was half fretless (1980-ies or something)

  2. Pete SI

    I would have liked to hear more of the bass

  3. Guillaume Besson

    Fuzz is rarely used on bass?
    Yeah right…