Für all Euch FB-Verweigerer hier die Lösung des Rätsels (sofern das nicht ein Aprilscherz ist):
This new bass for Sting was made by my Italian friend Daniele, the gifted Luthier of www.jacaranda.it. How come? Read Dano’s story.
‘A couple of months ago Sting, with a video on his Instagram profile -theofficialsting-, announces the upcoming European tour, but the real news is this: “I have a new bass”, he says, proudly holding what at first glance looks like a Fender Precision.
It is immediately clear that it is the new bass that is making the news by reading the first comments which I liked Sammy Hagar's, teasing his friend by saying: “It's about time you got a new bass. That old Fender you’ve been playing is damn near wore out!”. The other comments are equally divided between those who are happy about the tour and those who are enthusiastic about the new P-Bass.
I am particularly struck by the one from a guy who states with conviction: "Those at Fender Custom Shop made this bass specifically for Sting's tour". Another one comes along and says: "I bet Fender Japan will make a signature model or a version produced by Squier." Someone thanks them for this first-hand information that only they know, while I can't help but smile as I watch and re-watch that video, because... I made that bass!
Summer 2022. While I'm in my workshop, a guy shows up telling me he sells wine. I explain to him that I'm not interested, and that the restaurants in the area are all closed in the morning. Yes, I know, he answers me, but as I passed I saw the basses, and I need one. It's for a charity thing.
Ah, I say, and a little suspiciously I ask him: And what bass would you like?
At this point he takes out a business card, and begins to tell me that he works for Sting’s Palagio agricultural estate, if I didn't know, he also produces wine. The white is called “Message in a bottle” and the red… “Roxanne”. I wait to see where he wants to go and finally he explains to me what it's about.
He wants a bass like the one Sting uses, which the artist will autograph and have his photo taken with. The instrument will then be auctioned and the proceeds will be used to finance a project to bring water to the populations of the third world. He ends by saying that he needs the bass next month when he returns to Milan, and that he will pay me for it upon delivery.
I don't know why but I believe him. I already have in my head what to do and I tell him that in a month I'll give him the bass, I'll give him a price, and as soon as it comes out I'll go online looking for a used Fender bass to relic.
I can't find many, the search is more difficult than expected but in the end I find one that's right for me. So an endless series of messages begins and, when I impatiently write that I'll pay for it immediately and also organize the shipment with collection at his home, the guy replies that "you know... maybe I've thought about it... I'm not selling it anymore... I'm keeping it". Damn…!
The delivery day is approaching so I immediately change my strategy. I will use parts from a Telecaster Bass style instrument I was building and will only buy the original neck, since the Fender brand was the only mandatory requirement. The painted body and the mask with the wired circuit are already ready. As a pickup I will use a Fender Telecaster that I had at the bottom of a drawer and that I decide to put in an unusual position, that is, in the center, widening the excavation of the Split-P.
Everything is ready and, as soon as the neck arrives, I screw it on and assemble the strings, eager to hear how the new bass will sound.
Sounds great!
To complete the work I dismantle the instrument and begin the aging work, helped by Tom Porta, who takes out a relic measured on the body and mechanical parts, adding an artist's touch with a sticker with the writing FRAGILE behind the bridge.
I dedicate myself to the neck, which after having yellowed with nitro I will rectify, to remove the patina of paint from the frets, with the result of a racing action! Once the bass was reassembled, Tom and I couldn't believe our eyes. It feels like we have in our hands a prototype made fifty years ago that Fender never put into production!
On mid-August Mister X (that's what I call my contact) comes to pick up the bass and pays me. I almost would have preferred him to throw a bin at me and keep the instrument for me, but the thought that Sting would have held it in his hands for at least five minutes, and the promise of a photo, console me.
But I still didn't know what turn the story would take.
On August 21st Mister x calls me and begins like this: “Daniele, you got me into trouble with that bass! Sting doesn't stop playing it and his wife, since it's their 30th anniversary, asked me to sell it to her because he wants to give it to her as a gift. She's a friend and I didn't ask her for money, but now she needs another bass immediately.”
I check Instagram and see the 30th anniversary celebrations. I call Mister X and tell him I'll give him another bass right away. “Do it bad this time” he tells me, “It's no problem” I reply. “And I want a discount, which I even lost out on with the first one” “Then I'll do something really rubbish on you”. We laugh.
I do what I promised and the story ends there; I almost forget about it, photos of Sting come to me, but without bass and I'm left with the doubt of having worked with the 'buy one, get one free' formula.
All this until March 22nd, when I see the Instagram video.
The bass - which was originally white - has been repainted black, but for me it is unmistakable. I know every screw of that instrument and it's not a figure of speech, because in the mask I notice the hole that I forgot to make in my hurry. It's really my bass!
I call my contact who confirms that the color has been redone for Tour 3.0 image reasons (in fact, a black Telecaster also appears in the post) and that I can already see videos of him playing live.
I have always been a fan of the Police, and having seen them live was an unforgettable experience for me, therefore, knowing that the bass I made and which is not a copy or an assembly, but an original instrument, plays in a tribute to the Police with the original bassist, it's the fulfillment of a dream.
This experience also confirmed something I already knew. The Fender Custom Shop gave Sting a copy of his '57 but he never used it and passed it on to his daughter. He bought what we know as his main bass in '93, immediately after using it casually for a video.
It's not true that the big brands give Rock Stars instruments as gifts and we poor mortals have to buy them. They are exactly like us, when we want yet another toy that we see in the shop window or on the web. Well... maybe they end up with the most beautiful instruments in their hands .. cheers, Dano’(translated)
Zu finden auf der Timeline von Edwin van Huik:
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This new bass for Sting was made by my Italian friend Daniele, the gifted Luthier of www.jacaranda.it. How come? Read Dano’s story.
‘A couple of months ago Sting, with a video on his Instagram profile -theofficialsting-, announces the upcoming European tour, but the real news is this: “I have a new bass”, he says, proudly holding what at first glance looks like a Fender Precision.
It is immediately clear that it is the new bass that is making the news by reading the first comments which I liked Sammy Hagar's, teasing his friend by saying: “It's about time you got a new bass. That old Fender you’ve been playing is damn near wore out!”. The other comments are equally divided between those who are happy about the tour and those who are enthusiastic about the new P-Bass.
I am particularly struck by the one from a guy who states with conviction: "Those at Fender Custom Shop made this bass specifically for Sting's tour". Another one comes along and says: "I bet Fender Japan will make a signature model or a version produced by Squier." Someone thanks them for this first-hand information that only they know, while I can't help but smile as I watch and re-watch that video, because... I made that bass!
Summer 2022. While I'm in my workshop, a guy shows up telling me he sells wine. I explain to him that I'm not interested, and that the restaurants in the area are all closed in the morning. Yes, I know, he answers me, but as I passed I saw the basses, and I need one. It's for a charity thing.
Ah, I say, and a little suspiciously I ask him: And what bass would you like?
At this point he takes out a business card, and begins to tell me that he works for Sting’s Palagio agricultural estate, if I didn't know, he also produces wine. The white is called “Message in a bottle” and the red… “Roxanne”. I wait to see where he wants to go and finally he explains to me what it's about.
He wants a bass like the one Sting uses, which the artist will autograph and have his photo taken with. The instrument will then be auctioned and the proceeds will be used to finance a project to bring water to the populations of the third world. He ends by saying that he needs the bass next month when he returns to Milan, and that he will pay me for it upon delivery.
I don't know why but I believe him. I already have in my head what to do and I tell him that in a month I'll give him the bass, I'll give him a price, and as soon as it comes out I'll go online looking for a used Fender bass to relic.
I can't find many, the search is more difficult than expected but in the end I find one that's right for me. So an endless series of messages begins and, when I impatiently write that I'll pay for it immediately and also organize the shipment with collection at his home, the guy replies that "you know... maybe I've thought about it... I'm not selling it anymore... I'm keeping it". Damn…!
The delivery day is approaching so I immediately change my strategy. I will use parts from a Telecaster Bass style instrument I was building and will only buy the original neck, since the Fender brand was the only mandatory requirement. The painted body and the mask with the wired circuit are already ready. As a pickup I will use a Fender Telecaster that I had at the bottom of a drawer and that I decide to put in an unusual position, that is, in the center, widening the excavation of the Split-P.
Everything is ready and, as soon as the neck arrives, I screw it on and assemble the strings, eager to hear how the new bass will sound.
Sounds great!
To complete the work I dismantle the instrument and begin the aging work, helped by Tom Porta, who takes out a relic measured on the body and mechanical parts, adding an artist's touch with a sticker with the writing FRAGILE behind the bridge.
I dedicate myself to the neck, which after having yellowed with nitro I will rectify, to remove the patina of paint from the frets, with the result of a racing action! Once the bass was reassembled, Tom and I couldn't believe our eyes. It feels like we have in our hands a prototype made fifty years ago that Fender never put into production!
On mid-August Mister X (that's what I call my contact) comes to pick up the bass and pays me. I almost would have preferred him to throw a bin at me and keep the instrument for me, but the thought that Sting would have held it in his hands for at least five minutes, and the promise of a photo, console me.
But I still didn't know what turn the story would take.
On August 21st Mister x calls me and begins like this: “Daniele, you got me into trouble with that bass! Sting doesn't stop playing it and his wife, since it's their 30th anniversary, asked me to sell it to her because he wants to give it to her as a gift. She's a friend and I didn't ask her for money, but now she needs another bass immediately.”
I check Instagram and see the 30th anniversary celebrations. I call Mister X and tell him I'll give him another bass right away. “Do it bad this time” he tells me, “It's no problem” I reply. “And I want a discount, which I even lost out on with the first one” “Then I'll do something really rubbish on you”. We laugh.
I do what I promised and the story ends there; I almost forget about it, photos of Sting come to me, but without bass and I'm left with the doubt of having worked with the 'buy one, get one free' formula.
All this until March 22nd, when I see the Instagram video.
The bass - which was originally white - has been repainted black, but for me it is unmistakable. I know every screw of that instrument and it's not a figure of speech, because in the mask I notice the hole that I forgot to make in my hurry. It's really my bass!
I call my contact who confirms that the color has been redone for Tour 3.0 image reasons (in fact, a black Telecaster also appears in the post) and that I can already see videos of him playing live.
I have always been a fan of the Police, and having seen them live was an unforgettable experience for me, therefore, knowing that the bass I made and which is not a copy or an assembly, but an original instrument, plays in a tribute to the Police with the original bassist, it's the fulfillment of a dream.
This experience also confirmed something I already knew. The Fender Custom Shop gave Sting a copy of his '57 but he never used it and passed it on to his daughter. He bought what we know as his main bass in '93, immediately after using it casually for a video.
It's not true that the big brands give Rock Stars instruments as gifts and we poor mortals have to buy them. They are exactly like us, when we want yet another toy that we see in the shop window or on the web. Well... maybe they end up with the most beautiful instruments in their hands .. cheers, Dano’(translated)
Zu finden auf der Timeline von Edwin van Huik:
Edwin van Huik
This new bass for Sting was made by my Italian friend Daniele, the gifted Luthier of www.jacaranda.it. How come? Here is Dano’s story. ‘A couple of months ago Sting, with a video on his Instagram...
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