What is that thing?

This is a question that I have answered two dozen times at least, as people at church have come up to me after seeing me play it on Sunday mornings. You know who you are!

Well, it is a six-string bass made by a man and small company known as Jerry Jones. He specializes in the revitalization of old 50’s Danelectro instruments, but with superior appointments throughout. Whereas a bass guitar is typically two octaves down from guitar in range, and either has 4 or 5 strings, this is just one octave and has six strings. Tuned just like a guitar—E to E—so the transition is not much from it. These instruments are well known in country music, but players in other genres of music are big fans of this twangy low-end sound as well. Back in the day, it was used primarily to double the lines an acoustic bass was playing in the studio. I have yet to play it doubling what another bass player was playing, but I think it would be fun sometime. It has two noiseless “lipstick tube” pickups on it as well as very nice Gotoh tuning machines and bridge.

I first saw one of these back in 2005 while rehearsing music for a missions trip, and thought it was really cool. Over time, my interest and curiosity about them increased and I decided that one of these would be fun to have. When the time was right, I finally ordered it from the good people at Saintfishy’s in Memphis, after getting poorly treated by another dealer much closer to home. You know who you are . . .

It is a blast playing it, and is a fun alternative to the traditional 4-string bass. It has its own sound, which is a big part of its charm. The neck pickup has a nice fat low end sound, the middle position is even fatter with more punch, and the bridge pickup is super twangy sounding. I do a lot of chord work on it, to be more melodic with it than just playing the root. But that is the guitar player in me coming out, so I can offer a bit more than the norm, with a bass that is a bit more than the norm.

So, for all of you out there who have wondered what this thing is, now you have the answer. You know who you are.