Fender’s Custom Shop has unveiled its latest wild-and-wacky one-off creation, Adrian Younge’s Dream Factory custom-built Jazz Bass – a wild half-fretless bass guitar that features a built-in fuzz circuit.
Described by the prolific producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist – who specializes in pysch, soul, funk and jazz – as the “best bass I’ve ever played”, the guitar itself features an eye-catching sparkle-esque silver colorway and a whole load of ear-catching appointments under the hood.
For the project, Younge joined forces with Master Builder Vincent Van Trigt and Fender’s VP of research and development Stan Cotey – the latter of whom was brought on board to help the pair recreate Younge’s favorite fuzz sound.
“Right now, we’re looking at my dream come true,” said Younge. “My man Vincent basically created the best bass I’ve ever played. It incorporated everything I love about the bass. When Vincent created this masterpiece, I finally realized that it’s really time to make music.”
Aside from featuring a number of orthodox Jazz Bass specs, Younge’s four-string sports a built-in fuzz effect, accessed via a push-pull volume pot and modeled on his ultra-rare Ace Tone Bass 9 unit.
“I scoured the earth looking for one,” said Cotey, who was charged with creating a guitar-friendly version of the effect. “I ended up studying his a little bit. It’s just been the coolest, most fun project.”
A secondary push-pull pot lines up alongside the fuzz trigger – a repeat percussion circuit that engages a square-wave tremolo tone that can be sped up and slowed down for an array of quirky effects.
The only spec to contest Younge’s fuzz feature on the bonkers scale is the axe’s fretboard, which flashes a unique half-fretless design.
“It feels so natural,” said Younge of the innovative design choice. “It actually feels so natural to play the fretless that when you play you don’t even realize you’re not even hitting a fret.
“The design allows you to really go crazy. Just that alone takes this bass to a whole other level.”
Safe to say, Younge was pretty pleased with the final product, and went on to say, “This basically encapsulated everything I wanted in a bass sound. This put me in the position where my dream came true of creating the perfect, perfect, perfect bass.”
