Kevin Kaufman Jaco Pastorius Bass of Doom Prototype, early 90's Sunburst Tortoise Pickguard

This fretless, four string bass was built by Kevin Kaufman in the early/mid 1990's as one of a few prototypes he built before he consulted with Fender Custom Shop on their first run of Jaco Tribute basses. It is a historical, rare bass with a direct lineage to the Bass of Doom, a Fender Jazz bass.

I will include the Acoustic Bass Amp in the photo if pick up is local. It's an Acoustic 260 MKII practice amp, but it looks pretty cool as it mimics the shape of the cabinet Jaco used, but with a 1x10" speaker.  I don't think this is made anymore, used value is around $150-$200 USD.

Kevin Kaufman is well known as Jaco Pastorius' bass tech and luthier.






This bass was gifted to a friend of Kevin's shortly after he built it, and I acquired it from his friend last year. It looks in almost brand new condition, and does not appear to have been played much in the last 20 years. It has not been "relic'd". It has an inscription on the back of the headstock that describes the gift from Kevin to his friend and includes his friends name. The inscription is similar to the one found on the original bass of doom after Kevin rebuilt it.

I believe this bass is as close as you can get to the gestalt of Jaco's Bass of Doom (other than the original!) , as it was built by Kevin not too long after Jaco's passing, and still pretty close to the time that he completely rebuilt Jaco's Bass of Doom.

Kevin Kaufman was, besides Jaco, the person with the most intimate knowledge of Jaco's Bass of Doom in the world, and a friend of Jaco's, living in South Florida and someone Jaco relied on. Kevin had the measurements and years of working with the Bass of Doom, and is the one person in the world to have this expert knowledge of the Bass of Doom.

Source: JacoP.net, () According to Bill Milkowski's August '84 Guitar Player cover story, the '62 Jazz was already fretless when Jaco bought it in Florida for $90. Upon meeting Kaufman in 1978, Jaco told him he removed the frets himself with a butter knife and filled in the slots and missing fingerboard chunks with Plastic Wood, followed by several brushed-on coats of Petite's Poly-Poxy. Kaufman's first job for Jaco was to replace the peeling epoxy, which he did by using his own method of pouring on the epoxy in one treatment and shaping it with a rasp. According to Kaufman, Jaco left it in New York's Central Park shortly before his death.

I corresponded with Kevin who responded with this info, when I asked a few questions about this bass:

"Hi....... No it is not an exact replica...... the fingerboard is thicker because I extended the board to get the high E on the G string....... Jaco I think would have preferred that the board was slightly longer...... The control cluster is slightly larger too because so many people at that time were adding preamps to Hi Z pickup Instruments.... It was a practical thing at the time....... but it is roughly similar in weight and has the same epoxy on the board........

If you are interested, please contact me to discuss video chat demonstrations and payment and shipping terms. I am not sure if I am willing to ship out of the country (US), but am open to discussing this option. I have it listed for local pickup only, and if you would like it shipped, I would require you to send me an anvil shipping case, prepay shipping and insure the shipment. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. This bass is a true find, rare and would be a treasure to any Jaco fanatic/collector/player.