People often see the 60s style LG line from Alleva Coppolo as their ultimate, Jimmy also makes exceptional 70s style LM line. And when it comes to flexibility, it comes to his RA line, it’s the mixture of 60s and 70s jazz bass and has the best of both worlds. After own/tried many of them, I’ve finally pulled the trigger and had this bass built to my specs.
Background:
For a short period of time in the early 70, Fender came up with a bass that has alder body(60s) plus an all maple neck(70s) later on they started building basses with ash body, but these ‘transition’ basses had earned their reputation in bass history, the most famous one is probably Geddy Lee’s 72 jazz bass, the tuxedo.
Many says when the warmth of the 60s meets the snap of 70s basses. Beside the wood combination, the bridge pickup was also shifted to the bridge just so it gets covered by the huge bridge cover, that ended up became part of the 70s jazz recipe.
To many players, if they can only have 1 bass, RA is probably the one.
Specs:
- Alder body
- Maple neck with the narrower Tom Barney profile
- Maple fingerboard with block binding
- Professor nitro in fiesta orange
- AC homebrew pickups on 70’s position
- controls are: Vol / Vol / Tone, hi / lo boost
- Brass Hipshot B bridge 18mm string spacing
- Hipshot tuners
- AC bridge
Playability:
Well balance, the usual top notch playability. And the TB neck + 18mm bridge makes things even easier for my hands. For a very long time I thought I’m a typical 19mm / standard spacing guy .. but one of the bass with TB neck proofed that I can just do more , and I’ve made up my mind since. The low B is brilliant .
Sound:
Raw growly punch from the maple fingerboard, it’s not delicate like the LG, not as big and up front like the LM but with different tweak and playing technique, this one covers them all. The hipshot B brass bridge tightens the upper mid range, and the thin nitro finish just tend to breath better .. it’s more responsive than the previous RA5 I had and require more attention on the plucking hand, but the round/smooth result is surely worth the extra efforts.
Thoughts:
I was lucky to get to know bass veteran / star player / my mentor Mitch Starkman who went through many fine details on Jimmy’s basses and decide what to go with. Calling myself a fan of Jimmy’s work, I’m extra happy to own a new bass built to my exact spec and hitting a home run! Black hardwares are my take of the bass. This bass is one of the last one leaving the Upland shop in California.
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