The Aguilar pickups are our favourite vintage repros, handmade in New York with Heavy Formvar wire and Alnico V magnets. Aguilar’s P-60 pickup is big, round, and wooly with just the right amount of midrange honk to cut through any mix. The J-HC pickups are hum-cancelling but don’t let that fool you, they produce one of the best vintage single-coil tones available. They’re clear and aggressive, produce rich “burpy” mids, have loads of presence with firm control of wild high frequencies and respond so well to playing dynamics—with no 60 cycle hum to boot!

Our preamps are handmade right here in Hamilton using discrete components (transistors, resistors, capacitors) rather than over-engineered IC chips. This helps us achieve a more open and transparent sound that allows the instrument to translate its inherent tone without colouration. Our 3-band preamp controls Bass Boost, Mid Boost, and Treble Boost. When all are set flat at 0, there is no perceivable difference from your passive tone. This makes for an extremely predictable and shape-able tool to explore tones or to simply cater to various gigging environments. The 9V pre has a low draw allowing for approximately 500 hours of play. Now if your battery happens to die in the middle of a gig—don’t fret!— you can pop up the passive tone control to engage passive mode.

Through careful design and consideration of each component’s weight (down to the ounce), we ensure perfect balance whether playing in the seated position or strapped in. While we take on requests for a slightly lighter weight, we don’t shy away from a medium to medium-heavy build clocking in between 9.25-9.5lbs (4 string), 9.5-10lbs (5 string), and 10lbs-10.25lbs (6 string). This gives the VF a commanding rather than toyish feel and avoids dreaded neck-dive. We also find it adds solidity to the low end and packs serious punch through the mids. To maximize comfort in the seated position and to allow for easier access to the end of the fingerboard, our treble horns are curved outwards and set further back into the body.

Our builds have been dialled in just-so over decades of refinement, however we know that all players are not made the same. We love working one-on-one to determine target feel, tone, and aesthetics. We’re happy to refer to past builds with varying combos, but are also open to new ideas that still retain the F Bass DNA. Our goal is to make your dream bass so that you can focus on your craft. We don’t want you fighting your instrument or lugging multiple basses to a single gig — so have fun jumping into our custom builder or visiting our photo gallery for inspiration. When you’re ready please don’t hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email to get the conversation started!