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See high resolution photos here.
The first photos, and as I was dissatisfied with those, here are three more photos
I've always been a fretless bass player at heart. For seven years I played almost
exclusively my Acacia 4-string fretless. When I got my first
ERB, the Listerud 7-string, it quickly became obvious that I
had to have a fretless with more strings.
So I contacted Brian Barrett at The Low End, who had
been a dealer of Acacia basses when Matt Friedman were in the business, and who now is the
main dealer of Benavente basses. I asked
him if he could help me get a great six-string fretless, and if I could give him my old
Acacia fretless as a down payment. This was in January 2005. We discussed the details a bit,
and I sent the Acacia off to Brian on the 13th. Most of the features of the new Benawente
were set by the end of that month. The top wood was a bit difficult to choose (it is, in my
opinion, the least important factor of a bass, but it's nice to get the "right" one) but
we settled on the Amboyna in March. Here are the final specs:
Benavente Vortex six-string bass
34 inch scale length 3 piece Maple neck, set-neck construction
lined fretless Ebony fingerboard, stabilized (acrylized) to make it extra hard
two magnetic pickups: one "slim" in bridge position, one "wide" in neck position
the standard Benavente 3-band EQ active preamp
piezo pickups in the bridge (this is where things start to get interesting)
Roland GK pickup and electronics built-in (with the 13-pin connector nicely set by the output jack)
White Limba (Korina) body with Amboyna burl top (and matching headstock cap)
standard ebony wood for pickup covers and control knobs
standard semi gloss finish, graphite neck reinforcements
standard HipShot ultralite hardware, black
Click here for the building diary (lots of photos, may be slow)