Bass of the Week: Roger Blake Neo Classic Short-Scale

Bass builder Roger Blake sent us the details of his latest instrument, the Neo Classic Short-Scale bass. The bass features a short 30-inch scale and some incredible mojo.

Blake wrote an excellent description of the instrument, so we’ll let him take it from here.

“I call this instrument The Neo Classic Short-Scale Bass because I was inspired by the classic archtop guitars displayed at Rudy’s Music NYC, and it is a short-scale bass. I would make occasional trips to Rudy’s and admire the workmanship of these wonderful instruments. Eventually, I built this one.

“The neck is constructed of two pieces of figured maple. The neck is reinforced with a two-way adjustable and removable truss rod. There are two 1/8” x 3/8” carbon fiber neck rods on either side of the truss rod running the full length of the neck. The peg head is capped with Indian Rosewood and white binding. The nut is Graphtech TUSQ XL. The fretboard is Indian Rosewood, white binding, 30” scale, 21 frets, 10” radius, and 1 1/2” wide at the nut. The tuners are from BassParts.de.

“The peg head is inlayed with silver and gold mother of pearl. The fretboard is inlayed with silver, abalone, and white mother of pearl. The fretboard is fretted with a Jescar 55095 fret wire. The white binding has black side dots.

“The body is constructed of Sitka spruce, alder, and curly maple. The body is chambered. The neck is attached to the body with four 10-24 flathead machine screws, neck mounting ferrules, and brass threaded inserts. The bridge is a Hipshot-style brass bridge with .750” string spacing.

“The pickguard was made from tortoise celluloid nitrate with white, black, and white binding. The electronics are passive volume and tone. The pickup is a Nordstrand Zen Blade. The instrument is finished with nitrocellulose lacquer.”

Roger Blake Neo Classic Short-Scale Bass Specs: