Welcome to the journals! I'm also curious about your preferred gear, both musical and shaving. I played guitar for quite a while, though my(at once time decent) collection has been pared down to an Epihpone Strat knock-off that I have dubbed "Firewood", and I barely pick it up anymore.
Welcome to the Journals! Percussionist and keyboards here. I’ve been trying to teach myself to play guitar for 15 years with no success. I have a cheap Bass that is the first 4 strings to learn. Perhaps a “gateway instrument”?
Basses? What about basses?
Welcome to the journals!
Hey guys I've been playing bass for over 35 years. I've played a lot of different brands through the years but for the past five years I've only used basses made by a one-man shop based out of Staten Island, New York. Anthony "Nino" Valenti is the owner of
Valenti Basses and has been building for around 13 years. Before starting his own business he work at Sadowsky Guitars and learned from Roger Sadowsky himself. He builds excellent Fender-style basses. Now someone might ask "Why not just play a Fender? Why pay extra for something that's essentially a copy of a proven design?"
My reasons are better quality and options. Fender makes a great bass but making
that many instruments per year, QC is undoubtedly going to suffer. My Valenti basses are all incredibly well made, fit form and finish are top-notch, the frets are dressed and crowned perfectly. I can also specify what brand hardware I want, what brand pickups, option of scale length ( I prefer a 35" scale since I play only 5 string basses). Plus he's a great guy to deal with.
The first bass I commissioned from Anthony was a 5 string version of a 57-style Fender Precision. Swamp Ash body and maple fretboard. Custom Tele-style bass pickup made by Nordstrand Audio and Hipshot A style bridge.
A few years later I commissioned a second, Jazz-style bass. This one also had the swamp ash / maple body wood combo but I went with a birds-eye maple fretboard and active Aguilar Amplification electronics.
For my next bass I wanted a straight-up passive bass with 60's era wound pickups. For this bass I went with an alder body / rosewood fretboard combo and a classic 60's Fender era "Sonic Blue" finish.
The forth basses was an unintentional purchase. A few years ago, Anthony debuted a lower priced "budget" line of instruments that kept the same quality but cut costs by limiting options. I was curious and had been corresponding with him about the new line and he offered me a screaming deal on one he had already scheduled to build (I think the original customer backed out of buying it). So, I scooped up a fourth! This one also has alder/rosewood body woods "soapbar" style single coil pickups and active electronics but when bypassed there's also a vintage style tone control knob. It also helped that it was also finished in 60's Fender style "Shell Pink".
Currently I don't have any plans for more basses but "never say never". Right??
