John Fleenor's Page

Here is a picture and description of the bass i built for my son's 21st birthday.

"Company: Sparks Model#: Model 21 Year: 2007
Description: I designed and built this bass for my son Josh's 21 birthday present. It has many special features in honor of his turning 21 years old, such as the 21 position markers on the fingerboard, one of which is a star on the 21st fret. Also, on the back there are five coins are inlayed, four nickels and one penny. The nickels are all from 1986, the year Josh was born, and the penny is from 2007, the year he turned 21...and they total 21 cents! The inlaying of the coins were my wife's idea, and it was quite a good one. His name is inlayed into the head in script mother of pearl. Josh likes to play in dropped "D" tuning, so I installed a bass Hipshot "D" tuner on the low E string. There are two volume and tone controls, a set for each pickup, and a blend control, instead of the usual three position pickup selector switch. The body is made of two bookmatched choice pieces of quilted mahogany. The binding on the headstock and fingerboard is curly maple, as are the handmade pickup rings. It has a full two octave 24 fret scale with a wide fingerboard that reaches deep into the body joint. The bass was presented to him on his birthday and he was appropriately shocked and surprised. I also documented the entire building process in a book called "Building a Birthday Present, the Model 21 Bass." He has already joined me on stage with it several times and believe me, it sounds as good as it looks!"

I would love to see pics of your fretless bass! Please do send some! Here is a pic of my 1936 Dobro...

Company: Dobro
Model#: Vintage Wood Body 12 fret Guitar
Year: 1936
Description: This guitar was a gift from the original owner's son, who had had it in storage for about 25 years. Although I offered to purchase it from him, he said that he didn't play and would rather give it to me since I would play it. Although the original case was literally falling apart, in the storage compartment inside I found his father's steel slide and metal fingerpicks. The instrument is in very good, all original, condition, especially for an instrument currently 72 years old. There is a repaired crack in the slotted headstock. The original tuning keys work great. The "moons & stars" cover plate is rare, and I have only seen it in a photograph on one other guitar, and on a Regal brand resonator banjo (page 7 of the Gruhen's Guide to Vintage Guitars"). It has round-neck construction and good action, low enough to be played Spanish style, yet high enough for slide work.

Oh yeah, I should tell you that Steve McCoy, my musical partner with the fretless Breedlove bass, also owns a Martin D-41! Edward

Hi, thanks for your kind words on the video. I am primarily an acoustic player but I do own a few electrics, one of which is a Gibson Les Paul Signature...an odd duck that didn't sell well and was only made from 1974 to 1978. And there was a bass version as well. Mine is a '76. It is very similar to you 335, only it has a sharp LP cutaway on the treble side and low impedance pickups! Here is the picture and description from my Guitar Gallery page on my website. If you get to visit and feel moved to, please leave me a message in my Guestbook!
Thanks, Edward
http://mysite.verizon.net/emsparks/index.htm

"Company: Gibson
Model#: Les Paul Signature
Year: 1976
Description: This instrument was purchased used from the owner. It is a rare bird these days as Gibson only produced a little more than 4000 of the model between 1975 and 1979, before it was discontinued, due to lack of public acceptance and sales. Guitarist did not like Low-imp pickups. The guitar has two outputs, one low-imp and one hi-imp. See the pictures of the body edge and the original ad below. The finish came in sunburst, but this model has a gold top, similar to the solid LP gold tops. Although the controls look like the typical setup, they are actually one volume and tone control, a phase switch, and a imp selector switch. This is the only Les Paul model with a semi-hollow body design"