Fashion Victim By J Douglas. 30" Scale With Hand-wound Pickup.

In brief -

Weight - 9.5lbs
Body thickness - 44mm
Body timber - white oak and beech
Neck timber - beeck
Joint - glued in
Finish - fabric with nitro lacquer/Danish oil
Neck carve - slim C
Binding - cream on body
Fretboard - rosewood
Truss rod - two-way metric
Frets - 22 stainless steel
Scale length - 30"
Inlays front - brass with rosewood
Inlays side - brass
Radius - 12"
Nut - Corian
Headstock veneer - fumed Eucalyptus
String ferrules - n/a
Scratchplate - n/a
Pots - CTS
Capacitor - .010
Jack - screw in barrel
Pickup - hand wired single coil
Knobs - amber speed
Machine heads - Wilkinson
Bridge - Schaller
Stringing - light EADG
Strap pins - Alu gold

Another specimen from the shed of J Douglas Guitars - The Fashion Victim. A rather self explanatory creature and it goes without saying, a character piece.

I built this around the Schaller bridge I've had in a draw for some time, which seemed to lend itself to a DC type bass. It was a free thinking build that evolved through the process. Features such as the carved top and fabric overlay were made on the fly. Ultimately, I'm happy with the overall aesthetic and feel it's pretty congruent, even the gold hardware, which I know can make so many players write angry letters.

The body is white oak with a beech strip and gives the little bass quite a heft at 9.5lbs, so maybe not for you if your back has seen too many 8x10s down the Royal Park pub's cellar stairs.

The weight of the body gladly offsets most potential neck dive but as with an short horned instrument, a thick strap is recommended.

The neck is beech with a rosewood board and is a comfortable slim carve. I'm finding it to be fairly reactive to higher gauge strings and so have opted to set this up light to optimise both action, relief and playability.

The bridge is essentially decked out to work as a hardtail and with the inserts going into oak, I opted to have the ground lead sit under it (tapping inserts into such a solid wood would have severed the lead).

The action is set up at a mid point with enough height to give comfortable play but high enough to avoid slop. I find it very comfortable and that means many others will too... But not everyone... I can't please everyone...

Inlays are brass on front and back with the front inlays having darker rosewood inserts. Truss rod cover is copper.

The pickup is a hand wound single coil with a fair output. The neodymium magnet provides a good punch with a lot of treble to balance.

Pots are long shaft CTS units, standard volume and tone with a 0.01uf cap.

A fun instrument that will suit the right player.

Peruse the photos, ask questions or hurl abuse, it's all good.

Please note several aesthetic flaws on the headstock. I was going to paint the neck bit found later that the appeal of oiled wood outshined the impact of the flaws themselves.

I'll update with info if I've missed anything.

A full build log can be seen on my socials under jdouglasguitars.