Initially I set out to create a Gretsch-inspired rockabilly machine. But, that morphed pretty quickly into Gretsch/Kay and then moved pretty far away from the idea in general… However, my favorite part of the whole bass is also the closest I came to the Gretsch/Kay-inspired approach: the headstock.
I wish I could get a better picture of this. The zebrawood is really brilliant with a wide range of tones and in good light, it's almost as if you can see into the wood. This diagonal pattern mimics the "tiger stripe" tortoise shell plastic used on Kay basses in the 50s. The zebrawood is continued on the truss rod cover:
You can also see the thumbrest, which I integrated into the fingerboard. The thumb rest is mahogany-walnut-zebrawood-walnut-mahogany. Full disclosure: the thumb rest/truss rod cover are ostentatious cover-ups for a poorly carved hole to access the truss rod and a rough seam where the fingerboard meets the body.
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