Dean Guitars Planning New Bass with Ties to Shinedown
(Dave Molter | Posted 2010-01-02)
Dean Guitars has announced several new bass models for 2010, including a signature 4-string designed for Eric Bass of Shinedown.
Bass talks about the new model, the Hillsboro Bass, in a video clip on the Dean on Demand area of the Dean website, and another clip of Bass playing the Hillsboro is also available.
Bass's all-black Hillsboro has a new body shape, an asymmetrical neck that gets thinner front to back as you ascend and a Jazz-bass like nut width. The model Bass previews has maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard and a single Bartolini humbucker placed slightly further toward the bridge than the standard EBMM Sting Ray 4 position. Bass said he wanted the pickup to be punchy and chose this pickup placement because "when I put it on, I want my hands to go automatically where they're used to going." He calls the body style a cross between a Precision Bass and Rickenbacker, but the Hillsboro has deep cutaways, more contours than a Rickenbacker 4003 and a smaller overall size than the Precision. Bass says he also wanted "black on black on black" for the first model but plans to have between 6 and 10 models made for himself in different color combinations.
I like the look of the Hillsboro -- especially in all black except for a distinctive headstock logo. MSRP is expected to be around $500.
