Bravewood Guitars Punk Jazz Tribute J-Bass

http://www.bravewoodguitars.co.uk/punkjazz.html

Built by John Elliot at Bravewood Guitars, this is my "Punk Jazz" J-Bass, a tribute to the greatest bassist to ever pick up the instrument, Jaco Pastorius. It's a fretless Jazz-Bass, '60-'61 alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, clay dots, sunburst body distressed to resemble Jaco's famous "bass of doom" (complete with pickguard, mute and bridge cover holes). Pickups are single coil, in the usual positions, with the '62 Jazz Bass control configuration, and they've carried the vintage look throughout with CTS pots and vintage looking wire (the stuff covered with material). All hardware has been aged in keeping with the overall vibe of the bass, which is well-used and gigged. The neck has fret markers, and the fingerboard has been treated with epoxy, as Jaco's was. The back of the neck has been aged and smoothed to give the feeling of being well used, and it works. To look at this bass , you'd think it was over 40 years old and gigged every night. To play, it feels as comfortable as slipping on an old pair of shoes, it plays that well and feels that familiar, which is a testament to John's craftsmanship and attention to detail.

If I didn't tell you it was only a matter of months old, you'd never guess from examining it. The bass arrived EXACTLY as I requested.

This bass plays so smooth, its not true. I play all sorts of stuff, from funk to jazz, and provided your intonation is right on, you'll manage any style. Of course, it has that "Jaco" tone to it. I played the melody from one of my daughter's favourite songs on it, and she said it sounded like it was singing, which is a fair description of the sound. I've tried it through a couple of different amps, and it always has that characteristic Jazz growl. If you've ever heard Jaco's playing, you know the sound of this bass already. Although I haven't played it out live yet, I would, because I know what sounds it is capable of producing.

The first thing I played after getting the bass was Jaco's tune "Continuum", and I had to stop after a couple of secs because the sound was so like Jaco's bass, I couldn't play for laughing!

I was worried about the set-up, since fretless basses are notoriously hard to set-up properly, but there seem to be no problems here. It played well straight out of the box, although I did adjust the action slightly to suit. No flaws to speak of, unless you count the ones I specified to be put on the guitar in the first place! John hand crafts his guitars to your instructions, you're not gonna get a more exact neck pocket fit than on a guitar which has been custom-built from scratch for you. Holding up the bass and checking out the surface of the body, its amazing how realistic John had got it looking. Cracks, worn paint, it's all there as it would be on a real bass of its age. And the epoxy is smooth as a baby's bottom, and plays amazingly. From pictures of Jaco's bass I knew what mine should look like, John's done it down to a T, so this is a well deserved 10.

This bass is built exactly as a J-Bass of its age would have been built: solid! Hence the reason so many pre-CBS Jazz Basses are around today. The finish is nitro-cellulose, which does wear off, but that's what you want in a relic guitar.

I'd never play any gig without a backup, regardless of the bass I had. You never know what's going to happen....

John quoted me 3-4 months to build my bass, and he didn't exceed this at all. While he was building, I had to resist temptation to email him every week (I managed to keep it to monthly!), but when I did contact him he was completely courteous, and he knew his stuff which was very important to me. Being as how John is a fan of Jaco also, I didn't really have to specify too much on the look or condition of the bass, I left it to him to build it as he saw fit. He sent me email updates, and pictures of the work in progress. Once completed, he then sent me shots of the bass for my approval. Since I've not long had it built, I've never had to have it repaired, but I'm sure if I contacted John with any problems, he'd see to it. Bravewood are a small company, so I'd guess that reputation is very important to them. There is a 12 month guarantee on the bass.

I had John build this guitar after seeing examples of his work at his website, and reading the reviews of customers here at Harmony Central who've purchased guitars from him. Fender make a Jaco relic model, which including VAT works out at #3149 here in the UK, and I personally grudge laying out that kind of money for a bass which can only be an approximation of Jaco's, and especially since the distressing carried out by Fender doesn't look at all real. Bravewood built my "Punk Jazz" for less than a third of Fender's UK list price, spent more time over the detailing and construction, and taking all this into account there's only gonna be one winner. There's no way it'll ever be lost because I won't be letting it out of my sight, but if it were stolen I'd be inconsolable since mine is the first Jaco replica John has built, but I'd dry those tears up, hunt down the thief and beat them to death, pausing only to order another exact same bass from Bravewood.

Anyone who's played or owns a Jazz Bass knows they're not built to be flash. They're basic and functional, they sound good and this is why they've been one of the top choice of bassists for years, both in studio and live work. Jaco's home made fretless has to be the most famous Jazz of them all, and John Elliot has, in my opinion, successfully recreated that guitar for me. I don't know how he makes his stuff look and feel so authentic, but as long as he keeps building them I'll never buy another mass produced guitar again. In fact, I'm of a mind to email Fender with a picture and say "this is how it should be done"! In my opinion, John and Bravewood are producing the most realistic relic guitars at the moment. I invite you to type in "relic guitars" at MSN Search and see for yourself. I'm already planning to have John build me another bass in 2004, an un-relic'ed fretted J-Bass with all birdseye maple neck. If there's a guitar or bass that you're hankering after, relic model or not, do yourself and your pocket a big favour and get a quote from Bravewood first before you order anything from anyone else.