It seems that I surprised the gentleman at Fender when I described this bass to him. We were in the process of authenticating the fact that Charvel's Custom Shop did indeed produce this bass in 2007 and when I told him that it said, "Custom Shop" on the headstock, he replied with, "Hmm. Don't see that very often." That was good enough for me- this is one super cool bass and the only Bengal I've ever seen.
Among the features I found interesting were the Basslines P/J pickups, Hipshot tuners with the extended-range E string, and the Babicz Full Contact bridge. Trust me, the combination of these features provides an incredibly strong and ringing tone. It's unique in the way it cuts through any outside noise with a literal growl. Exactly the tone we love around here and the birdseye Maple neck? Just the cherry on top of the proverbial cake.
Although the condition rating says "excellent," I am calling this bass near-mint because it's that clean. It's been sitting in a private collection for 13 years, so there was no chance for someone to jump up on some stage and bang out Poison covers on it on '80's night at their local bar. That said, if I were Lexxi Foxx of Steel Panther, this is the bass I would be playing except that it would say "Tiger Woods" on the headstock...
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