Marc Bergeron’s Lefty Bass
Click through the images below to read about the making of Marc Bergeron’s custom left-handed Wyn bass.
I wanted desperately to finish this lefty bass for the NAMM show, but a number of last minute things came up and I just couldn’t make it. I decided to take it to the show any way if for no other reason than to tell the left handed players out there that I knew they existed. Even though the lefty’s couldn’t play it, I did get some amount of appreciation for getting this far. It also interested Marc Bergeron enough that he decided to buy it and trust that I would finish it off in grand style.
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I’m putting this one in the ‘News’ section to also show how amazing some of the quilted Maple is that I have. It’s just stunning stuff and sounds incredible as well. On the neck on this one, I put Wenge as the double center tapered core, three Padouk stripes and two Bubinga stripes to the outside. Bubinga and Wenge are a terrific sound match as they compliment each other well, but it’s also a nice visual tone gradation to go from the black brown Wenge to the very light Maple.
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I try to make the head stock cap out of the same wood as the body top. Not only the same kind of wood, but from the same board. This kind of amazing quilt is not going to repeat in exactly the same way from another tree.
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Mark wanted a photograph of the copper foiled electronic cavity before the electronics went in.
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Here it is, all wired. I always make the electronic cavity cover in a matching hardwood, usually Wenge. The bottom side of this cover is usually signed and dated and if there is a serial number, that’s where I put it.
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It only took a week or two past the NAMM show for me to finish up this bass. It was my third left handed bass, but the first one that I had made that was truly a legitimate lefty. The other two, Jimmy Haslip’s was one of them, were right handed string order flipped upside down. This dawned on me as I went to test drive the bass. I couldn’t play it too well with a reverse string order. I did have an amazing moment though in that in playing it upside down right handed with the high strings on the top and low strings on the bottom, I played some unique little runs that I probably never would have come up with melodically on a regular bass. I’m pretty sure that was the Jimi Hendrix trick don’t ya think?? Okay, possibly there was a bit more to Jimi’s playing than that……………
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You just can’t compete with Mother Nature for amazingly beautiful design!!
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It’s a luthier’s dream to make an instrument for an artist with the stature and playing chops of Jimmy Haslip. I of course handled this assignment with complete calm and professionalism. It was basically five parts intense euphoria and eleven parts terror ride. ( a player like Jimmy I figured would have no interest at all in an average bass. It would have to be nothing short of a better bass than I was capable of building!!)